Welcome to the COP26 Regional Newsletter
Firstly, we would like to thank you for attending the COP26 Regional East Midlands Roadshow, with 173 people joining the virtual conference, 33 participants at the Worksop Turbine and a further 255 views on YouTube. The day was a great success and was an excellent opportunity to celebrate all the great low-carbon work happening in the region.
Hosting the event virtually gave us the opportunity to capture all the content from the day, from panel discussions to keynote speakers, which can now be found on the Nottinghamshire County Council Online Exhibition Space: Online exhibition for COP26 Regional Roadshow | Nottinghamshire County Council
This is the first of a series of planned quarterly newsletters, with the purpose of maintaining a legacy to the COP26 event. This is a great opportunity to promote and discuss all the work that continues to be completed.
To get involved with future editions of this newsletter please email Alex.smith1@nottscc.gov.uk
The Regional Roadshow identified some key objectives for future economic investment in people and places. These objectives are being turned into an action plan for the region so we can act jointly on these objectives.
As a local authority, we only have direct control over a small amount, however we do have a large influence sphere that is illustrated in the diagram below:
 Read a plain text version of the diagram above
Nottinghamshire County Council are currently developing the COP26 Action Plan and once approved will be supported by the Environment Agency.
The actions will focus on partnership working across the region that:
- Improves and helps promote green finance
- Share new approaches and technologies
- Helps to support the growth of green jobs and skills in the region
- Gives SMEs the tools to become greener
- Promotes active travel
- Supports innovation around energy generation
Alex Smith: Environment Strategy Manager, Nottinghamshire County Council
Hosting the COP26 event on a virtual platform enabled 173 online attendees to access the event with no requirements to travel. As a result of hosting this event virtually we estimate that 16,500 car miles were saved which is equivalent to average 65.3 tonnes of C02.
Through Nottinghamshire County Councils commitment to the COP26 event the council signed up to a County Green Pledge and have committed to further offset carbon by planting one tree for every attendee at the event in person and online.
This has funded the establishment and maintenance of 206 trees planted at Rufford Colliery as part of the Greenwood Community Forest Project. The native trees comprise of oak, birch, cherry, rowan, alder, willow, hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel and holly providing a rich and diverse mix that will provide benefits to the landscape, wildlife, people and the economy for years to come.
Rufford Colliery sees over 16 hectares of woodland created to meet the objectives of carbon sequestration, biodiversity gain and increased public access to green space. Taking only 5 weeks from start to finish, this site has seen over 3km of fencing installed and 18,000 trees planted through the Trees for Climate programme.
Also, as part of Innovation Nottinghamshire's support for the East Midlands COP26 Roadshow they worked with the National Trust to plant 25 trees to offset the carbon emissions related to the event.
The trees were planted through the National Trust's 'Plant a Tree' Scheme. Innovation Nottinghamshire is a new not for profit business based at the Worksop Turbine business centre where they are also leading the creation of Nottinghamshire's new Digital Innovation Centre and delivering the UK's 5G Career’s programme with college students across the county.
Next we will work with the Environment Agency to develop a regional match funded tree planting scheme. Please contact Nick Crouch for more information: nick.crouch@nottscc.gov.uk.
Since the Regional COP26 event, The Environment Agency and partners are continuing to explore an environmental and economic partnership across the River Trent region. Looking to promote collaborative best practice, strengthening relationships and new opportunities to achieve priorities.
The first quarter of 2022 will see the partnership build on the solid evidence base and agree initial objectives, bring in other key placemaking stakeholders and establish a suitable governance to best leverage the partnership and deliver interventions at scale across the River Trent region that meet the defined social, environmental and economic objectives.
The Partnership in context
- Outcomes for Thriving Places
- Enable projects to be strategically aligned to opportunities and to maximise benefits across the region
- Aligned to Green Growth budgets & focused on outcomes and informed by solid evidence and data.
We look forward to sharing this work with the wider community as it develops and keep you informed, we hope to make 2022 a pivotal year and emerge from the significant challenges the region has faced the last few years together with new energy, sharing resource and expertise and supporting each other and building on the momentum of the COP 26 Regional Event.
Stephen Marwood: Sustainable Growth Manager, Environment Agency - Stephen.Marwood@environment-agency.gov.uk
Carbon Copy is a UK charity, inspiring big-thinking local action on the climate crisis. Carbon Copy are working hard to share and celebrate the great low-carbon success stories from across the United Kingdom.
The objective of the website is to increase awareness of the brilliant things that people are engaging in today, to make sure it becomes the normality in the future. If the initiatives that are showcased on the website are replicated across the UK then collectively, we are addressing the environment and climate crisis.
As part of the COP26 Regional Roadshow East Midlands, we collected a wide range of case studies that demonstrates the great work that businesses, charities, and local authorities are undertaking across the region.
To find out more about the case studies collected, view the website or to upload your very own low-carbon success story click here: Carbon Copy - Share your local climate change action plan
To get in touch with one of the team please contact Rupert.Cope@Nottinghamcity.gov.uk
Rupert Cope, Regional Senior Energy Projects Officer, Midlands Energy Hub
|
