“Have you not fixed that yet?” Manu Maunganidze, Director of Inclusion and Climate Justice at SOS-UK, opened the RACE Summit sharing a throwaway comment made that reflects a wider misconception: that racial justice is a problem that should already have been solved.
The reality is that progress is neither inevitable nor linear. Across the UK, we are seeing heightened political polarisation, growing attacks on marginalised communities and attempts to shape public narrative around race, migration and social justice. The Summit’s theme of narrative was timely.
Data-driven stories
The RACE Report was built on the premise that you can’t change what you can’t see. National datasets repeatedly tell us that environment and climate professions are amongst the least diverse in the UK, with the RACE Report confirming this. A stark 4.7%, of approximately 28,000 members of staff in 138 organisations that took part in the 2025 survey, were people of colour or other ethnically minoritised staff, compared to 17% of the UK working population.
At the Summit, Jabeer Butt, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation, suggested that data doesn’t always tell the story. What data are we relying on? Who is not represented in that evidence and what story does it tell?
Something that really resonated was his provocation that “anti-racist practice is about making better decisions with the evidence we have while continuing to improve it.” In essence, we should never let not having a full picture slow us down.
We know that data on its own rarely changes mind. At a time when anti-racism and inclusion initiatives are increasingly scrutinised or underfunded we can combine robust evidence with human-centred storytelling to fill the gap between what we know is – or isn’t – happening and why.
The far-right understands the power of narrative exceptionally well. In politics and the media, simple stories are regularly spun to gloss over complex issues, create fear and insight division. Facts and data are often misconstrued or ignored.
Therefore, to create a more diverse and equitable sustainable sector, we need positive stories that centre belonging, community and justice. We can demonstrate how diverse perspectives strengthen organisations and movements and why diversity is fundamental to climate and food justice.
The story many organisations tell themselves is that progress is happening therefore over time, representation will improve. The latest RACE Report data suggests otherwise. The sector has become better at talking about race, measuring diversity and developing commitments. But representation alone does not create inclusion, nor does it impact the power imbalances within the sector. If people enter organisations and find limited opportunities to progress, experience racism or exclusion, or become the default people responsible for driving organisational change, then recruitment gains are fragile. We may have changed some of the language, but we have not changed the systems.
What organisations need to do better
Returning to the theme of narrative, organisations need to think carefully about the stories they are telling, both internally and externally, and what shapes those. Who gets celebrated? Whose expertise is valued? Whose experiences are treated as evidence? Who is visible in leadership?
Storytelling is not a simple comms exercise. It shapes organisational culture and influences who feels a sense of belonging. Positive storytelling can help challenge assumptions about who this movement is for and where leadership shows up beyond a job title.
If we are serious about creating a more representative and inclusive sector, organisations and leaders need to be intentional and play the long game. We will only have a truly justice-centred sector when people that live and work by those values are in positions of power and leadership. We need to invest in relationships, networks and communities over time to nurture a diverse pipeline of talent and to more meaningfully centre racial justice within our organisations.
Beyond that, we need to look at experiences once people enter the workforce. People from marginalised backgrounds can feel unable to bring their whole selves to work and have concerns around contributing fully without fear of negative consequences (as evidenced through Diverse Sustainability Initiative findings shared at the event). We feel the pressure of political and social frictions around us, often without it being acknowledged or supported. Psychological safety was mentioned several times throughout the day.
One of the most powerful sessions at the Summit explored honest conversations about race in the workplace – it was so empowering to hear Sustain trustee Beatrice Anomah of Radically Rooted spoke about how we need to sit in discomfrot to move forward, but that we also much centre joy in racial justice work.
The importance of the RACE Report
At a time when anti-racism, migration and social justice are increasingly contested in public debate, our sector must be confident in telling its own story to sit alongside the data. Tell stories that diversity strengthens the movement; that racial justice, climate justice and food justice are inseparable; and that everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in the future we are trying to build.
One practical way to contribute to this change is by participating in the RACE Report. The more organisations that contribute, the stronger our evidence base becomes and the better equipped we are to understand where change is - and isn't - happening.
We therefore encourage alliance members, and others, to take part in this year’s RACE Report by submitting a response by 25 September 2026. It doesn’t matter if you currently have zero or no racial diversity in your organisation. The report will help your organisation, and the wider movement, to use the findings as a catalyst for change. There is no red card for low numbers! The more organisations that contribute data, the richer the evidence base becomes and the stronger our stories and ability to create change will be.
If your organisation is not yet participating in the RACE Report and would like to discuss it in practice, please get in touch with Sustain’s Diversity Outreach Coordinator, sareta@sustainweb.org.
