The environment and conservation professions are among the least diverse in the UK. Yet people of colour and racially or ethnically marginalised groups are often the most affected by the climate crisis, and its intersecting challenges. We won’t solve the climate crisis with the same people and thinking that created it; we need new voices in the room. This isn’t a handbook, but a case study to help you initiate conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion in your own organisation. We are not the experts in this work, so we have also signposted you to those who are, and the services that are necessary for inclusivity and diversity in the climate movement.

1. Follow us on social media:
@forceofnature.xyz
@fon_xyz
Force of Nature
Who's not
in the room?
Centring diverse young
people in UK climate jobs

2. DEI Research Report
What’s the issue?
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So, we set out to understand these barriers in more nuance — within the
industry at large, and within our own organisation. We then developed strategies to
actively address them.
The environment and conservation professions are among the least diverse in the UK.
Yet people of colour and racially or ethnically marginalised groups are often the most
affected by the climate crisis, and its intersecting challenges.
“Unless we hear from diverse experiences,
the story hasn't been fully narrated.
Those living through the climate crisis need
to be in decision-making spaces.”
- Shelot Masithi, South Africa
In 2022, 91 organisations submitted data on the race
and ethnicity of their staff members to The RACE
report. The proportion of those who identify as
people of colour and racially or ethnically
marginalised groups is 7% compared to 14% in the
UK working population.
We won’t solve the climate crisis with the same
people and thinking that created it; we need new
voices in the room. At Force of Nature, we’ve spent
the past four years helping young people take action
on the climate crisis. Yet we recognise that the same
barriers that impact diverse communities engaging in
the UK climate movement, also affect the young
people we seek to serve.

3. DEI Research Report
Many individuals fear tokenisation; meaning, recruitment for the
purpose of “fixing” an organisation’s diversity “problem”.
We conducted quantitative research with Word on the Curb, consulted a focus group
and interviewed experts in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). We emerged with the
following headline insights…
Environmental sector jobs are seen as either highly technical and reliant on
unique degree/qualifications, or low-paying, high risk and relatively
unstable organising roles that may not be “worth the risk” if you come
from a disadvantaged or historically excluded background.
Our research
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Environmental sector jobs are less likely to have salary transparency
and clear job roles.
Jargon is common in the environmental space. This can be felt as
profoundly “othering” and create an in-group and an out-group,
especially for groups who have been historically excluded from these
spaces (such as non-white racial or ethnic groups, or those from
socioeconomic disadvantage).
Burnout is considered the norm in many environmental sector
organisations. The narrative of “self-sacrifice” deters many people,
especially for whom there are other issues in their day-to-day lives that
require them to prioritise a peaceful work environment.

4. DEI Research Report
How research informed
our recruitment
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We set out to recruit for two new roles at Force of Nature with these
learnings in mind. Here’s how the research informed our recruitment process:
Used a blind screening system to remove implicit biases.
Highlighted that the inclusion of diverse groups is essential to addressing our
climate crisis through clear language.
Offered our most competitive wage ever.
Used grassroots, community and DEI-focused recruitment channels to reach
diverse groups.
Removed jargon and simplified the language we used to explain what the roles
were and what they’d entail.
Focused on making sure that the people and organisations we platform repre-
sented a diversity of people and lived experiences.
Transparently communicated the salaries.
Made it clear that formal qualifications and experience are not necessary, and
encouraged people to apply even if they were unsure.
We had an unprecedented number of applicants - over 180 - and we reached a
much broader diversity of people.
Before this project, most applications came from South England and London.
However, this time, over half of the applicants from England were from North
England.
37% of applicants identified themselves as coming from non-white racial or
ethnic backgrounds (compared to census data which says that only 18% of the
UK are non-white).
34% of applicants identified themselves as non-straight, such as gay, bisexual, or
queer (compared to census data which says 3% of the UK population identify as
“other” than straight).
Over half of the respondents had experienced self-described characteristics of
socioeconomic disadvantage.
In marketing the roles, we:
In the application process, we:
We conducted demographic surveys alongside all of our expression of interest
forms for the job roles. We found that:
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DEI Research Report
Actions we’ve
already taken
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Our learnings influenced how we partner with organisations, set targets for
participation and perform outreach for our training pathways.
While this round of recruitment created the template, we have implemented a
policy to ensure that this is the minimum standard going forward.
We're in the process of upskilling the team with DEI training to empower a culture
of accessibility. This is an ongoing top priority, not just for 2023.
Alongside working to understand how our organisation can be more diverse and
accessible, we also focused on education and training for our existing team
members.
In the past 3 months the team has engaged in mandatory training reflecting on
topics such as colonialism, environmental racism, gender identity and more. In the
coming months, we will be sourcing and working with skilled, experienced
consultants from the groups which we seek to serve in order to maintain the legacy
of this project.
Upskilling the team:
First, we wanted to understand how our programmes can bring value,
empowerment and benefit to the communities we seek to serve.
Second, we wanted to ensure that our programmes are, indeed, reachable
and accessible by those communities.
Beyond role recruitment, we continue to ask ourselves who is - and who isn’t -
benefiting from our programming.
Programmes and partnerships:
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6. DEI Research Report
Plans for the future
5
We want to create spaces where youth from socially excluded groups, including
black and global majority groups; individuals of lower socioeconomic status;
women; the LGBTQ+ community, have equal access to our programmes
We also aim to provide stipends to young people from economically disadvantaged
backgrounds, as an incentive for completing our programmes.
Every vertical/team within the organisation (e.g. marketing or partnerships) has
explored how this research impacts and informs their work and has shared with the
whole organisation what they will do to improve DEI across the board.
We are educating and training our team to empower a culture of inclusivity and
accessibility.
We will serve a more diverse group of young people in both our partner-led and
in-house training programmes, in order to build opportunity and legacy.
We will recruit and resource consultants from the communities we seek to serve to
help us understand how our programming can be more inclusive.
We will ensure the overrepresentation of historically underrepresented young
voices across our platforms, in order to centre the voices and lived experiences of
those most affected by our climate and ecological crisis.
We will recruit an advisory board of young people from diverse backgrounds,
to advise on all aspects of the organisation. They will be remunerated.
For our programmes and partnerships, we aim to increase the number of
young people who we mobilise through our programmes.
What’s next?
Our three year plan looks like…
2023
1,000+ young people
complete A2A classroom
(35% from underserved
backgrounds)
500+ complete BaFoN
200+ graduate through
3 training pathways
2024
2,000+ young people
complete A2A classroom
(40% from underserved
backgrounds)
1,000+ complete BaFoN
(stipends available)
400+ graduate through 4
training pathways (new training
on social entrepreneurship)
2025
10,000+ young people
complete A2A classroom
(50% from underserved
backgrounds)
4,000+ complete BaFoN
(stipends available)
1,000+ graduate through 5
training pathways
(new training on policy change)
A2A= Anxiety to Agency classroom / BaFoN = Becoming a Force of Nature
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7. DEI Research Report
Recommendations:
experts and training
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We are grateful for the partners who have supported us, and from whom we continue
to learn from and grow with.
We’re aware we’re not perfect and we know this work is mission critical.
We have worked hard so far, and we know there is still so much more to be done.
We understand that this report alone cannot encompass everything required to build
a truly diverse and unbiased organisation. Therefore we are putting both short-term
and long-term actions in place which will help to improve our diversity, equity and
inclusion and fundamentally make Force of Nature a better organisation and
movement to be a part of. We have always said we want to model the world we're
trying to create, so that's what this is.
This report should in no way be used as a handbook, but instead a case study to help
you initiate these conversations in your own organisation. We are not the experts in
this work and so we'd like to signpost you to those who are, and the services that are
necessary for inclusivity and diversity in the climate movement.
We are not the experts in this work and so we’d like to signpost you to those
who are, and the services that are necessary for inclusivity and diversity in the
climate movement.
• Intersectional Environmentalist climate justice collective, and their
incredible book “The Intersectional Environmentalist”
• Isaias Hernandez, Environmental Educator
• Word on the Curb
• With Diversity Consulting
• Unleashed Training and Consulting
• Daphne Frias, youth disability and environmental justice activist
• The What If Experiment
• Diversity Marketplace
• Word on the Curb
• Will James and “With” Consulting
• Daze Aghaji
• Our community of young people
• Tori Tsui and Bad Activist Collective
Partners we have worked with, and existing partners:

8. Follow us on social media:
@forceofnature.xyz
@fon_xyz
Force of Nature
Who's not
in the room?
Centring diverse young
people in UK climate jobs