Our values and principles
Climate Action Leeds has a clear set of shared values and principles that guide our actions and decisions from the day-to-day to the long term.
We seek to put these core values into practice both within Climate Action Leeds and in our collaborations with partners. Putting our values into practice is something we are continually learning how to do better. This set of values and principles has evolved since the beginning of the project, with workshops for the people involved to deepen our shared understanding of what they mean in theory and in practice.
It is an ongoing process of learning and unlearning, listening to each other, reflecting together, and finding new ways to understand and act out our values together.
Justice, equality and climate
= we value ‘fairness’
Climate change has an unequal impact on different people in society, and different people have made different historical contributions to causing climate change. Our work attempts to ensure fairness amongst all people, by aiming to redress those imbalances, to achieve climate justice.
Safety, personal health and wellbeing
= we value ‘care’
​We encourage people to care for themselves, care for each other, and to care for the natural world. This allows us to function effectively as individuals and as a team, and to ensure we continue to live on a habitable planet.
Learning, connecting, respecting and caring
for nature
= we value ‘nature’
The plants, animals and natural systems we are surrounded by have integral worth and value. We want to remember we are a part of nature, not separate from it. We can learn a lot about how to relate with each other fairly and how to deal with climate change by re-connecting with how nature works.
Skills, knowledge
and experience
= we value ‘people’
Everyone is different, and we all bring a different array of skills, knowledge and lived experiences that can help to make our society better. We work in a way that respects all of this diversity and complexity, giving space and empowering everyone to flourish.
Communities, relationships and power
= we value ‘acting together’
​We recognise that effective groups require patient nurturing to enable us to develop trusting relationships and, ultimately, collective power. We build on the strength of our communities to advocate for our vision for a more sustainable Leeds.
