[171] Your Council and Climate Action – an update! With Annie Pickering from Climate Emergency UK

A Sustainable Life with Jen Gale

Podcast episode wise it was only 7 episodes ago, but time wise, almost a year has passed since I chatted to Annie Pickering from Climate Emergency UK about their Council Climate Scorecards.
In that chat we talked about why climate action from Local Authorities are important,. The operational carbon footprint of most local authroties might not be huge, but their sphere of influence over their local area is pretty big, and in fact of up to around a third of the UK’s emissions are under the influence of local authorities.
For most of us, we probably only interact with our local authority when we pay our council tax or we want to complain about bins or potholes, but there’s a whole lot more we can do to encourage and support our councils taking climate action.
When I spoke to Annie last year, we discussed the Plan scorecards, which were published in 2022 and looked at Local Authorities Climate Action Plans. We also started to talk about the plans that Climate Emergency UK had to produce a whole new set of scorecards for Actions. And this is what we’re talking about today! We dive into how the new scorecards were produced, how the results differ for councils from their plans to their actions, and the role of the scorecards in driving further action from local authorities and how we can use them to help us engage with our local councils.
There’s also a shout out for the Climate Emergency crowdfunder which is live at the moment, which is raising funds to help them get the scorecards out there being used in the most effective way possible, supporting the team at Climate Emergency to work with campaigners, councils and other organisations to use the Scorecards as an effective campaign tool to push for change, and to track this progress over time by publishing future editions of the Action Scorecards. Aviva Community Fun are providing match funding for the campaign until the 22^nd November, which means that any donation you make until then will be matched by Aviva. I know that times are tough right now, and that the expense of Christmas is looming, but if you do have any spare pennies, this is a great climate cause to donate to!
I thought this episode was fascinating. Let’s face it, Local Authorities are never going to be the sexy and exciting end of climate action, but they have huge scope for really positive impact, not just in terms of emissions reductions, but also in terms of engagement from local communities.
I really hope you enjoy it – do let me know if you go and check out the scorecards, if they prompt you to get in touch with your local authority or to think about what’s happening and what could be happening in your local area!

Annie Pickering - Co-Director Climate Emergency UK

GOOD NEWS!
In the new Good News section after the main interview, I share some of the good climate news happening (because there is some, I promise!). Here's this weeks pick:

• Uruguay's National Grid is powered by 98% green energy (NPR)
• Europe's disused coal mines are successfully heating our homes (Euronews.com)
• Much closer to home, I’ve just sent out 24 shiny Carbon Literacy certificates to successful participants of September’s Carbon Literacy courses – I ran one open course, one for the brilliant team at Everyday Plastic and one Carbon Literacy course for Veterinary Professionals which I run with Vet Sustain.
  To get their certificate, participants have to make two carbon saving pledges and there were some fabulous ones! Here are a few examples:
  - "I will commit to changing my investments and pension to sustainable choices" (if you're intrigued by this, do check out Episode 169 with Dan from Mother Tree!)
  - "I am going to design a Carbon Literacy training session to provide for my team. I will also put together a sustainability group with members from each department."
  - "I am going to commit to buying nothing new (as an individual) for the next three months. As someone with a bit of an Amazon habit, this will be a challenge."
  All of the pledges are great individually, but you really start to see the power of collective action when you add them up! So when I send out the certificates, I attach an infographic showing a conservative estimate for the emissions savings of their cohort's pledges. The total across all three groups for September comes in at a whopping 23,430kg CO2e - the equivalent of 6.7 return flights from London to Hong Kong! A huge thank you to all of the September learners for stepping up for the planet and coming on the course.
  There's more info and dates for Carbon Literacy training here if this is something you're interested in!
  

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LISTEN...

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USEFUL LINKS:

• Climate Emergency UK
  - Website
  - Facebook
  - Twitter/X
  - Instagram
  - Linked In
  - Council Climate Scorecards
  - Crowdfunder
  - Methodology
  - How to use the scorecards
  - How to use the scorecards training sessions:
  Weds 15th Nov 12pm (GMT)
  Thurs 7th Dec 5.30pm (GMT)
  - Campaigners guide to the Climate Action scorecards
  - 15 ways to improve your council's climate action
• Ashden
• Pesticide Action Network
• CoMo UK - bike lanes, active travel
• [164] - Your council and climate action - my chat from last year with Annie
• Carbon Literacy training
• The Sustainable(ish) Clubhouse
• Crap-free Christmas course
• FREE! Crap-free Christmas webinar

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What were your takeaways from this episode? Any lightbulb moments?
What are you going to go out and DO as a result of this episode?
Have you checked out the scorecards? How are your local authority doing?
Will you get in touch with your local authority?
Do share in a comment below!

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