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Author: billy.aiken

Growing Together: A Year of Learning, Cultivation and Conservation at CAT
Volunteers have always been at the heart of CAT for more than 50 years bringing with them energy and enthusiasm to help care for our site, while they gain hands-on experience in sustainable living, growing and land management. As several of our residential volunteers prepare to move on to their next adventures, we asked Charlie Whale and Emma Eberhardt to reflect on the past year and share some of their highlights from the Gardens and Natural Resources teams.

Looking Back on a Busy Year – Charlie

As our own residential volunteer experiences draw to a close, and we prepare to move on to new adventures, I wanted to reflect on what we’ve achieved together, the skills we’ve learned and the people who have made our time at CAT so rewarding.

When we (Charlie, Jem, Radhika, Hannah) arrived, we had to hit the ground running. The CAT Gardens team Nick, Kait and Veronica had been without residential winter volunteers for some time, and there were big ambitions for the 2026 growing season. We’re proud to say we’ve helped turn many of those plans into reality.

Revitalising the Growing Spaces

One of our largest projects was rebuilding and refreshing the beds in Big Poly and constructing new beds in Small Poly. It was hard work, involving huge amounts of CAT’s food waste compost, leaf mould and garden compost to feed the soil for this year’s crops. What felt particularly special was the circularity of the process. Less great was the huge amount of slate sieving needed, but we are in a disused quarry so what can we expect!

Seeing those tunnels produce such beautiful and productive displays this year made every wheelbarrow load worthwhile.

Bringing Roger’s Field Back to Life

Working alongside Nick and Veronica, we helped bring both the Whole Home Allotment and Roger’s Field back into cultivation, including the two additional polytunnels.

This expansion has made a real difference to the amount of produce going into CAT’s kitchens and onto volunteers, visitors and students’ plates. Some standout successes this year included grapes, squashes, cucumbers, peppers, apples, borlotti beans and an impressive amount of chard.

A huge thank you also goes to the CAT students who joined volunteer weekends and put in mammoth efforts to help restore Roger’s Field. It simply would not have happened without them. We are particularly excited to see future volunteers enjoy the rewards of projects we’ve helped establish, including a new 12m asparagus trench and 30 globe artichoke plants that should provide harvests for years to come.

Another rewarding project has been seed saving. By collecting and storing seed from this year’s crops, we’re helping improve resilience, reduce costs and ensure future volunteers can continue growing many of these varieties. Our colourful range of tomatoes have been particularly fun to save.

Learning Traditional Skills

If you’ve spotted woven structures popping up around the site this year, chances are we’ve had something to do with them. Under Nick’s enthusiastic guidance, we learned how to use coppiced hazel and willow to create plant supports, hurdles, baskets, fences and woven structures of all shapes and sizes.

There were definitely moments when our enthusiasm for intricate weaving dipped late on a Friday afternoon, but it was awesome to learn how to use our native species, to create immense fans, and towering pea-stick fences. These are valuable skills I will take into the future with me and I will never buy another bamboo cane again! Thanks to the Woodlands vols for providing us with such top coppiced materials!

The Essential Jobs Behind the Scenes

Alongside the larger projects, much of our time has been spent on the ongoing work that keeps the gardens productive and welcoming.

That has included:
- Processing food waste through the Ridan and other composting systems twice every week.
- Weeding, pruning, hoeing and general site maintenance trying to keep borders, paths and displays aesthetically pleasing.
- Supporting floral displays and table arrangements for the café and events.
- Watering crops during challenging dry periods.
These jobs may be less visible, but they are what keep the gardens functioning day in and day out. Many thanks to the regular Tuesday volunteers whom we have been lucky to work with and learn from. To Nick, Veronica and Kait for their teaching, patience and support and especially thank you to Volunteer Manager Holly for looking after us during our time at CAT!

Caring for CAT’s Woodlands and Natural Resources – Emma

Alongside our fellow volunteers in the Gardens team, those of us volunteering in Woodlands and Natural Resources, (Emma, Corran, Beth and Adam) have been incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received from everyone at CAT. It’s been a privilege to contribute to the management and development of the site, and to feel part of a volunteer community that stretches back more than 50 years. Knowing that generations of volunteers have helped shape CAT into what it is today has made our own contributions feel especially meaningful.

Over the past year, we’ve been involved in a huge variety of projects across CAT’s woodlands, estate and conservation areas, gaining practical skills while helping care for and improve the site for future volunteers, visitors and wildlife.

Restoring the Hazel Hollow

One of our proudest achievements has been bringing Hazel Hollow back into active management. This coppice area hadn’t been actively managed for some time, and our work has included restoring access through new paths and gateways while re-establishing sustainable hazel management. The benefits of this work will continue long after we’ve left, providing hazel for the gardens, firewood, habitat for mosses and lichens, and future opportunities for dormouse and owl box projects that the next volunteers will help put up.

We have also continued the woodland restoration work started by CAT’s Woodlands staff Rob and Sven in Coed Gwern, thinning conifers, removing invasive rhododendron and building leaky dams to improve habitat quality and water management throughout the woodland.

Conservation, Biodiversity and Estate Projects

One of the most rewarding aspects of volunteering in Natural Resources has been the variety of work. From woodland conservation to estate maintenance, every week has brought new challenges and opportunities to learn.

Some of the projects we’ve worked on this year include:
- Surveying trees as part of a tree felling licence application and updating safety checks and recommendations across the site.
- Beginning clearance work around buildings that are part of CAT’s future redevelopment.
- Completing a Sustainable Woodland Management short course to develop our practical and ecological understanding of woodland stewardship.
- Working with Dave from the RSPB to survey bird boxes during the spring and summer and help build new nesting boxes.
- Building fencing around the orchard to support goat grazing.
- Supporting water management work, including tackling algae blooms.
- Carrying out a wide range of estate maintenance tasks, including repairs to the Pole Barn, improvements to the decking in the WISE building, and dismantling old playground equipment.
Looking After CAT for the Future

Alongside these larger projects, we’ve also been involved in ongoing work that will continue into the future.

This includes developing CAT’s charcoal-making project using burn-pile material, upgrading the WISE water system, and repairing sections of perimeter fencing to prevent sheep entering sensitive conservation and growing areas.

Many of these jobs happen quietly in the background, but they make an important contribution to how the site functions day-to-day and to CAT’s long-term environmental goals.

More Than Just Volunteering

While we’re proud of everything we’ve achieved, what we’ll remember most are the people we’ve met along the way.

We’re especially grateful to Sven, Chris and Rob for sharing their knowledge of woodland management, traditional crafts and the local area, as well as for their humour, patience and good company throughout the year. We’d also like to thank everyone across CAT who has made us feel welcome and included from day one.

Living and working together has given us the chance not only to learn valuable practical skills, but also to build lasting friendships and become part of a community with a remarkable history. It has been inspiring to follow in the footsteps of the many volunteers who have helped shape CAT over the last five decades, and we’re proud to have added our own small chapter to that story.

What comes next?

As we move on from CAT, we’re taking with us new skills, experiences and confidence that will shape our next steps.

From our Gardens team, Hannah will remain at CAT for another six months. Radhika is spending some time exploring more of the UK before returning to India to pursue a career in sustainable architecture. Jem is returning to Bristol while looking for new opportunities, and Charlie will be completing a regenerative agriculture course and seeking placements on regenerative farms.

Meanwhile, among the Natural Resources team, Beth has already moved on to a coppice traineeship in Leeds, Corran is beginning a Masters at CAT in Sustainability and Adaptation, Adam is joining a WWOOFing project in Wales, and Emma will be staying locally to work in forestry around the Machynlleth area.

On behalf of all of us, thank you to everyone at CAT for making us feel so welcome. It has been a privilege to contribute to this special place, and we’re proud to have played a small part in its continuing story.

Want to volunteer at CAT?

Volunteers are what helped create CAT in the early 70’s and to this day, they continue to be an invaluable part of the CAT family. If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming the latest addition to a flourishing network of changemakers, there are many different ways that you can volunteer with us at CAT.

From coming along as a day or week volunteer to joining as a 6-month residential volunteer in our gardens or woodlands and natural resources teams, whatever your preference…we’d love for you to get in touch.

Find out more

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September 29, 2026
From Field to Fork: Growing a More Sustainable Food Future

Food is one of the most powerful ways we connect with the environment. Every meal we eat has an impact on climate, biodiversity, land use and our health. Dr Rebecca Kent explores this and how creating a more sustainable future means rethinking how we grow, prepare and enjoy our food.

Why Food Matters for Climate and Nature

The role of food production in the environmental crisis is significant. The global food system in its entriety, including production, processing, transportation and waste, is responsible for around a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, agriculture is responsible for almost 78% of ocean and freshwater eutrophication (over-enrichment of nutrients) and 75% of deforestation – both major drivers of biodiversity loss.

Animal agriculture plays a significant role in these impacts, with around 40% of grain production destined for animal consumption and through methane emissions from ruminants which form the largest source of livestock emissions. At the same time, long and complex supply chains often mean food travels thousands of miles before reaching our plates.

The good news is that solutions already exist. Research increasingly shows that diets rich in vegetables, wholegrains, legumes and plant-based proteins can benefit both human health and the environment. This idea sits at the heart of the Planetary Health Diet proposal by the EAT Lancet Commission (a global group of top scientists exploring sustainable food systems), which explored how a growing global population could eat a healthily diet while staying within the Earth’s environmental limits. The Planetary Health Diet emphasises the importance of plant-based protein, high intake of vegetables, whole grains, low salt, sugar and fat and limited starchy vegetables.Scientists on the commissions used computer modelling to calculate the components of a healthy diet that can be achieved for a global population of 10 billion without exceeding environmental limits, for example in greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient pollution and biodiversity loss.

While the challenge is global, organisations like CAT can help demonstrate what these ideas look like in practice.

A Long History of Sustainable Food at CAT

Food has always been part of CAT’s story. For decades, CAT has championed the importance of food and land use in creating a more sustainable society.

We opened Wales’ first vegetarian café and developed pioneering organic growing spaces at our Llwyngwern Quarry home, helping generations of visitors understand the connections between food, climate and the natural world. Over the years, CAT has also researched the impact of food and land use through our Zero Carbon Britain reports, with our 2014 report People, Plate and Planet, focusing on this.

Today, as conversations about climate change, biodiversity loss and public health become increasingly urgent, we are building on that legacy through the work of our Food and Growing Working Group.

The group’s ambition is to develop a delicious, plant based, low-carbon food offer, monitor the impact of our catering operation and increase the amount of food grown on site. While we are only at the beginning of that journey, exciting progress is already underway strengthening the connection between our gardens and café and creating new opportunities for visitors, students and volunteers to engage with sustainable food systems in practice.

Joining Menus of Change: A First for Wales

The Planetary Health Diet may seem a long way from current realities for many of us and putting it into practice represents an ambitious challenge for households and caterers alike. But one approach to implementing it is found in ‘Menus of Change’ an international initiative that brings together universities and institutions committed to creating healthier and more sustainable food systems. Guided by evidence-based principles, the programme helps organisations create healthier, lower-carbon food systems through menu design and waste reduction.

Earlier this year CAT became the first and only organisation in Wales to be part of the ‘Menus of Change Research Collaborative’, and just the fourth member in the UK. As the smallest member organisation in the collaborative, CAT brings a unique perspective to the network. While many members operate large university catering services, CAT offers an opportunity to explore how sustainable food principles can be integrated across education, food growing and catering within a smaller organisation.

CAT became involved with the programme through research carried out by MSc Sustainable Food and Natural Resources graduate Justina Raggett. Her dissertation explored how universities in the UK and United States were implementing Menus of Change principles, including interviews with catering managers responsible for delivering more sustainable food services. Her work was presented at the annual Menus of Change Research Conference and helped establish CAT’s connection with the collaborative. She is now continuing this research through a PhD at the University of Reading.

Restoring the Link Between Growing and Eating

Perhaps the most exciting part of CAT’s food story is the growing connection between our gardens and our café.

For many years, CAT demonstrated the importance of local food production through its productive growing spaces. More recently, there has been renewed enthusiasm for restoring those connections and increasing the amount of food grown and consumed on site.

A key focus has been Roger’s Field, CAT’s main growing area, named after the late Roger McLennan CAT’s Lead Gardener from 1978 to 2023. Since Autumn 2025, staff, students and volunteers have been working together to bring the field back into production. Monthly volunteer work parties have transformed the site, helping prepare growing areas and polytunnels for the seasons ahead. These efforts have been supported by Interim Lead Gardener Nick Robinson, whose knowledge and enthusiasm have helped guide the work and inspire volunteers.

Produce from Roger’s Field and CAT’s gardens can be used directly in the café kitchen, creating a genuine field-to-fork experience for visitors, students and staff. Fresh vegetables grown on site reduce food miles, celebrate seasonal eating and provide a powerful demonstration of what a resilient local food system can look like. By using the Menus of Change principles as a framework, our cafe have also begun reviewing our menus which feed onsite visitors and staff and also catering for conferences, events and residential courses, to identify opportunities to increase plant-based proteins, seasonal vegetables and fresh salads while maintaining the delicious food that visitors know and enjoy.

The kitchen team is also exploring ways to reduce waste and make better use of surplus ingredients. With the support of Sustainable Catering Manager Briony Rigby, this work is helping to embed sustainability into everyday food choices. These may seem like small changes, but collectively they can have a significant impact on both environmental outcomes and public health.

Learning Through Food

The benefits also extend far beyond the kitchen. The CAT gardens provide valuable learning opportunities for school groups, students and volunteers, gaining a better understanding of the choices and systems that shape our diets. Visitors can see where their food comes from and explore soil health, biodiversity, climate change and sustainable land management while postgraduate students can connect academic learning with practical experience.

During the first teaching week of our 2026/27 academic year, new postgraduate students were also treated to a food showcase sharing the food story of CAT through the meals they were served. Through videos in the cafe and highlighting on the student menu where food was produced by CAT, the work of our Catering and Gardens staff and volunteers was celebrated.

There is still much to do, but by reconnecting people with where their food comes from and showing how delicious, healthy and sustainable choices can be, CAT is helping to create a living example to those that visit and learning opportunities from field to fork!

About the author

Dr Rebecca Kent is a Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Alternative Technology. Her work explores sustainable food systems, environmental change and the role of communities in creating a more resilient future. She is a member of CAT’s Food and Growing Working Group and is passionate about connecting research, education and practical action to support a healthier relationship between people, food and the environment.

September 29, 2026
CAT Conference – leaving with courage and practical hope
After a weekend exploring how we can inspire action on the climate and biodiversity crisis at the CAT Conference, attendees left the weekend feeling energised and inspired.

This summer’s high temperatures and consistent dry weather have provided a grim reminder of the dangers we face unless radical action is taken to reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of an already rapidly changing climate. Heading into the weekend following a very long period of drought, CAT was lucky enough to have had a good dose of rainfall throughout the week leading up to the conference, helping create a refreshing atmosphere for arriving conference attendees.

Connection, Courage and Practical Hope

The theme of this year’s conference was courage, connection, and practical hope, and to help bring this theme to life, we shaped the programme broadly around Joanna Macy’s spiral of the work that reconnects.
1. Coming from Gratitude begins by grounding people in what gives life, steadies attention, and opens presence; it is the starting place that helps participants arrive more fully and with less defensiveness.
2. Honouring Our Pain for the World gives space for grief, fear, anger, or overwhelm, treating these responses not as problems to fix but as expressions of care and compassion for the living world.
3. Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes invites a wider view, where interconnection becomes clearer and people can begin to notice new possibilities, relationships, and sources of agency.
4. Going Forth then turns insight into action, encouraging people to take the next steps that fit their gifts, context, and limits, while learning from what unfolds along the way.
Structuring the conference in this way allowed us to take the time to face the extent of the problem, in a year where climate change looms large, whilst also creating space to process without feeling overwhelmed, helping attendees and ourselves reaffirm our commitment to taking action.

The People’s Emergency Briefing

The first main session, a screening of ‘The People’s Emergency Briefing’, provided a useful, though sobering jumping-off point for the weekend, and brought together conference attendees with members of CAT’s local community.

Filmed in November 2025, the film follows the events of the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster, where 9 leading scientists and experts were brought together to brief 1200 politicians, along with leaders from business, faith, and beyond on what climate and nature breakdown means for health, food systems, national security and the economy.

Mike Berners-Lee, the acclaimed writer and researcher on carbon footprinting, who chaired the National Emergency Briefing, introduced the film and led discussions, and was also the keynote speaker of our Conference the following morning.

It was great to be part of one of the around 3000 briefings that have either been planned or have already taken place. If you’d like to learn more or find out about running your own screening visit – https://www.nebriefing.org/peb

During CAT’s Annual Conference we caught up with Mike Berners-Lee to talk about the People’s Emergency Briefing and what we can do about the climate and nature crisis.

Opportunities for hope and collective action

Building on the screening of the first night, Mike’s keynote lecture delved into how we can chart a pathway through the polycrisis in the face of accelerated global change.

We know what needs to change – there are various models for transitioning to a more sustainable future , but only by reducing energy use can renewables hope to make a difference to our emissions.

So why aren’t we getting there? Mike argues that “We need the reasons behind the reasons behind the reasons.”

Mike stresses that the crisis isn’t just climate change, the crisis we face is a political crisis, a crisis of how we run our economy, a crisis of media (that is failing to tell us the truth), in a world of massive inequality, where rich people have undue influence.

In the face of this, Mike argued that there are three things we need to insist on:
1. Equality – we need to insist on the equal value of everyone
2. Respect for the environment – not just as something separate to ourselves as we are part of the environment.
3. Respect for the truth – we need a clearer view of reality, and if we can’t insist on higher standards of honesty we’ll never get anywhere.
Other key takeaways from the keynote talk included that we, as a society, have a tendency to want to approach problems individually, failing to recognise how interconnected the systems we live within really are. Rather than approaching every problem individually and feeling like we need to change the world alone, we should instead ask how we can help change the world collectively.

Seeing with new eyes

Building on this session, Rachel Tucket and Ruth Stevenson from CAT’s Innovation Lab led a facilitated, reflective session with conference attendees looking at how we can see the world with new eyes and foster our collective agency.

As part of this, attendees split into groups and were asked:
- How can we develop a wider sense of self?
- What would a richer experience of community feel like?
- How can a different understanding of power support our collective agency?
This session acted as a mini taster of our Innovation Lab process, which brings people together from different sectors, with a diverse range of knowledge to help identify solutions that work across a range of complex, interacting areas. The session led to a host of thoughtful, productive, and at times challenging conversations amongst the various groups.

Time for reflection

After a morning inside, Saturday afternoon saw a change of pace, providing attendees with the chance to stretch their legs, and see sustainability in action across the CAT site. Sessions included:
- An immersive walk through CAT’s woodland Coed Gwern led by CAT Volunteers Beth and Corran, with the chance to learn about sustainable woodland management techniques and conservation.
- Time in CAT’s gardens with CAT Gardener Veronica, learning how to design and build mini climate-resilient gardens.
- A tour of CAT’s energy and water systems led by CAT Trustee, volunteer and renewable energy specialist Tim Brewer.
- The chance to explore circular construction and get experience using clay and locally grown natural fibres with Sustainable Building Engagement Ranger and course tutor Dieter.
On a beautiful sunny day, much improved by a week of rain, this provided a chance to relax, reflect and hopefully other conference attendees were as inspired as Zoë Binning:

“One of things that I loved was around the gardens and micro gardens because I have a very little garden and I want to get the most out of it – both for us as a family for food, but also for plant life, insects and for birds. It was a lovely session because it made me think about what I could do in a really small space – just in a few pots, that might actually tick quite a few of those boxes and for it to be resilient as well!”

Stories from the CAT Community

Each Conference, we like to create a space where members and CAT students can showcase their own work, experiences and expertise. This never fails to provide inspiration, as we hear about the many different ways people are taking action in their communities and workplaces.

This year’s session included presentations on storytelling and poetry to explore topics such as how we can deepen community engagement, natural flood management, climate change, health and sustainable healthcare, and the work of the Greener Golf Network.

Supplementing these formal sessions were a whole host of conversations during lunch and tea breaks where we got a chance to learn about all the other ways attendees are out there making a real difference.

The final day

The Sunday of the CAT Conference started off with a Q&A session with our trustees Rhiannon Turner, Tim Brewer and Jordan Hau, leading into sessions exploring different facets of sustainable action!

The climate crisis, on colonial histories and Black future imaginaries

CAT Graduate and Doctoral researcher Michael Lomotey led a session in two parts.

The Words Give Notice: reflecting in the wake on the climate crisis, on colonial histories and Black future imaginaries.

Discussing his own family’s history, involving the connection of a Ghanaian fishing community with a Hull-based seafaring family, Michael used his own families’ experiences to reflect on representation, inclusion and speech, experiences and decision-making related to climate change, people and water.

Antiblackness as a Stumbling Block to Radical Transformative and Hopeful Change.

Reflecting on the theme of this weekend, Connection, Courage and Practical Hope, Michael asked attendees to consider whether climate action without justice is white supremacy in green clothing? And drawing on Black experiences of floods in the heart of empire (UK), he interrogated the policy and practice that addresses disaster risk reduction processes and explored how we can create collective futures that are liberatory, emancipatory and more equitable.

Energy return on Energy Invested

Dr Alan Owen, who teaches at CAT’s Graduate School of the Environment, explored what he considers an oversight in discussions around renewable energy, the energy return on energy invested (EROEI), and the implications for energy hungry societies.

The basic concept is simple, how much energy does a technology generate over its lifetime compared to how much energy it took to make, use and dispose of the device. But when we consider the EROEI within the context of how we use energy and broader questions around the electricity grid and energy storage, then things can quickly become more complex.

CAT’s Graduate Community – a panel

Jordan Hau, new CAT Trustee and recent CAT Graduate, began the session by introducing the panel and asking each panellist to reflect on the recent weather before introducing themselves and asking what they have been doing since leaving CAT.

Panellists included:

Michael Lomotey – a graduate of our MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation who is now a doctoral researcher in in the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton. Michael is interested in using antiblackness framing as a theoretical, ontological and conceptual approach through which to interrogate and seek to uncover truths in climate change discourse.

Dr Alice Breeveld – while working in the university sector, Alice studied our MSc in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources part time. Graduating in 2023, she initially had planned a career change but instead has decided to use what she learned in her current workplace. She now leads two small but dedicated and growing groups at work, one following the university Green Impact programme and writing a departmental sustainability plan, the other seeking to make the grounds more biodiverse while reconnecting staff and students with nature.

Fran Graham – a graduate of our MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change who now uses her skills in a regional leadership role with the Woodland Trust.

Raddon Stephenson – a graduate of our MSc in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources who now manages the running of a community allotment and a food pantry in north Manchester, that helps address food poverty and bringing people closer to nature through organic horticulture. He is also an accomplished musician, who entertained fellow conference attendees earlier in the conference.

David Nugent – an architect by training, after graduating from CAT with an MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation, David moved to Leeds to become Chief Executive at the UN Habitat Award-winning Canopy Housing. They work with diverse teams of local volunteers to retrofit Victorian terraces using bio-based materials. They house homeless families, teach green construction skills, help diverse neighbourhoods thrive, and support other organisations who would like to replicate their successful model.

A big thank you to all the panellists for taking part, and to attendees for all their insightful questions.

Click here if you’d like to learn more about our Graduate School of the Environment

Going Forth

One of our aims for the Conference was to help attendees leave with a realistic sense of the challenges we face from the climate and biodiversity crisis, but also to head forth with courage, inspired not only by our incredible speakers, but also the amazing work of their fellow attendees.

In the closing session of our Conference, Rachel Tuckett and Ruth Stevenson from CAT’s Innovation Lab helped attendees to reflect on their insights from the conference, on their gifts and capacities, and consider how we can collectively go forth and step into action.

Individually, our impacts have marginal impact, but by working together and acting collectively, we can energise people to act and create the change we desperately need.

A big thank you to all those who attended, our speakers, including Mike Berners-Lee, CAT Graduates, Staff and Lecturers, and to all the staff and volunteers who have helped make this weekend so special!

Want to attend next year’s Conference?

The Conference runs 20 to 22 August 2027. Use the code CONF2027 before the end of September to get 10% off the price.

https://cat.org.uk/event/annual-cat-conference/

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September 22, 2026
A Future Beyond Limitless Growth?
As the climate crisis deepens, can traditional economic growth still deliver social progress? In this blog, Myfi Fenwick explores this and the contribution CAT graduate Gemma Young made towards the UN’s Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth which is aimed at helping shape practical solutions for a fairer, more regenerative future.

In July 2024, the former Un Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter published an initial report detailing the need for a post-growth approach to the eradication of poverty. The landing image for the report is striking – although notably AI generated. It depicts a young boy against a gold-orange horizon sitting on the summit of a landfill heap, ahead of him a wasteland stretches so vast it meets the sky. A visual reminder that we are exceeding our planetary boundaries.

Over the course of the next two years, De Schutter set out to produce The Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth, a policy toolkit created with global contributions from trade unions, movements, UN agencies, academics, policymakers. The result? Tangible and actionable policy options for multilateral decision makers, all of which move away from the continuous growth model, towards anti-poverty strategies that sit within planetary boundaries.

© [JKLoma] / Adobe Stock – stock.adobe.com

Why within Boundaries?

As Will Steffen et al. detailed in their seminal research, the 11,700-year-long Holocene epoch in which we exist has allowed us the stability to pursue growth; that same growth is now destabilising the conditions that allowed for it, and indeed, in which we can survive. And with this instability comes further deprivation.

As the Roadmap details, ‘of the 1.1 billion people living in acute poverty, 887 million are exposed to at least one major climate hazard, including droughts, floods, extreme heat or air pollution.’ The message is clear; we cannot set out to eradicate poverty without addressing the climate emergency – change must take place within planetary boundaries.

CAT Graduate Contribution

One of the contributors to the roadmap was CAT Graduate Gemma Young, who studied on our MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change. Inspired by her dissertation, Gemma’s proposal explores how financial markets might be redesigned to make investors more accountable for the socio-ecological consequences of the activities they finance.

Her proposed Scaled Investment Levy (SIL) is a systemic intervention that links investment returns to the social and environmental impacts generated by business activity. Economist Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics model provides an aspirational goal and a potential framework for establishing socio-ecological thresholds, against which business activity could be assessed. (See Figure 1).

Where those thresholds are breached, a levy would be applied to investors’ financial returns, scaled according to the severity of the socio-ecological impact. Rather than prescribing a particular levy rate, the proposal explores how progressively stronger financial consequences could make harmful activities less attractive to investors while favouring more regenerative alternatives.

The intervention is intended to influence behaviour as well as redistribute capital. By bringing the socio-ecological consequences of business activity directly into investment outcomes, the SIL seeks to encourage investors to consider those impacts when allocating capital. Revenue generated by the levy could then be directed towards repairing social and environmental harm. Together, these mechanisms aim to redirect investment away from activities that breach socio-ecological boundaries and towards those that contribute to a more equitable and regenerative economy.

A toolkit that must be used

Gemma’s proposal sits alongside contributions from 400 others who also offer anti-poverty strategies that do not rely on unlimited growth, one of whom is economist Kate Raworth, the creator of Doughnut Economics. Here at CAT, we have been fortunate to welcome Dr Raworth as a frequent guest lecturer on postgraduate modules such as The Introduction to Politics and Economics of the Environment, which introduces students to the roles that power, policy, agency and economic structures play in producing the environmental crisis. As such this a fitting full circle moment, given that Raworth’s regenerative economy within planetary boundaries framework was deployed by Gemma in her own proposal. It is also a moment that reminds us at CAT that this is why the Graduate School exists, to support people like Gemma to develop the skills and knowledge to make a real and tangible contribution to the protection of our planet.

In June this year the roadmap was formally presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva by the current Un Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Elena Díaz Galán. That same month Switzerland’s national weather agency reported that temperatures had exceeded 37C for the first time in June, breaking a record set in 1947. A stark reminder that as a document, The Roadmap is a significant achievement, but as the climate crisis prevails and poverty deepens, it simply cannot remain as just a document – these strategies must become actions.

The Ongoing Reality of the Climate Crisis

This summer in particular, the indicators that we are driving the destabilisation of earth’s systems have been constant, signifying that we are no longer in what Will Steffen et al define as a ‘safe operating space for humanity.‘ The impact of climate change is being felt globally at all levels and for those living in poverty, the effects are acute.

Extreme Heat, Wildfires and Food and Energy Insecurity
- For countries already facing additional pressures these effects are catastrophic. In Somalia, extreme drought conditions, conflict and displacement has left the country at risk of famine, with the World Food Programme reporting that a total of ‘6.5 million people are projected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse, including 2 million facing emergency levels.’
- This year in Spain, at the time of writing, a lack of rainfall and heatwaves have left 256,937 hectares burnt by wildfires – an area almost equivocal in size to Dorset.
- In Central and Southeastern Europe, the Danube River is running critically low. The ongoing drought has forced the closure of nuclear reactors that are unsafe to operate without the river as a coolant, as well as hydroelectric power plant turbines causing mass energy insecurity.
- Further downstream in Ryahovo, Bulgaria, they recently uncovered the bones of a mammoth belonging to the Pleistocene epoch, a visual reminder of a time when earth’s climate was not stable, and an earie reminder that we are destabilising it once more.
The Roadmap as an offer of practical hope

The examples above are an incredibly small insight into the devasting global effects of the climate crisis – if we look further, additional examples are innumerable. What this illuminates is how important it is that all 80 of the Roadmap’s Policy Recommendations sit within Planetary Boundaries. Given the current situation, it is a source of hope – from policy recommendations that recognise the effects of colonial extraction, to measures designed to alleviate fiscal pressures from climate-related shocks, policies that address access to clean energy, water and healthcare to decentralised energy systems and beyond. Indeed, whether the policies address the climate crisis directly or do so indirectly through the planetary boundary framework, what they all offer is hope that transformational change can take place without equating progress to limitless capital growth.

Evading the Pursuit of a Wasteland

In the image prefacing Olivier De Schutter’s initial report the young boy perches on the summit of a landfill heap, we cannot see the ground, we see no trees, the only indication of any other human activity is in the landfill wasteland stretched before him. It is a photograph that brings to mind the imagery in T.S Elliot’s Wasteland.

‘What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow

Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,

You cannot say, or guess, for you know only

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water.’

We cannot extract from the dry stone; roots cannot grow from a planet stripped of its resources…the pursuit of limitless growth through extractive and exploitative practices cannot sustain humanity.

Strategies such as those detailed in the Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth can only fulfill the promise of hope if they become actions.

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August 27, 2026
CAT Conference 2026

From Friday 21 to Sunday 23 August, CAT will once again open its doors for our annual CAT Conference, a weekend of talks, tours and workshops exploring how we can respond to the challenges of our time.

“Active Hope is not wishful thinking. Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued… it is a readiness to discover the strengths in ourselves and in others; our steadiness of purpose, our own authority, the liveliness of our curiosity and our capacity to lead. None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk. We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part.”

These words are taken from the late scholar and author Joanna Macey, and they feel particularly resonant as we look ahead to this year’s conference.

Connection, Courage and Practical Hope

At a time when the climate and nature crises can feel overwhelming, and when information we receive is often fragmented or polarised, the act of coming together feels essential.

We need spaces where people can come together honestly, grapple with complexity and put solutions into action that are radical, inclusive and grounded in realism and care. So the theme of this year’s conference, “Connection, Courage and Practical Hope”, points towards a way forward: technical solutions alone are not enough.

Throughout the conference, participants will explore how hands-on action, courageous conversations and systems thinking can combine to shape a more sustainable future. From practical building skills in circular construction to thought-provoking discussions about energy, community resilience and climate justice, we will spend a weekend connecting ideas with action.

Our members will be showcasing inspiring examples from across the CAT community, from journeys in sustainable building to community energy projects, storytelling and research results. These stories matter. They remind us that change is already happening and that it is being driven by people willing to experiment, collaborate, and take bold action at a local level. From this place, we’re reminded of more wisdom by the late Joanna Macey: “be generous with your strengths and skills. They are not your private property, and they grow from being shared.”

Every year, the CAT conference refreshes our sense of belonging in the world, which helps to build resilience from burnout or pessimism.

The opportunity to share expertise and stories across generations, disciplines and perspectives, and to be present and listen can be powerful. It reminds us that while our experiences and viewpoints may differ, there is often far more shared ground than we realise. For example, CAT’s Innovation Lab session uses collective visioning to help unlock new ways of thinking, being and doing. And even with so much shared ground and like-minded values amongst our community, it is a practice that we can take out to the world.

A People’s Emergency Briefing

This year’s keynote speaker, Mike Berners-Lee, will explore “Pathways through the Polycrisis”, drawing on ideas from his book A Climate of Truth.
His work challenges us to confront the scale of the problems we face, because he recognises that only from this courageous place of truth can we enact change. He identifies that one of the biggest hurdles we must overcome is honesty and accountability in media, politics and public discourse.

This is one of the principles that has brought about National Emergency Briefing on Climate and Nature, which Mike chaired at the Central Hall in Westminster in November 2025. You can read about his experience at the event on Mike’s blog post here.

As he has reflected, the National Emergency Briefing on Climate and Nature demonstrated the importance of bringing these truths into the open, and the momentum is now building through People’s Emergency Briefings across the UK, one of which will be held at the Conference in a few weeks time.

The Conference opens with a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing, a 50-minute documentary and community campaign film, which sets out the interconnected threats posed by the climate and nature crises. Drawing on evidence from leading British experts in climate science, economics, health and ecology, it highlights the positive opportunities that would follow genuine, rapid emergency action. Following the film, attendees will be invited to join a structured discussion, creating space for open, constructive conversation about what the issues raised may mean locally.

Paul Allen, Knowledge and Outreach Coordinator

“The record extreme heatwaves so far this year have been noticed by everyone. At the same time, hundreds of ‘People’s Emergency Briefings’ have been happening across the UK. Now is the time for scaling up mainstream action for change. Not only do we have to do it, but if we do it right, it is an opportunity to benefit many sectors. The clean energy revolution is one of the fastest growing parts of the economy; solar delivery is out-pacing even the most optimistic projections creating jobs and income for communities. Better diets and local food supplies are good for both people and planet. Let’s come together and explore how we can help make this the beginning of real change.

The very act of spending time together unleashes new thinking and approaches. Just as nature shares nutrition in the soil, the ‘ecosystem’ of members, students, staff and alumni gather at CAT to cross-fertilise ways we can respond to the challenges we face, and vital in helping scale-up solutions. Talks, tours, workshops and conversations engage the imagination to bring to life different futures which challenge the status quo. As we let go of the stories holding us back, and imagine new possibilities together, we build a shared vision of what is possible.

Ideas rooted in worldviews that we are part of nature are an essential part of the necessary transformation. They foster values like honesty, responsibility, social justice and helpfulness, that strengthen public commitment for action on climate and nature, rather than values based on wealth, status and power, which weaken it.

By coming together, we recognise that it’s not all down to us as individuals, we see that we are cells in an evolving and growing ‘organism’ responding to the poly crisis and recognising the need for sufficiency for everyone, as part of a thriving nature.”

Join this year’s CAT Conference

Whether you are already deeply involved with sustainability or just beginning to explore your role in shaping a positive future, you are warmly invited to this year’s CAT Conference.

Find out more about the conference, including tickets and accommodation, on the conference booking page, along with our conference programme. If you are not yet a CAT member, you can join when booking.

We hope to welcome you to CAT this August.

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July 20, 2026
Senedd Members Visit CAT to Hear About Sustainability Projects and Future Plans

Members of the Senedd for Gwynedd Maldwyn, Siân Gwenllian MS, Elwyn Vaughan MS and Mabon ap Gwynfor MS visited the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) on Friday to learn more about the organisations work and future.

Building Partnerships for Wales’ Future

During the visit, which took place during the new Welsh government’s first 100 days in office, CAT staff provided an overview of the organisation’s work, highlighting its role as an environmental education charity, sustainability education provision, and community engagement in Wales. Discussions explored opportunities to strengthen relationships with the newly elected Members and how CAT’s expertise, educational programmes and on-the-ground experience could support the Welsh Government’s ambitions to tackle the climate and nature emergencies while creating opportunities for skills development, green jobs and sustainable economic growth.

Progress on CAT’s Major Projects

The Members also received an update on Troi’r Llanw / Turning the Tide, CAT’s new community-led climate action project funded by £1.5 million from the National Lottery Community Fund. The project supports communities across Wales to take practical action on climate change and build resilience through locally led solutions.

Discussions also covered recent milestones in CAT’s flagship redevelopment project, Cynefin: Green Heart of Wales, which aims to transform CAT’s facilities and strengthen its role as a nationally significant centre for sustainability education, innovation and community action for generations to come.

A Tour of CAT in Action

For more than 50 years, CAT has provided inspiration, education and training in practical climate solutions from its Llwyngwern Quarry home in Mid-Wales, which the Members had the opportunity to tour. They visited CAT’s gardens to meet current residential volunteers and observed live student build projects currently being undertaken by students on CAT’s Masters in Sustainable Architecture, viewing the breadth of CAT’s work in action.

Rhiannon Turner, Trustee at the Centre for Alternative Technology, said:

“It was a pleasure to welcome Siân Gwenllian MS, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS and Elwyn Vaughan MS to CAT so early in this Senedd term and begin what we hope will be a productive relationship with the new Welsh Government.”

“Today’s discussions reflected the strong alignment between the Welsh Government’s priorities and the work already taking place here at CAT. We feel confident these conversations will develop into practical commitments that benefit the region and beyond.”

Siân Gwenllian MS said:

“It was a pleasure to visit the Centre for Alternative Technology and learn more about its pioneering work to tackle the climate and nature emergencies. It’s a real source of pride that Gwynedd Maldwyn is home to an organisation with an international reputation for sustainability, innovation and green skills, and I look forward to supporting its work in the years ahead.”

Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said:

“Seeing how CAT combines education, innovation and community engagement to develop practical solutions to the climate and nature emergencies was incredibly encouraging, and it shows the important role organisations like this can play in building a more sustainable future for Wales.”

Elwyn Vaughan MS said:

“Having previously served as a councillor in Powys, I have long been aware of the pioneering work carried out by the Centre for Alternative Technology and the positive contribution it makes to our communities. Its Troi’r Llanw / Turning the Tide project is a fantastic example of how meaningful climate action must be rooted in local communities, empowering people to develop solutions from the ground up and ensuring that everyone has a role to play in tackling the climate and nature emergencies.”

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July 17, 2026
CAT Graduation 2026: A Celebration of Changemakers
180 sustainability graduates celebrated their achievements at CAT’s 2026 Graduation in mid-Wales, marking the next step towards a green career that will make a difference.

On Saturday 27 June, we welcomed graduates, families, friends, and staff for a warm and inspiring celebration of achievement, community, and hope for the future.

Held against the stunning backdrop of CAT’s eco-centre in mid-Wales, the 2026 Graduation Ceremony marked a significant milestone for 180 postgraduate students completing degrees in sustainability. With sunshine overhead and a strong sense of shared purpose, the day was filled with pride, reflection, and stories of transformation.

Celebrating the Next Generation of Sustainability Leaders

CAT graduates traveled from across the UK and beyond to celebrate their achievements in fields including sustainability and adaptation, renewable energy, sustainable architecture, food systems, and ecology.

Opening the ceremony, CAT Trustee Tim Brewer reflected on the dedication it takes to reach this moment and emphasised the unique and lasting impact of studying at CAT:

“Reaching this point is no small achievement. It represents dedication, perseverance, and a deep commitment, not just to your studies, but to the bigger challenges we all face… You should be incredibly proud. What you learn here goes far beyond textbooks or lectures. It’s about understanding systems, building solutions, and being part of something that genuinely matters.”

This year’s graduates are already putting their learning into action in inspiring and practical ways. Among them are:
- Amy Isted, who has launched a retrofit consultancy, Sustain Change, and is contributing to national work on scaling retrofit solutions.
- Sahrah Wilding, progressing research into land use through the creation of a nut woodland in Powys.
- Richard Clay, co-founder of community energy organisation Power Up Casnewydd in Newport.
- Emma Speekenbrink, working in sustainable public-sector construction projects, helping embed sustainability from the earliest design stages.
- Nora Ramakers, supporting ecological community projects across Europe, bringing people together through food and land-based initiatives.
- CLAASH, a collective of architecture graduates whose design-build work has already reached thousands, including a major project for the National Gallery’s bicentenary.
Their stories highlight how the knowledge, skills, and values developed at CAT translate into real-world impact, through communities, collaboration, and action on the climate and biodiversity crises.

Inspiration from the Global Stage

This year’s keynote speaker, Nick Bridge CMG, brought a global perspective to the celebration. With a distinguished 30-year career in diplomacy — including serving as the UK Special Representative for Climate Change, Nick Bridge has been at the forefront of international climate policy and negotiation.

Addressing the graduating cohort, he spoke about the urgency of the climate challenge and the vital role of skilled, committed individuals in driving forward change. His message encouraged graduates to carry forward their knowledge with confidence, working across sectors and borders to accelerate meaningful action.

His address was a powerful reminder that while the challenges ahead are complex, the collective efforts of individuals and communities remain one of the most powerful forces for change.

More Than a Graduation

The ceremony included speeches from staff and students, the formal presentation of certificates, including representatives from CAT’s validating partners, the University of East London and Liverpool John Moores University, and moments of celebration shared with loved ones.

Guests enjoyed a delicious plant-based meal, live music, and the opportunity to explore CAT’s unique site, a living, working example of sustainable solutions in practice.

The day was not only a celebration of academic achievement, but also of the strong community that defines the Graduate School of the Environment student experience.

Shaping the Future Together

As the Class of 2026 steps into the next chapter of their journeys, they join a global network of more than 3,000 CAT graduates working to address the climate and biodiversity emergency.

In his closing remarks, Tim Brewer shared a message of optimism:

“The challenges we face are complex… but what gives me real optimism is seeing groups like you, people with the knowledge, the skills, and the determination to do something about it.”

With their creativity, commitment, and collective energy, this year’s graduates embody the kind of leadership needed to build a more just and sustainable future. Congratulations to all our graduates, we look forward to seeing what you do next.

Inspired to find out more about studying at Graduate School course at CAT?

There is still time to apply for September 2026 entry to our postgraduate programmes.

Get in touch or sign up to view a recording of our latest virtual open day and discover how you can become part of the next generation of changemakers.
July 17, 2026
CAT Conversations: Shaun Dunford, Previous CAT Volunteer

As the last week of baking hot sunshine in May tipped into a wet and rainy start to June, we caught up with previous CAT volunteer Shaun Dunford, who had returned to CAT with a friend to volunteer for two weeks.

What followed was a heartwarming recollection of his time at CAT, and what he got up to in the CAT gardens.

Interested in Volunteering?

Volunteers are what helped create CAT in the early 70’s and to this day, they continue to be an invaluable part of the CAT family. If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming the latest addition to a flourishing network of changemakers, there are many different ways that you can volunteer with us at CAT.

From coming along as a day or week volunteer to joining as a 6-month residential volunteer in our gardens or woodlands and natural resources teams, whatever your preference…we’d love for you to get in touch.

Click here to learn more

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June 11, 2026
Building Civil Food Resilience: How Wales is Leading a New Approach
How resilient is our food supply? What practical steps can we take to become more resilient to food supply disruption? Rachel Tuckett tells us how the Dyfed Powys Civil Food Resilience Project is working collaboratively with people across the region to answer these questions.

What Is Food Resilience?

For decades, the UK’s understanding of food resilience has been dominated by questions of supply. Government-level thinking has tended to focus on whether the supply chains are robust, how logistical pinch-points can be eased and whether imports will continue to arrive on time.

But this supply-side focus is increasingly recognised as only part of the story. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw only too clearly that food resilience is about the demand side too: food supply can be intact, but access to that food may be compromised by inability to travel ‘the final mile’, by socially induced panic buying, or by swiftly changing food prices. Recent work by Professor Tim Lang challenges the supply-side focus directly. His 2025 report to the UK’s National Preparedness Commission makes the case for ‘civil food resilience’, a resilience that is primarily about people. He explores questions of access, distribution, and the capacity of communities themselves to withstand food shocks.

In other words, food resilience is both systemic and civil. It includes:
- Supply chains – how food is grown, processed, transported, and stocked.
- Distribution and logistics – how food reaches shops, schools, hospitals, food banks, and households.
- People and communities – how prepared we are, individually and collectively, to adapt when shocks occur.
This shift in thinking reframes food resilience as a whole-system challenge involving everyone – government, producers, suppliers, community groups, and households.

The Current State of Food Resilience in the UK

The UK’s food system is built on a fragile just–in–time model. At any point, major urban centres like London are estimated to hold as little as 24 hours of food. While rural regions may look different, they remain deeply dependent on long, centralised supply chains.

The UK typically imports around 60% of its food, much of it from regions already experiencing climate disruption. This reliance means that droughts, floods, pests, and shifting growing seasons overseas quickly translate into gaps on our shelves and price increases at home.

And a changing climate is only one type of risk. Our food system faces multiple vulnerabilities:
- Cyberattacks on logistics networks
- Labour shortages, as starkly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Energy disruptions affecting refrigeration, transport, and processing
- Extreme weather impacts on crops, transport routes, and access
- Food safety incidents requiring rapid response
Industry professionals consistently describe the system as “more fragile than we readily admit.” Tim Lang’s research, based on interviews across the food sector, highlights how awareness of that fragility has grown but action has lagged far behind.

What Risks Are Today’s Food Systems Under?

Risk is no longer hypothetical. People across the UK have already experienced:
- Flooding cutting off transport routes
- Storm–related power cuts disrupting refrigeration and access
- Pandemic-related supply chain breakdowns
- Media and social media increasing panic-buying likelihood
- Price volatility driven by geopolitical tension and climate impacts
These events are neither extreme nor unlikely. They are recurring, sometimes compounding, and unevenly distributed across regions. What remains unknown is not whether further shocks will come, but where, when, and how they will intersect.

A resilient food system must therefore be able to cope with multiple overlapping stresses – not just isolated incidents.

Floods in Crickhowell caused by Storm Dennis, 2020 – climate change is causing increased flooding and storm damage across the UK. Credit: Peter Rhys Williams / Shutterstock.

The Local Scenario: Food Resilience in Dyfed-Powys

The Dyfed-Powys region (Powys, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire) demonstrates a unique double identity in the food system. We’re both at the beginning and the end of the supply chain.

On one hand, communities in Powys, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire sit at the end of very long supply chains. Food must enter the UK, reach national distribution centres, navigate regional logistics networks, and then travel considerable distances to reach rural stores – after which many residents must still travel significant distances to get it.

On the other hand, the region is rich in food production, from livestock to horticulture. Yet much of this locally produced food, particularly meat and dairy, is exported with only a fraction retained for local consumers. This is beginning to prompt serious discussions within Welsh Government and local partnerships about shortening supply chains and keeping more locally produced food available for local people.

During the pandemic, mutual aid groups sprang up across the region. Communities mobilised food deliveries, supported vulnerable neighbours, and improvised new distribution channels. These experiences demonstrated both the weaknesses of the existing system and the power of organised civil action.

A Welsh Opportunity: Regional Food Partnerships and New Government Investment

Wales is uniquely well positioned to lead a transformation in food resilience. Every one of its 22 counties has a local food partnership, formal structures that bring together growers, distributors, community organisations, councils, and citizens to collaborate on food system change.

In 2025, Welsh Government published the Wales Community Food Strategy, setting out a vision for a fairer, more resilient, and more sustainable food system. To support its implementation, it launched the Collaborative Grant Scheme for Local Food Partnerships, enabling partnerships to work together on shared challenges and opportunities.

While the funding emerged partly from underspend, its impact has been significant. Crucially, it has empowered regions to:
- Build collaborative projects
- Share learning and innovation
- Strengthen local infrastructure
- Explore new models of localised food resilience
The Dyfed-Powys region seized this opportunity, forming a collaboration between Powys, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire. Inspired by Tim Lang’s work, they asked ‘How can we turn these national findings into practical action at regional level?’.

The Dyfed Powys Civil Food Resilience Project

The regional collaboration commissioned two major strands of research:
1. Research by Miller Research – a rapid but wide-ranging analysis of food resilience across the region.
2. A participatory innovation process led by CAT’s Innovation Lab – gathering diverse voices from across the food system to test, challenge, and deepen the research findings.
The event hosted at CAT formed the heart of this participatory approach. Around 70 participants attended two workshops (one online and one in person), representing the entire food system:
- Growers and farmers
- Wholesalers and logistics professionals
- Retailers
- Food banks and community food groups
- Policy makers and local authorities
- Researchers and educators
The aim was twofold:

1. Understand the Current State

Participants examined the findings from Miller Research, discussing where vulnerabilities lie today and which groups are most exposed.

2. Explore Future Scenarios

Using CAT’s Innovation Lab methodology, participants worked through plausible shock scenarios—power cuts, extreme weather, supply disruptions, labour shortages—and assessed what readiness (or lack thereof) looks like on the ground.

The energy in the room was powerful. Many participants said it was the first time they had been able to speak openly about the real risks facing the food system. The process surfaced:
- High levels of local expertise
- Shared concerns across sectors
- Real appetite for coordinated regional action
- Examples of missed opportunities to link local production with local need
- Concrete barriers that communities face in accessing food during shocks
Perhaps most importantly, it highlighted the enormous potential of civil food resilience – the capacity already present in communities, if supported and connected.

What happened following the workshop at CAT

On 16 March, the four local food partnerships met at a Food Security Summit in Aberystwyth to share findings from the research and innovation lab workshops, gather wider input, and begin shaping a roadmap for regional action.

Although the current project runs only until the end of the financial year, there is strong ambition to secure additional investment. The hope is to:
- Implement recommendations from the research
- Strengthen local food distribution networks
- Build long-term collaboration between counties
- Test new resilience approaches across more regions
- Develop civil-led preparedness strategies
- Continue scenario-based planning and innovation
Why was CAT so well placed to support this work?

Our unique combination of expertise made CAT the ideal convener.

1. Innovation Lab Methodology

CAT has deep experience designing participatory, whole-systems processes that help diverse groups navigate complexity. This was the primary reason the partners approached CAT for the ability to bring people together in a constructive, structured, and empowering way.

Click here to learn more about CAT’s Innovation Lab

2. A History of Food in CAT’s Sustainability Vision

Food has long played a role in CAT’s thinking – from the early community who lived and grew food on site, to the development of postgraduate programmes in food systems and sustainability.

Learn more about CAT’s MSc in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources programme

3. A Physical Space Designed for Collaboration

CAT’s site provides an environment where people can think differently, step out of day-to-day pressures, and work collectively on long-term challenges.

Learn more about CAT’s on-site educational offer

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June 11, 2026
New Wales-wide climate action project “Troi’r Llanw / Turning the Tide”

This World Environment Day, the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) is proud to announce the launch of a major new three-year climate action project, Troi’r Llanw/Turning the Tide.

Thanks to National Lottery players, Troi’r Llanw/Turning the Tide has received £1,499,800 over three years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The project aims to normalise community-led climate work, ensure marginalised voices shape environmental decisions, and help people feel empowered in the face of the climate crisis. The project is led by the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) alongside Cwmpas, Youth Cymru, Mentrau Iaith Cymru, and Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales (EYST).

A Wales-wide approach to community-led climate action

The project, which directly links with this year’s World Environment Day theme (A Global Call for Climate Action), aims to influence community-led climate action by delivering a Wales-wide (bilingual) programme to promote climate action. It will link community initiatives to share innovations and good practice, create and support a peer network of environmental champions, and disseminate results to inform Welsh and UK-level policy and practice.

To achieve this, partners will deliver an integrated programme of awareness raising, capacity building, co-production, and systems change approaches. It will also provide technical advice and tailored support, practical help for climate focused social enterprises, and an information and advice hub, while nurturing environmental champions and a learning network, hosting an annual gathering and learning conference, and driving evaluative research and policy engagement.

Ultimately, the project aims to strengthen climate literacy and awareness, build capacity for action and support community-led projects while promoting a just and fair transition to a more sustainable future. By sharing stories of successful local action, and encouraging policy dialogue, it will work to ensure that community perspectives influence decision makers. The initiative aims to draw on the strengths and networks of its delivery partners to reach target communities and guide people from everyday conversations to sustained climate action and wider policy impact.

This comes from the Climate Action Fund, a long-term commitment to support communities across the UK to act on climate change and involve more people in positive environmental action.

Over the next three years, the project will directly engage thousands of people across Wales, supporting communities in rural, urban and coastal areas, with a particular focus on those facing social, economic and environmental disadvantage enabling them to turn ideas into practical solutions – from community energy and food projects to skills development, nature recovery and low-carbon innovation.

Civic Square community group on a tour of the CAT site. Photo by Dan Griffiths

Strong partnerships reaching diverse communities

Amanda Smith, Head of Learning and Education at CAT and Project Lead, said:

“Troi’r Llanw / Turning the Tide, thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund, brings together the strengths of organisations across Wales to make climate action more accessible, relevant and achievable for everyone. At CAT, we are uniquely placed to lead this ambitious programme by bringing over 50 years of experience in climate education, community engagement and practical solutions, but we know that real change happens when we work in partnership. By combining our expertise with the deep community connections of our partners, we can reach a wider and more diverse range of people, supporting communities to build the knowledge, confidence and skills they need to turn ideas into lasting, local action.”

Through this project, CAT will provide strategic leadership, climate expertise, training and technical support — helping communities move from initial engagement to sustained, practical action.

Photo by Mohamed Hassan

Working in partnership alongside Cwmpas, Youth Cymru, Mentrau Iaith Cymru, and Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales (EYST) will enable the project to reach communities right across Wales inspiring and enabling them to take practical, locally-led action on climate change – ensuring that those most affected by climate impacts are at the heart of the response.

Myfanwy Jones, Director of Mentrau Iaith Cymru said:

“Mentrau Iaith Cymru is excited to be part of this important project to empower communities to take action for the climate.  Stimulating Welsh-medium discussions in our communities is something Mentrau Iaith Cymru are passionate about.  We look forward to fostering new partnerships through the project for the benefit of our communities.”

Bethan Webber, Chief Executive of Cwmpas said:

“We are delighted to be part of the Troi’r Llanw / Turning the Tide project, working with our partners to reach communities across Wales and inspiring them to take practical, local-led action on climate change.

At Cwmpas, we believe everyone in Wales can help to build a fairer, greener economy and a more equal society. That is why it is so important that communities feel empowered to get involved, make decisions that reflect their local priorities, and take practical action, especially in response to the climate emergency and the need to reduce our carbon impact. We are proud to be a part of this project and look forward to supporting Welsh communities to turn their innovative ideas into meaningful action.”

Helal Uddin from Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST) said:

“We are grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund and to the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) for this important opportunity to be part of the Troi’r Llanw / Turning the Tide partnership.

At EYST, we see every day how climate change and environmental challenges intersect with wider inequalities facing our communities. Through this project, we will work closely with young people, families and community groups across Wales to raise awareness, build skills and inspire action that is rooted in cultural values and community strengths. By creating safe spaces for dialogue, delivering hands-on learning and supporting local environmental champions, we aim to ensure that those often underrepresented in climate conversations are not only included, but empowered to lead change in their communities. We believe it is all our responsibility to leave a positive environmental footprint and a lasting legacy for future generations.”

Together, these partners bring extensive grassroots networks, trusted relationships and deep expertise in working with communities who are often underrepresented in climate conversations. This collaborative approach ensures the project can meet people where they are, connecting climate action to everyday concerns such as jobs, energy costs, health and community wellbeing.

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June 5, 2026