Our story
Possible was born in the summer of 2009. People came out of the climate change blockbuster, The Age of Stupid, asking ‘but what can I do?’.
We wanted to be able to offer them a decent answer, so we got to work. .
From our founding challenge to cut carbon by 10% by 2010 to our world-leading Solar Schools campaign, our community tree-planting weekends, and our Going Car Free challenges, we’ve spent the last 17 years turning the idea of a zero-carbon Britain into something people can see, join in with and get excited about.
For our first ten years, we went by the name 10:10 Climate Action, a nod to our founding 10% campaign. In 2019, the demands of the climate crisis had shifted and we needed a fresh approach for the 2020s and relaunched with our new name, Possible.
We kept the same can-do attitude and our focus on community action - those things have always been the core of our work, and they’re not going anywhere.
The early 2020s needed us to get more political - we went bigger and bolder in
getting the UK’s decision makers to step up and make low-carbon lifestyles easier for everyone. Our people-powered campaigns have achieved real wins -including removing policy blocks on onshore wind power, expanding ULEZ, and raising taxes on private jets.
But now things have shifted again. While the climate movement has been busy focusing on policy makers, a rise in climate misinformation has been gaining ground, threatening to turn the public against climate action - a move that could undo everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Billionaires who serve to benefit from the status quo are threatened by climate policies. They’re poisoning the public against net zero by pushing the story that
it's too late and too expensive to do anything about, that climate action is a luxury, meant only for the privileged few. This is a story built out of fear and blame and giving up. And it’s not true.
Climate action can and does make life better - right here and right now. And since we started back in 2009, we’ve been proving that, showing how it delivers cheaper energy bills, cleaner air, safer streets, healthier neighborhoods, stronger communities. That story is needed more than ever before.
So now we’re going to the communities who’ve never been shown that climate action can improve their lives, we’ll build projects with them, and we’re going to bring these positive stories to the millions of people who need to hear them.
Our proudest achievements
2009-10: The original 10:10 campaign.
We rallied over 100,000 people and 7,000 organisations to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010. Together we cut nearly a million tonnes of carbon.
2011-16: Solar Schools.
Our pioneering campaign worked with 80 schools across the country to crowdfund for bill-busting, carbon-cutting power rooftop solar panels. 2,500+ were installed, saving 40,000 tonnes of carbon - and the model continues to be replicated around the world.
2013-16: Back Balcombe.
Balcome, a sleepy Sussex village, woke up in 2013 to the first fracking drilling in the UK. Local residents decided they wanted clean energy instead - so we teamed up to help the 'fracking village' go solar with community energy. When the dust settled, a 5MW solar farm - and not a single fracking well - was left.
2019: The election Climate Debate.
We sprang into action to ensure the climate crisis wasn’t forgotten in late 2019’s snap general election. Demanding a dedicated party leaders’ TV climate debate we rallied the sector, recruited party leaders, lobbied broadcasters and presented a 200,000+ strong petition - and we won! With 1 in 4 people seeing it and 1 in 2 hearing about it, we put climate front and centre amidst the political chaos.
2017-2024: Blown Away - our campaign to unblock onshore wind
In 2015, David Cameron's government brought in policy blocks that made it impossible to put a wind turbine on English soil and benefit from cheap, clean, locally-generated electricity. We campaigned for years - raising awareness of this niche policy issue, mobilising people across the country to lobby their local MPs, and we won - in 2024, the government finally changed the planning regulations to unblock new onshore wind projects .
2021 onwards: Sustainable Travel Leave.
Our trailblazing employee benefits scheme helps people swap planes for trains. Participating employers offer staff additional paid ‘journey days’ when they choose low carbon holiday travel. Sustainable Travel Leave is taking off: 4,000 employees are covered already, the government’s Climate Change Committee has joined, and we’ve had coverage from every major media outlet in the UK - and we’re only just getting started.
2022 onwards: Fixing Factories.
Fixing Factories are community repair hubs where you can learn how to fix household electronics and get your own broken items fixed with the support of our volunteers. With the help of our partners at Restart Project, and our team of fantastic volunteers, we're helping people save money, learn new skills and cut waste – and carbon. We’ve got five Fixing Factories up and running and are on a mission to get them on high streets across the country.
