Climate politics

Vote against climate change in local council elections

At the local elections on May 5th 2022, Cumbrians will be voting for the councillors who will decide the priorities and policies of the two new Unitary Authorities for Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness. This is a historical moment for Cumbria and a unique opportunity to put action on climate change at the very heart of local government. Whilst directly responsible for only around 2-5% of local carbon emissions, local authorities can have a big influence on over more than 30% of local emissions through their policies, partnerships and funding streams. Action on climate change can bring many benefits [...]

By |2022-04-26T13:16:45+01:00April 26th, 2022|Climate politics, Homepage, News|

New report sets out Cumbrian energy projects in race to net zero

This month, the Green Investment Plan Cumbria (known as the GIPC to their friends) launched its new green investment report. The report outlines a series of projects that are set to pump billions of pounds into the local economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tonnes every year. The projects intend to make the most of Cumbria's wealth of renewable and natural assets and take in a range of sectors and range across nature, transport, buildings and the energy sectors. They each involve various mechanisms to help with their financing. The report also identifies actions which should [...]

By |2021-12-02T14:08:08+00:00December 2nd, 2021|Climate politics, Community energy, Homepage, News, Renewable energy|

Young people capitalise on COP26 to raise climate concerns

Young people in Cumbria have seized on the momentum generated by the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow to present their environmental concerns to leading figures within the county. They presented the outcomes from a recent successful Cumbria Youth Climate Summit to Councillor Celia Tibble (Cumbria County Council Cabinet Member for Environment) and Karen Mitchell (co-chair of Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership and CEO of Cumbria Action for Sustainability). The meeting, which took place at Cumbria County Council’s Kendal offices, coincided with Youth and Public Empowerment Day at COP26, the United Nations summit that brought together heads of state, climate experts [...]

By |2021-12-16T15:23:43+00:00November 5th, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News, Youth, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

COP26 – what we can dare to hope for and what it means for Cumbria

In a few days' time, world leaders will arrive in Glasgow for the UN climate summit, COP26. When the negotiations draw to a close two weeks later, will countries have made the commitments needed to keep global temperature rise within the crucial 1.5 degrees limit? Speaking to school children this week, the prime minister said: "I am very worried because it might go wrong and we might not get the agreements that we need and it is touch and go. It is very, very difficult, but I think it can be done." Whether the PM was managing expectations, or [...]

By |2021-10-28T18:14:27+01:00October 28th, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

Great Big Green Week

This post is for the Great Big Green Week in 2021. For the list of events happening in 2022, go to this page. Great Big Green Week is a nationwide celebration of action on climate change, taking place across the UK from 18 - 26 September.    The aim is to collectively celebrate all the positive grassroots actions being taken to tackle climate change and protect green spaces, and encourage others to get involved too.  Great Big Green Week also calls on politicians to raise their ambition and champion action on climate change, ahead of November’s crucial COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow.  CAfS has [...]

By |2022-08-31T14:04:08+01:00August 30th, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News|

Climate training available for all County Council staff and Members

CAfS are delighted to be working in partnership with Cumbria County Council to deliver climate and carbon literacy training to 550 of their staff and elected members. All elected representatives, senior managers and extended leadership team are able to book a place on either a full day, accredited climate and carbon literacy training course, a 90 minute ‘Climate Science and Solutions for Cumbria’ overview or a 30 minute climate coffee break chat. Places are also available for any interested staff across the organisation. The uptake so far has been fantastic with an inspiring number of council staff eager to [...]

By |2021-06-30T12:03:27+01:00June 30th, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

Growing the sustainability network

On June 22nd representatives from the Cumbria Sustainability Network came together for a virtual discussion on how to take their work forward and build a strong community of groups and individuals working across the county to raise awareness of the climate emergency and to take practical action to reduce carbon emissions in their area. Resources are available to support the development of the Cumbria Sustainability Network as part of National Lottery investment in the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership.  The Network is an informal group of community-based organisations whose mission is to promote environmental sustainability.  Members include Ambleside Action for [...]

Announcing Great Big Green week!

Ahead of November’s crucial COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, communities across the UK will join together for the Great Big Green Week, organised by The Climate Coalition. The festival takes place during 18th – 26th September, and aims to be the largest event for climate and nature ever seen in the UK. Everyone’s invited!    COP26 has already been delayed by a year due to the pandemic. It’s being billed as a pivotal moment in the fight against runaway climate change, at the start of what is a critical decade for our planet.   The run-up to this year’s summit is the key period when countries update their [...]

Great feedback from our carbon calculator users

Lots of individuals and businesses have now had a go with our carbon footprint calculators and some have fed back to tell us about their experience. Which is incredibly helpful! Happily, the vast majority feel that it was definitely a worthwhile experience, which has helped improve their understanding of their environmental impact and focus their efforts to reduce it. Here are some of the comments received. “I was impressed with the tool, having looked at a number of other, much more gimmicky tools which claim to do the same thing, didn't in my view ask all the right questions… [...]

By |2021-05-31T16:10:58+01:00May 31st, 2021|Climate politics, Home energy efficiency, Homepage, News|

Donate today and your money will be doubled!

We're very excited here at CAfS to announce that we have been lucky enough to be chosen as one of 100 environmental charities that will take part in The Big Give's Green Match Fund! This means that for every donation that we receive this week  (22-29 April), the money will be doubled by our benefactor The Oglesby Charitable Trust. DONATE NOW Our donations page is now live and our generous supporters can make one donation with twice the impact! This is our Race To Zero campaign as the money will go towards boosting our ability to reach [...]

By |2021-05-04T16:22:15+01:00April 22nd, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News|
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