Title: How can our communities in Bolton come together to make sustained change and accelerate our progress towards net-zero carbon emissions?
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: Background Bolton's response to the Variants of Concern (surge testing and surge vaccination) and rising COVID cases highlighted the importance of the community as a key delivery partner in that emergency response which resulted in the halting of rising cases. This study will build on the community response to Bolton's Variant of Concern, taking lessons learnt and distilling that to enable a similar social movement for the climate change agenda so that we can accelerate change towards our net zero carbon emissions target. Research Question How can our communities in Bolton come together to make sustained change and accelerate our progress towards Bolton's 2030 net-zero carbon emissions target? Aim 1 To understand how we can enable individuals, businesses, communities to come together to make sustained change and accelerate our progress towards Bolton's net-zero carbonemissions target. Objectives To undertake action research to understand the most appropriate community engagement participation in relation to climate change To augment citizen-led transitions by enhancing community engagement's increasing participation in climate action through co-production and enabling a social movement to be created.Methods The methodological approach proposed to answer this research question will be a Mixed Methods approach including Action Research. The rationale for the adoption of 'Action Research' is to allow for an iterative process whereby the research is co-designed in collaboration with the community and follows a continuous cycle of plan, act, observe, reflect. This proposal will be over 3 years and is intended to capture the learning around the conditions needed to enable individuals, businesses, communities to come together to make sustained change and accelerate our progress towards Bolton's net-zero carbon emissions target. Findings from this research will be published in several reports and papers and shared across local authorities and the academic field.

Lay abstract: The aim of this research is to understand how we can enable individuals, businesses and communities to come together to make sustained change and accelerate our progress towards Bolton's net-zero carbon emissions. There is currently a climate change emergency as global temperatures rise every decade, causing more profound environmental and health impacts, from rising sea levels and melting ice caps to air quality, food insecurity and increased frequency of extreme weather events such as flooding. There is a need therefore to reach net zero carbon emissions sooner to limit the impact of climate change. In Bolton, our target around reducing carbon is net-zero by 2030, which means that all the carbon released into the atmosphere is balanced by the amount of carbon captured in the atmosphere resulting in net-zero. Recent learning from Bolton's response to COVID and the Variants of Concern, through surge testing and surge vaccinations, highlighted the importance of the community as a key delivery partner in that emergency response which resulted in the halting of rising COVID cases. The community were a key partner from the start helping to shape the response raising awareness through word of mouth, social media and leafleting and also delivering the response. They provided assurance and delivered messages via the 'trusted voice', they developed their solutions responding to the need of the community. Many of these interventions grew organically and the community started to identify new ways of engaging and delivering to the community. This study will build on the community response to Bolton's Variant of Concern, taking lessons learnt and distilling that to enable a similar social movement for the climate change agenda so that we can accelerate change towards our net zero carbon emissions target. The design and methods used will be participatory community engagement whereby the research is co-designed in collaboration with the community and the community will be involved in every stage from designing, delivering, collection and sharing of the results. The methods used will ensure that all voices are heard, not just the strongest voices, contributing to reducing health inequalities. Local authorities across the UK have climate change as a high priority so the findings will be captured in written reports and shared across networks and at conferences where appropriate.

Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING;3.2 INTERVENTIONS TO ALTER PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
Health categories: DISPUTED AETIOLOGY AND OTHER