A collaboration for nature and society

Best Corporate Partnership

The Met Office’s partnership with The Wildlife Trusts, a collective of 46 independent charities dedicated to protecting wildlife, exemplifies what a corporate-charity relationship can achieve.

Initiated in 2022, the partnership goes beyond traditional fundraising and has delivered meaningful environmental and organisational impact. In choosing a partner, the Met Office sought to leverage its climate science to support conservation, engage colleagues in meaningful volunteering and deliver joint communications that both educate and inspire. It also wanted a partner that embodied its organisational values, particularly Force for Good and Better Together.

For The Wildlife Trusts, the partnership offers income from fundraising, access to world-class climate expertise to inform conservation strategies, new scientific insights that support habitat restoration and species protection, and enhanced public engagement through co-branded campaigns.

Over the past three years, the Met Office has raised more than £21,000 for The Wildlife Trusts through fundraising and a corporate donation, but more importantly it has embarked on five research projects, involving 40 Met Office volunteers and 25 Wildlife Trust colleagues, to benefit the ambitions of the charity.

One project used UK climate data to identify future habitats for conservation, allowing the reintroduction of Meadow Clary, a rare plant species. Another linked weather patterns to ecological events, such as movements of chalk grassland butterflies, while current and future projected UK sea-surface temperatures were analysed to assess the likely response of the invasive Pacific oyster. The partnership also correlated rainfall and temperatures with barn owl chick survival rates in Northern Ireland.

The initiatives brought together climate scientists, conservationists and communicators to generate new insights into the impact of climate change on UK wildlife and habitats. Internal and external campaigns amplified the impact of the work.

The judges described the partnership as a ‘fabulous initiative’, that ‘connects with a strong and contemporary cause and clearly saw strong colleague engagement’. They added: ‘Great reputation building for the Met Office and clear benefits for The Wildlife Trusts.’