Polarisation Doesn’t Have To Be The Death Of Your Projects
Polarisation is more than a clash of opinions: it is a structural problem that isolates the very people who could drive change, stalling projects and stranding investment. Stephen Backhouse sets out the premise behind North Star Transition’s Navigating Polarisation workshops that give leaders practical tools to act across the divides.
Disconnected allies: How our Theory of Transition found us
North Star Transition did not set out to write a theory of transition. We set out, as co-founder Jyoti Banerjee recounts, to transform a landscape. Along the way we learned how to drive a systemic transformation.
The investment industry construct: where capital comes to die
In the summer of 2026, North Star Transition hosted a London meeting of investment industry professionals to explore the purpose of the investment industry. Led by Tim Hodgson, the meeting asked whether the investment system could continue as before as boundary after planetary boundary is breached.
Structuring Regenerative Organisations: What Shape to Choose?
The legal structure of an organisation can be the crucial factor in whether hoped-for outcomes are achieved. Jack Colvin, a lawyer in our governance team, explores legal questions, advantages and disadvantages that should be considered when establishing a regenerative project.
Valuing ecosystems: Lessons from my North Star Transition internship
Should ecosystems valuations focus on economic value? Reflecting on her internship at North Star Transition, Lea Jordon-Tank seeks a holistic value framework that is at odds with received wisdom.
How resilient is your business plan?
Most companies accept they must reshape their business models to cope with climate change, nature loss, geopolitics and disruption — but few are moving at the pace needed. The barriers are mostly about how organizations behave, not technical or scientific limits.
Embedding NbS within infrastructure projects
Lea Jordan-Tank explores how the barriers that block investment into Nature-based Solutions can be tackled. The most effective path forward could be embedding solutions into commercially viable business models.
Infra decisions: why water cannot solve water’s problems
The UK’s water companies proposed spending billions on nature-based solutions (NBS) in their last five-year spending plans. We will be lucky to see a tiny fraction of that number actually get spent on nature. Jyoti Banerjee gets behind the data to ask why infrastructure fails the nature and resilience test.
Fens Transition Lab - a video introduction
September 4th marked the launch of Fens Transition Lab, Phase 2. Jyoti Banerjee introduces the video made of the proceedings.
Phase 2 of Fens Transition Lab starts with wide engagement
As Phase 2 of Fens Transition Lab launches across the east of England, Lea Jordan-Tank asks her colleagues at North Star Transition what they are hoping to achieve.
Fera Science and North Star Transition partner to drive systemic change
Vicky Vanderstichele lays out the thinking behind the announcement of a partnership between Fera and North Star Transition to drive systemic change initiatives.
An agroforestry transition in the Fens
Stephen Briggs is helping design and lead a nation-wide farm transition plan. Matthew Phan caught up with him in his Fens base to hear how Stephen has fared in transitioning his own farm.
Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions: Opportunities for Transformational change?
When the River Wye carries the landscape’s prime resource - its top soil - down to the sea, everybody loses. Nick Hooper explores how to attract mainstream investments to address the root causes of environmental degradation through nature-based solutions.
Welcoming North Star Transition’s advisory Council
It’s a time for reflection and looking ahead. Olivier Boutellis welcomes North Star Transition’s newly appointed Advisory Council as we reach the fourth anniversary of our first Transition Lab meeting.
A bazaar approach to transforming a landscape
Wye-Usk Transition Lab aims to facilitate transformation of the catchments of the Wye and Usk rivers into regenerative, healthy and thriving areas for people and nature. Rebecca Annells outlines the North Star Transition approach to developing a truly transformational plan.
Aggregation: Unlocking Finance for Nature
We are witnessing nature’s collapse all around us. But where will the finance come from to restore nature and to protect against climate, social and health catastrophes? Jerome Tagger reports on North Star Transition’s 2023 investigations into the feasibility of investing in nature at landscape scale.
Wye-Usk Transition Lab completes Phase One of a Regenerative Journey
When the then UK environment secretary Therese Coffey described the Wye as “unfavourable-declining” we at North Star Transition asked how we could make the Wye and Usk landscapes completely regenerative. Jo Jones relates the progress we made in the Wye-Usk Transition Lab in 2023.
Wales Transition Lab plots its next steps
In April, our Wales Transition Lab team enjoyed an excellent opportunity to meet some of the Lab’s participants at the wonderful Spark building in Cardiff. Jyoti Banerjee reports back on the new ideas and hopes being brought into the Lab.
North Star Transition announces strategic partnership with Apella Advisors
Jenny Scott and Jyoti Banerjee have known each other for years. Now the organisations they co-founded, Apella and North Star Transition, are entering a strategic partnership to accelerate systems change.
Driving systems Change: North Star Transition partners with Mott MacDonald
A partnership between North Star Transition and Mott MacDonald brings together our unique Transition Lab systems change chops with their infrastructure, environmental and digital expertise.