Andi Grochowski is a force of nature; dynamic, engaged and passionate about Shetland and making life better for all those living in this group of islands north of 60° latitude. She is also the energy behind the second Shetland Climate Festival, which the Novara team was thrilled to be part of.

We arrived late into Lerwick late one evening, to be greeted with sunshine and a smile from an old friend. We’d sailed directly from Inverness, luxuriating in the near all-day and all-night sunshine, combined with mild and sunny weather; we were told it wouldn’t last – but it was an indicator of a changing climate in Shetland, with hotter and drier summers and wetter and windier winters.

Seagar was already on board and the following day, Despina joined us to assist on our stand at the climate festival. Following our discussions with Andi and her associates over the last few months, we started with some participatory mapping; a large map of Shetland and the question ‘What are the changes you’re seeing, or expect to see, as a result of climate change on Shetland?’

Those wetter and windier winters as well as drier and hotter summers topped the list. People were also concerned about a loss of biodiversity, especially birdlife, and a change in water temperature leading to different fish species being observed in Shetland waters. Extreme weather events were mentioned often, especially when it came to increasing storms which disrupted ferries or isolated some communities.

On the second day of the festival, we facilitated a workshop on the steps towards adaptation, following the themes that had arisen in the mapping exercise. The resulting discussion raised awareness and prompted participants to think about how to make their communities more resilient in the face of climate change.

It’s a question Andi deals with frequently and is at the heart of the Shetland Islands Council (SIC) declaring a climate emergency and the creation of a climate change team at the local authority – which sees collaboration as fundamental to creating a resilient Shetland.

‘We have a created the Shetland Partnership, which is a huge collaboration across key players like the NHS, University of Highlands and Islands, the council as well as Highlands and Islands enterprise’, says Andi. ‘All these different players come together to kind of take a broader approach and collectively come up with a shared partnership strategy for climate change’.

Andi readily acknowledges that the collaboration is much wider than just the council.

‘It’s about opening up and acknowledging that you don’t know everything, because you don’t, you never realistically do and trying to give room for others to speak about the challenges they’ve faced and the experiences they’ve had’.

In this collaboration, the council learns more about the interconnectedness of climate change issues. For example, like other islands, Shetland has a huge issue with fuel poverty, which is related to energy pricing, quality of housing and insulation.

One way of gathering those views is the annual Shetland Climate Festival. In its second year, Andi says is engaged more people across a broader range of the society.

‘This year, we had some presentations and workshops, which you were a part of, that were really well received, in addition to just having stands in exhibitions. It got some new messaging out in a different way than we usually do’, says Andi.

She was also delighted to have some Orkney Island engagement with Orcadian companies sharing their wealth and experience. Andi estimates they’re about ten years ahead of Shetland in research and development.

‘They’ve had a lot of pilot projects we can learn from. Them sharing their experience with us has been really meaningful, because we’re now starting to create partnerships and linkages with other island communities that face the same challenges we do’.

And Andi was thrilled with the Novara team’s input.

‘You guys did a fantastic job coming in with a fresh, different perspective and talking to our community, not from the council’s climate change team, but from the experiences that you’ve had. You also shared knowledge of different Scottish projects and linked us to initiatives as well.

‘There is a lot to learn from different islands and coastal communities that we kind of forget. Yours and Nigel’s wide breadth about climate science, climate and society and funding and how these things interact has been really good and helpful’.

Months on from Novara visiting Shetland, we are in regular contact with the Climate Change team in the Shetland Island Council – reinforcing a primary goal for Novara One Planet, which is to act as a networking and source of information for communities to continue their work becoming climate safe.