Islington Climate Panel

In 2024, the Islington Climate Panel - made up of a diverse set of people in Islington - worked together to answer:

"What does a climate-resilient Islington look like and how do we get there?"

Panel members learned about climate change risks, impacts and hazards and discussed them with us, subject matter experts, and community partner organisations.

They considered how we can reduce the risks posed by climate change by improving Islington's 'climate resilience'. This included what can be done to make the borough greener and reducing the risk of flooding and extreme heat.

Watch a video on how the climate panel worked together

What the panel did

Through 9 sessions held between April and November 2024, the panel developed: 

• 21 guiding principles for building climate resilience in Islington 
• 6 community resilience proposals 
• 11 'greening the borough' proposals 

Their ideas and priorities ask us: 

• to take action, along with businesses and partners
• to empower people in the borough to take action

What we are doing now

We’ve been working to take forward the panel’s recommendations.

As of February 2026, we have:

• created a 'cool spaces map' so people living in or visiting Islington can find water fountains and places to cool down during hot weather
• hired someone who will help us build a volunteer scheme for residents to help others during severe weather
• looked for and found suitable prayer spaces in parks for Muslim residents so they can more easily use green spaces
• published information and a toolkit for businesses to work out, plan for and fix their climate risks
• put £1.3m towards 1.5 hectares of new green space and continue to work on making neighbourhoods and school streets better for everyone
• launched a project with young researchers to engage with and work on new recommendations for youth-lef green future, including 2 members of the climate panel
• created a new communications plan to help vulnerable groups in extreme weather including building a list of partner organisations who work withthose groups so we can reach them easier during the harsh summer, autumn and winter months

Read more detail about all of these actions so you can see how we took the panel's suggestions and used them to do more for Islington.

New way of communicating

The panel asked us to create a communications plan to empower residents to look after themselves during extreme heat, including language translation and targeting vulnerable people with data.

What we have done

We made communications about extreme heat more accessible to those most at risk.

During the summer 2025 heatwave, we:

• delivered 3,200 leaflets to vulnerable residents living in council properties that had tips on keeping homes cool, advice on avoiding heat exhaustion, and emergency contacts for help
• shared information on cool spaces in the magazine Islington Life
• gave advice on keeping your home cool and how to see signs of heat exhaustion on social media and screens around estates

We also created a new communications plan for extreme heat with a focus on targeting vulnerable residents:

• we shared information on cool spaces and avoiding heat exhaustion in summer 2025 via Islington Life, social media, digital estate noticeboards
• we delivered about cool spaces and heat advice leaflets to vulnerable residents living in council properties
• we built a list of partner organisations who work with vulnerable groups including older residents and those with mental and physical health conditions, and used it for our heatwave communications 

Ambitious greening

The panel asked that we plant more trees on main streets and create a linear park (a green space from a long grey, unused space). They also said greening should happen when roadworks are taking place to minimise disruption to residents.

What we have done

Expanded our greening on main streets through our Liveable Neighbourhoods programme which has included:

• three new pocket parks
• new trees and planting in The Cally
• starting new greenery with bench in Mildmay
• consulted on Annette Road including proposals for rain gardens and space for play and community gardening, with more trees for shade - the consultation closed in August 2025 and we are reviewing feedback

We have also continued to work on greening at the same time as highways roadworks in the same excavation site before the road is reinstated. We estimate that this has saved 100 days of disruption across 24 work sites in 2025.

What's next

Developing a green infrastructure strategy to find areas where future greening could reduce flooding and keep things cooler during heatwaves and the best ways to make these improvements. 

Helping people in Islington to take their own action

Cool spaces map and directory

To help you stay cool and safe during hot weather, the panel said we should map cool spaces and drinking stations on streets in the borough.

We now have a cool spaces map on our website that shows you where water fountains are, opening times for buildings and wheelchair accessibility. Residents can sit, rest and get drinking water at any of the cool spaces on the map.

During heatwaves of summer 2025 there were 275 visits to the map between June and October 2025.

As not everyone can use an online map, we included a cool spaces directory in the summer 2025 issue of Islington Life (page 24) and the July to September 2025 Islington Age UK newsletter.

Volunteering opportunities

The panel wanted us to create new opportunities for community volunteers to contribute to climate resilience, including a volunteer network of Heatwave Champions to support health and wellbeing during heatwaves, and a scheme for local volunteers to plant and maintain greenspaces.

We have:

• promoted local volunteering opportunities in the winter 2025 issue of Islington Life
• created a new volunteering page on our website about local environmental organisations they can volunteer with
• funding for an officer to help build a volunteer network, to start in March 2026

We are also applying for more funding to support place-based, community-led climate action including:

• the National Lottery Climate Action Fund with Voluntary Action Islington, Octopus Community Network (OCN) and UCL for neighbourhood-level climate action
• to add to £50,000 of Tufnell Park ward funding to support OCN’s Nature Neighbourhoods Project for changing community centres into hubs of volunteer-led growing and greening
• a way to fund more work to support and grow our Islington volunteers like our Greener Together Champions programme that finished in 2024

Supporting Muslim residents to access green spaces

The panel wanted us to support mosques to green their own spaces and support their communities to use nearby green spaces.

We have:

• engaged with mosques to develop ways to do this
• supported Finsbury Park mosque to develop their Green Plan
• partnered with Al-Bayaan Academy for a walk where attendees learned about local trees, with many wanting to care for local trees as an act of sadaqah (voluntary charitable giving)
• collaborated with Muslim climate panellists to find suitable prayer spaces in parks and will launch one in Whittington Park in 2026 

We want to build on this work in 2026 by providing opportunities for local mosques to upskill their staff and community members and to participate in planting. 

Engaging residents

We have:

• run community workshops and engagement events about our new Climate Action Plan in summer 2025 before drafting the plan in spring 2026
• worked with the London School of Economics (LSE) to bring young people into policymaking on public greening (the Rethinking Green Transitions youth peer research project)
• trained 4 young researchers from Islington, including 2 from the climate panel, to engage over 150 young people and work on 31 recommendations to create a more equal and youth-led green future for Islington

We are looking into test projects to see if we can put these recommendations into action. Next we will create practical, creative tools for young people to get involved in green policymaking.

Commitments to working with business and partners to support them to take action

Supporting businesses

The panel said we should create a framework for businesses to understand risks, create their own plans and for us to audit and certify them on their climate resilience. They also said we can help connect businesses to community groups so that their staff could take part in local greening initiatives. 

We have:

• created a guide (with the Islington Sustainability Network and Love Design Studios) to help businesses assess their climate resilience, launched in November 2025 - we will hold events and workshops for local businesses and create a short guide for small and micro businesses
• continued to support small businesses with our energy efficiency grants which provide up to £1,500 towards works to improve energy efficiency

We have not yet been able to develop a volunteering programme for Islington businesses to use their staff volunteering hours and corporate social responsibility commitments on greening projects run by us and other community organisations.

Greening schools

The panel said we should work with schools and students to design greening on roads next to schools and involve schools and colleges in greening work.

We have:

• supported schools to apply for Department of Education grants for greening projects, and in 2025 Islington schools got grants of £10,000 each, and will support new schools to do this in 2026
• worked with University College London (UCL) to evaluate the impact of green space infrastructure on school grounds on climate adaptation
• continued with greening ideas and traffic control measures near schools through our School Streets scheme, shaped by community engagement to ensure the changes are what students, teachers, and parents want and need
• expanded the School Streets scheme to secondary schools and held a consultation on the Elizabeth Garret Anderson School Street in late 2025

Working with partners

The panel said that we should work towards better collaboration with partners such as Highways England, Canal and River Trust, and Transport for London to promote greening in shared spaces.  

We are planning for our new Climate Action Plan to focus on opportunities for us to make the most of its role as a connector.

During engagement on the plan so far, we’ve been working with Islington Anchor Institutions, businesses in the Islington Sustainability Network, and pan-London groups including London Councils Resilient and Green Working Group to share good practice and identify opportunities for partnership delivery that can be included in the plan.

Since the climate panel, we’ve also started working towards using our buying power to open up contractor funding for greening by making it part of our supplier social value contributions when hiring companies for contracting.

About climate resilience and adaptation

Climate change is making extreme weather events worse and more frequent in the UK. We have had more unprecedented heatwaves and flooding, with more serious effects likely in the future.

These climate impacts are felt most by disadvantaged communities so our response to the climate crisis must do its best to protect our most vulnerable residents.

We must adapt how we manage these impacts and prepare for the future. The Islington Climate Panel is part of how we are using resident voices, needs and priorities to shape a more climate resilient borough.

Changing how we engage and work with you 

The Islington Climate Panel is a pilot for a new way of involving and engaging with you on things we do. We will make sure there are more opportunities like this so that we can continue to work together for a more equal Islington.