Wen (Women’s Environmental Network) has been awarded over £1.5 million in National Lottery funding. The grant, from the National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, will support our Climate Sisters project, which will help to ensure that racialised and marginalised women are included in local, regional and national climate policy and action in North West England and Scotland.
Working in partnership
Wen will be working with the Women’s Budget Group and in the Manchester area, will partner with Support Action Women’s Network and the University of Manchester, JUST Centre. In the Glasgow and Edinburgh area core partners will include Gilded Lily and the University of Edinburgh, Learning for Sustainability Scotland.
Expanding to North West England and Scotland
With funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, the Climate Sisters project is now expanding to Manchester and the North West of England and Scotland Central Belt through a participatory climate leadership programme. People will bring their knowledge and lived experience to the project, while also developing skills and confidence to take climate action and influence policy. We’ll also develop experience in public speaking, co-facilitation, and community engagement – enabling us to take part in local and national events, campaigns and policy-making spaces.
Building a Climate Sisters Movement for Change
We will explore ways to take collective action through the growing Climate Sisters network, working together to co-create events and initiatives across the UK. The goal is to build a strong, visible national Climate Sisters Movement – led by women who together influence climate policy, shape local solutions, and drive systemic change at every level.
“The knowledge missing from climate change discussion in the UK is that of the most affected, particularly racialised women. We’re happy to be part of the systemic change needed to address this unhealthy status quo. It’s imperative that the most affected are leading the process of climate adaptation for it to be effective for all”.
-Roshini Thamotheram – Climate Sisters Programme Manager and Head of Movements
Working Together for a Just Transition
The Climate Sisters project aims to inform and shape national and regional strategies, including: The UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy; The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan (2018–2032) and Climate Change Act 2019 and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Five Year Environment Plan and Manchester Climate Change Framework (2020–25).
Looking ahead
The project is set to start in autumn 2025, with new Wen team members working from Manchester and Glasgow. It’s an exciting time for both the Climate Sisters network and Wen as we spread the reach of the network. It was clear that spaces like that of Climate Sisters, where resources were available to come together with women in community groups to discuss and act with an intersectional lens of the current climate situation, is a much sought after and needed space.
As we look ahead we can expect to see a greater diversity of perspectives being shared, away from the “male pale stare” and essentially unhelpful perspective that dominates. It’s an exciting moment as we begin the journey of climate justice mapping across the UK — exploring how and where we can find entry points into policymaking, shift narratives, and add to or begin campaigns at both local and national levels. We look forward to the connections we’ll make and build on in solidarity — standing together against the same destructive systems that extract from people and planet.
About the Climate Sisters Project
The Climate Sisters began as a pilot project in Glasgow, when Zarina Ahmad (Wen’s now co-director) took the “Local Women of the World” project she created to COP26 – in collaboration with Wen. It was there that the name “Climate Sisters” was coined by SAWN, one of the participating groups, and so it became the Climate Sisters project.
Climate Sisters is a 12-week Feminist Climate Leadership Programme where groups of women come together to explore their priorities for climate justice – from personal and local concerns to national and global issues. The women taking part can then develop creative projects that showcase their experiences, ideas, and solutions to the climate crisis.
Climate Sisters is a national project with hubs in London, North West England, and Scotland. We are bringing together marginalised and racialised women from across the UK to lead on climate justice action.
