Blog – Page 14 – Cynnal Cymru

20,000 UK Citizens now certified as Carbon Literate

Our Government, employers, educators and civil society are all grappling as to how to engage people and organisations in delivering meaningful carbon reduction and action on climate change quickly and at scale.

In very positive news therefore, The Carbon Literacy Project has today announced that more than 20,000 UK citizens have now been formally assessed and certified as Carbon Literate, and as a consequence, pledged and taken well over 40,000 actions to directly address climate change and immediately reduce UK carbon emissions.

Working with citizens, groups and organisations drawn from all sectors of society, The Carbon Literacy Project oversees the delivery of a days worth of learning and action about climate-change. Uniquely however, although quality controlled by the Project, the training is co-designed and delivered not centrally, but by members of the sectors, groups and audiences receiving the training.

Carbon Literacy is thus adaptable for anywhere and yet consistent everywhere, and engages, informs and inspires audiences both to act right now to reduce their carbon emissions, but also to begin to plan and take much longer term action toward a zero-carbon society, whatever they do, and whoever they are.

The Carbon Literacy Project (wholly owned by The Carbon Literacy Trust, Registered Charity no 1156722) works with citizens and community groups, social housing providers and civil society. It works with employers both public and private sector and organisations from SMEs to PLCs and local authorities and Government, and works in formal and informal education with schools, colleges and universities across the UK.

Because of this unique reach across all organisations and sectors of society, the Project has been able to bring together groups, organisations and individuals, to form unique partnerships and consortia, working and acting together to share ideas, resources, and funding, to achieve far more to accelerate climate action and reduce carbon emissions immediately than any single organisation could ever achieve alone. In summary, in regards to Carbon Literacy: “The whole is far greater than the sum of the parts”.

Because of its unique approach, the training and certification of 20,000 individuals has been performed not by the central Project working alone, but by the vast network of sectoral partners and organisations distributed across the sectors and geography of the United Kingdom and beyond.

Cynnal Cymru played a pivotal role in bringing Carbon Literacy to Wales and have certified over 550 people:

“In 2017, I was the only Carbon Literacy trainer in Wales outside the BBC. Since then, we have collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University to equip another 60 people within the social housing sector with the skills to deliver their own Carbon Literacy course. This September we launch Cynnal Cymru’s ‘Train the Trainer’ course. Over the last four years I have provided Carbon Literacy to around 500 people from all kinds of background and across a wide spectrum of roles and sectors. Most of these did the course in 2020/21! I am proud to have brought Carbon Literacy to Wales – I now want it to continue its phenomenal growth so that every citizen understands what global warming & climate change are, the relevance to their well-being but most importantly of all, the actions and behaviours they can take in response to this global challenge. We all have a role to play in this – climate change will spare no-one.”
Rhodri Thomas, Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales

“I was honoured to join the cohort of Carbon Literacy Trainers delivering this insightful and motivational training across the UK in 2020. Since then, I have trained individuals from a wide variety of organisations and spanning the globe with attendees from Canada, The US, Australia and Germany – and learned a lot in the process. I’m so pleased to see the 20,000 citizens certified milestone reached as I genuinely believe in the power of this training and see it as climate action; in the carbon reductions made as a result of the pledges but also the course’s reach in that it not only spurs those in attendance into action but allows them to bring their families, friends and workplaces on board too. Everybody has a part to play in tackling the Climate Crisis and Carbon Literacy helps people to realise their role in this and arms them to empower others.”
Bethan Harvey, Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales

Since its inception in 2012 the Project has grown steadily but for the last five years has been doubling in size every 20 months.

As a result of the effective, collaborative approach of Carbon Literacy, the UK Government (Dept of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)) has funded Carbon Literacy implementation across the public sector, so that every UK local authority, university and college, government department and NHS department now has access to comprehensive, free, government-sponsored Carbon Literacy Toolkits, to acceleration adoption and implementation.

This has been followed by adoption within the wider private and commercial sector, with collaborative toolkits for social housing, the rail sector, the automotive sector, and museum and galleries all now either launched or in advanced preparation.

Over 60 organisations have now been certified as Carbon Literate Organisations, but over 1500 organisations now have Carbon Literate staff, via some 216 unique certified Carbon Literacy courses, in some nine sectoral consortia developed, presented and delivered by partner organisations taking action on climate across the UK and beyond.

Work by Jacobs Engineering indicates that each Carbon Literate citizen reduces their personal and/or professional resource footprint by between 5% and 15% annually.

“One of the core values of Carbon Literacy is that by working together we achieve far more than any of us could alone.”

“When Carbon Literacy learners are given both knowledge and agency to take action, we see newly Carbon Literate individuals taking personal action at the small scale, but also professionally at massive scale, resulting in real savings of carbon immediately, and a long-term shift towards the kinds of personal and organisational behaviours that will deliver the zero-carbon society that we all need.”

“We could not have achieved this without the work of Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales – who have worked so hard to make this happen and deliver real change now”.
Dave Coleman, Managing Director and Co-founder of The Carbon Literacy Project

20,000 UK Citizens now certified as Carbon Literate Read More »

Sharing lessons through Sylfaen

Cynnal Cymru’s Sylfaen Project, funded by the Co-op Foundation, has concentrated on developing the financial and managerial resilience of community-based environmental organisations. In enhancing and preserving biodiversity, providing training and education, and bringing people together, these organisations deliver wide ranging benefits for local communities and society as a whole. It is essential therefore that they are well-managed, financially secure and accountable. In other words, it is in all our interests that they have strong foundations (Sylfaen is Welsh for “foundation”).

Like everything else, the project has had to adapt to cope with the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic. The training in subjects such as marketing, business planning, use of social media, and governance, has been delivered online by our partner the Wales Co-operative Centre. The plan had been for training to be delivered through a combination of face-to-face seminars/coaching plus online sessions. Networking and peer support were a major component of the project design. While Covid restricted these aspects, the groups within the project have made the best of the opportunities available and we have been grateful for the flexibility and innovation of all partners in adapting to challenging times.

As spring 2021 unfolded however and Covid restrictions lifted, we took the opportunity to meet, visit each other’s sites, learn and be inspired. So it was on a beautiful sunny day in June, that we gathered for the final Sylfaen event, this time on Anglesey with our hosts Melissa and Tim from Llyn Parc Mawr Community Woodland Group.

This was an opportunity to hear more about how the group was established, their approach to woodland management, negotiating with Natural Resources Wales and the challenges that come with running a funded project in the middle of a pandemic! We also had an opportunity to try out some green woodworking skills and hear more about their future plans and aspirations.

After a ‘panad’ (Welsh for a cup of tea), and introductions sat around in the fantastic new timber framed shelter, we headed out for a look around the site – first stop was the new bird hide, both structures were recently completed by a small local business and paid for through their National Lottery Community Fund grant. Most of the timber comes from locally sourced Welsh redwoods, sadly they couldn’t use any of their own recently felled timber as Corsican Pine isn’t suitable for use in structures. They have however made good use of it with the help of volunteers and made benches for the bird hide.

After spending some time watching the resident ducks, dragonflies, and damselflies we headed off the beaten track on a new path that Tim had been hard at work hacking away prior to our visit. It will form part of the new circular path around the lake and will open up parts of the woodland which have never been accessible before. A boardwalk and small bridge will be installed as this is a much wetter part of the site. Much of this area is broadleaf and adds a new dimension to the forest as Llyn Parc Mawr is mainly a conifer plantation and arboretum and was originally used as the nursery for Newborough Forest. The lake was built in 1988 as part of European Year of Environment and now forms a wildlife haven for an abundance of seasonal wildlife.

After a very adventurous trek through the “jungle” we found ourselves at the back of the woodland where NRW have recently clear felled a small section, the group have started planting here and Tim talked us through the decision process and how the new saplings are faring up in their new home. It was an interesting mix of species which includes Swamp Cypress which will help create a mangrove effect, Red Alder, Tulip trees, Spruce and Scotts Pine. A great mix of nursery trees and nitrogen fixers.

Small frog sitting in the palm of a hand

We made our way back to the shelter in time for a delicious lunch prepared by a couple of Llyn Parc Mawr members. We had time to watch some short films developed as part a social history project documenting the village and community’s fascinating history and includes stories from some of the older residents who remember the marram grass industry and forest development. You can watch for yourselves:

Pobl Niwbwrch a’r Moresg The People of Newborough and Marram grass – YouTube

We were joined for the afternoon by one of Llyn Parc Mawr’s new board members. We split up for afternoon sessions; Tim lead another walk and talk and was a chance to network and ask some more in depth questions on his activities. Melissa led a craft workshop where we made some gypsy flowers using a draw knife and shave horse. It was an enjoyable and relaxing afternoon learning new skills and chatting about future project plans.

Women demonstrating green woodworking skills using a 'shave horse'.

It was a great end to the Sylfaen project – participants have really enjoyed the opportunity to finally meet face to face, visiting each other’s sites and networking. The groups have found many synergies in experiences even though they are at different stages of development there’s always so much to learn and share – from attracting new board members to applying and managing funding, site management, running activities and sharing experiences over this unprecedented year of lockdowns. Perhaps the imposition of lockdowns has in some ways been a blessing; unable to run training sessions or engage with the public, colleagues have had more time to learn, reflect and review. Melissa, for example, has found the social media training very useful. It has helped Llyn Parc Mawr expand their reach and consequentially generate additional income. Having offered Forest School activities on site for a long time, the group is now being contacted by other organisations to run paid-for Forest School sessions on their behalf.

It was great to hear everyone has so many exciting plans and that from the hardships and worries we have all experienced in recent times, now more than ever there is a need and demand for community projects and volunteer opportunities. (We had such a nice time we even forgot to say hello to the resident red squirrels!)

This site visit report was written by Sara Wynne Pari, a local resident and colleague working in the community environmental sector. This illustrates the integrated and collegiate nature of community environmental work: we are united across Wales by a common purpose to halt the decline in biodiversity, address the nature crisis, and create a harmonious future for humans and the species with which we share this wonderful place. One of the key outcomes from the Sylfaen project was the confirmation of the need for community based environmental organisations to strengthen their links and develop an organisational ecology in which mutual interests are shared and practical/economic needs are met through collaboration. In 2021/22 we will concentrate on this and integrate our Eco Literacy work with the legacy of Sylfaen.

Sharing lessons through Sylfaen Read More »

Wales Declares Nature Emergency

This follows recent international research showing the fragility of many of our ecosystems with more than a million species at risk of extinction due to pressures including habitat loss, pollution, invasive non-native species and climate change. This declaration will put Welsh Government action on nature on a par with climate change in terms of urgency and significance.

We know that this growing concern for the state of nature – or our ecological foundations – is shared by our members which is why we are pleased to offer a free place to all our members on our new eco-literacy course, Nabod Natur- Nature Wise.

Aimed at explaining the global nature crisis in an accessible way, the course provides an overview of the intricate way that ecosystems function to sustain life. It then explores the links between human activity and the disruption in natural cycles that we are experiencing. The course also covers national and international frameworks for nature recovery as well as practical steps that are being encouraged or pioneered.

Most important to us, the course creates the space for participants to apply course knowledge and concepts to their own lives, identifying the ways most useful and beneficial to them to act for nature recovery in their organisation, at home and in the community. We look forward to you joining us!

You can find out more about the announcement on the BBC website – Senedd Live

First Open Course: 20 and 22 July: 2 x online sessions with optional self-directed study in between. Total time commitment 5-6 hours. Cost: £85 per learner with discounts for group bookings.
To book your place or discuss bespoke training for your organisation – please contact training@cynnalcymru.com

Wales Declares Nature Emergency Read More »

Wales’ First Living Wage Building – Launch Event

The accreditation as a Living Wage Building means all tenants will be obliged to pay at least the real Living Wage to employees and onsite contractors.

Join Cynnal Cymru, Councillor Huw Thomas (Leader of Cardiff Council) , Professor Rachel Ashworth (Dean of Cardiff Business School and Living Wage Commissioner) and Professor Chris Taylor (Academic Director, SPARK) to celebrate this important milestone for Wales and how this accreditation will support progress towards making Cardiff a Living Wage City.

There will also be an opportunity to find out more about Living Wage Places and their potential role in making Wales a Fair Work nation.

The duration of the webinar will be an hour and the invitation is open to anyone with an interest in attending, so if you’d like to receive a registration link please contact bethan@cynnalcymru.com

Wales’ First Living Wage Building – Launch Event Read More »

Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly report and recommendations published

The Assembly was held virtually over two weekends in March and brought together over 40, randomly selected, demographically representative, people living in the county borough to deliberate the very important question: “What should we do in Blaenau Gwent to tackle the climate crisis in a way that is fair and improves living standards for everyone?”

The Climate Assembly adopted five recommendations relating to transport, housing and green space, which achieved over 80% support. These recommendations were written by the Assembly members themselves and informed by presentations from climate change experts.

You can view the recommendations and the report in full here

This report was drafted by Cynnal Cymru and the Electoral Reform Society Cymru, two of the organising partners of the Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly.

In September last year the Council officially declared a Climate Emergency in Blaenau Gwent. Next week, all borough councillors will have the opportunity to hear from Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly members about their recommendations and consider how they can take this agenda forward.

The Blaenau Gwent Public Services Board, which brings together organisations including the council, health, housing, police and the voluntary sector, have committed to giving a written response to these recommendations at their next meeting in July. This reflects Public Services Board partners’ long-term commitment to Blaenau Gwent playing its full part in taking action to achieve Wales’s target for Net Zero emissions by 2050.

Cllr Dai Davies, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Regeneration & the Economic Development, will be leading the briefing. He says:

“We are absolutely committed as a Council to working with a wide range of partners to do whatever we can to respond locally to this global issue. We recognise the huge challenges that are ahead of us all in trying to protect our environment for the well-being of our future generations. This is why as a Local Authority we declared a Climate Emergency and already started to act through our Decarbonisation Plan. This plan sees us take a more strategic approach towards achieving carbon neutrality by prioritising work in a number of key areas of our operations which, with some changes, can make a significant contribution towards our carbon neutral aim.

“The people at the Climate Assembly were equally passionate about our environment and their recommendations will help to focus our minds even further and tells us what they think is key to tackling this issue. Thank you to everyone who took part for your time.”

The report will also be presented to the Blaenau Gwent Public Services Board, as working with regional partners is key to addressing environmental issues.

Sarah Hopkins, Director, Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales, says:

“The transition to net zero will mean changes to people’s lives so it is vital that communities understand and participate in this journey. Tackling the climate crisis, provides an opportunity to address existing inequalities in Wales and improve lives for everyone. It is really encouraging to see the commitment of Blaenau Gwent Council, the wider PSB and the Housing Associations to listening and responding to the recommendations from the Assembly.
“We hope that other regions in Wales will also adopt similar processes to inform decarbonisation action plans.”

Steve Cranston, Foundational Economy Lead at United Welsh Housing says:

“We are delighted to have been involved in Wales first climate assembly. It shows it is possible to bring a representative sample of people together – and address one of the toughest challenges facing us all – the climate crisis. The Climate Assembly process is one that is respectful of different opinions and builds trust. The top 5 recommendations had overwhelming 80% support from members. This gives these recommendations a weight and credibility that is hard to ignore.
“The process of working together across housing associations, the local authority, civil society organisations and citizens has been a positive one where relationships have been strengthened and trust built.
“The four housing associations who supported the Climate Assembly – Linc Cymru, Melin Homes, Tai Calon and United Welsh – are working on developing a coordinated response to the recommendations. In the key areas of housing retrofit and new build the recommendations will help shape our future priorities.”

The Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly was organised by housing associations United Welsh; Linc Cymru Melin Homes and Tai Calon in partnership with sustainable development charity Cynnal Cymru, Blaenau Gwent Council and ERS Cymru.

The 5 recommendations are:

Transport

Establish an affordable, integrated road & rail transport system accessible throughout BG. A one ticket system that links to bus, rail & cycle schemes – inclusivity for purchasing of tickets (digital or paper). Accessible all hours with safety via lighting, CCTV and to keep maintained.
Establish & improve a safe, easily maintainable infrastructure for walkers & cyclists, for either recreational or work purposes, with access to the public transport network. Including lighting & CCTV & storage for bikes.

Housing

Retrofit Train local tradespeople, create qualifications and upskill local businesses, involve FE colleges and local Universities, future proof it and provide the right courses to enable them to do the work in all green construction.

Green Space and Nature

Implement a programme of woodland preservation and reforestation of BG, using the right tree in the right place for the right reason, increasing opportunities for jobs, biodiversity and connecting woodlands. Making sure the skills are available so we can create green jobs, e.g. saw milling and timber framed housing.

Housing New Build

Ensure that all new build properties are built using the latest sustainable technologies (e.g. Glanffrwd development as a template), employing local builders and providing a variety of accommodation types appropriate for all inc. homeless/single occupancy up to large families.

Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly report and recommendations published Read More »

Empowering Change: New Eco-Literacy course launches on World Environment Day

At Cynnal Cymru we have always championed individuals and organisations that take action for sustainable development. We know there is no single solution as to how we can arrive at a more equal, abundant and sustainable future, which is why the array of different actions that we come across, from different sources and sectors, both excite and reassure us.

It is this faith in the ability of people to identify solutions that fit within the context of their own lives that has inspired our latest training course – Nabod Natur: Nature Wise – which was recently piloted with a range of organisations including Swansea Council, Mind Cymru and Welsh Government.

Aimed at explaining the global nature crisis that we are facing in an accessible way, the course provides an overview of the intricate way that ecosystems function to sustain life. It then explores the links between human activity and the disruption in natural cycles that we are experiencing – with climate change and declining wildlife being increasingly evident results.

The course also covers national and international frameworks for nature recovery as well as practical steps that are being encouraged or pioneered. Most important to us, the course creates the space for participants to apply course knowledge and concepts to their own lives, identifying the ways most useful and beneficial to them to act for nature recovery in their organisation, at home and in the community.

Launching a course like this is no easy thing with so many expert organisations already existing in ecology, education, behaviour change and action planning – in fact, everything that Nature Wise covers. Our aim was to bring together all these aspects and we are delighted by the reactions of our pilot attendees As an early participant identified: “You have empowered people to change and in today’s world that is a marvellous result.”

Empowering Change: New Eco-Literacy course launches on World Environment Day Read More »

Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly Report

The Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly was held from 6 – 28 March 2021.

The Assembly took place online via Zoom. 50 residents of Blaenau Gwent were selected by sortition to address the question:

“What should we do in Blaenau Gwent to tackle the climate crisis in a way that is fair and improves living standards for everyone?”

44 participants attended the first assembly session and 43 participants were present at the final session for voting on recommendations.

Attendance was stable throughout all sessions with 43 being the lowest attendance.

The members met for a total of 23 hours to hear evidence from over 20 different experts, discuss the issues, and produce recommendations for what local public service organisations, communities and individuals could do to address the climate crisis and improve lives for people in Blaenau Gwent.

The assembly members explored the following themes in the learning phase:
• Introduction to climate change
• Issues of fairness and the just transition
• How change happens
• Housing – retrofit, new build, fuel poverty, jobs & skills
• Nature and green space
• Transport

The agenda, videos of sessions and additional questions for speakers can be found on the website.

Download the report.

Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly Report Read More »

United Welsh: “Change happens at the speed of trust.”

United Welsh, Linc Cymru, Melin Homes and Tai Calon are four housing associations that manage all the social housing in Blaenau Gwent – equating to 20% of all the county’s homes. In 2019 they embarked on a project to explore if the power of their collective spend could better benefit the communities around them.

Previous collaboration had identified building and maintenance supply chains as a key area where coordinated spend could be targeted to help support the local economy, with opportunities for training and skills development, business growth and local job creation. However mapping these supply chains, and making links between the four organisations’ budgets and workplans, required careful analysis and dedicated resource, something that was difficult to find amongst existing demands and priorities.

The partners applied to Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy Challenge Fund to help accelerate this collaboration and a grant was awarded in recognition of the potential impact that this could have on the area’s foundational economy businesses. The approved project would map the supply chains across the four organisations, identify key opportunities to strengthen local spend and suppliers, build better relations with social enterprises and SMEs and connect them with existing business support networks.

One of the first key steps was gathering and collating supply chain data over the four partners. To do this, the planned maintenance budgets of all four housing associations were compiled and combined, producing a 10 year forward work programme worth £90 million. This was then used to start conversations with local businesses about how this work could be delivered locally, keeping as much of the spend in Blaenau Gwent as possible.

This sort of intelligence, about the value and scale of future potential work opportunities, is of huge benefit to business planning, particularly for smaller or more specialist suppliers. Knowledge of future opportunities can be critical in deciding for example whether to take on an extra staff member or to invest in training for a new type of installation or product.

Another unanticipated benefit of the project has been its potential to reduce the ‘boom and bust’ cycle of work that the partners were sometimes inadvertently creating. For example, rather than one housing association having an SME replace all their windows one season (boom) and then there being no similar work for months until another housing association did the same (bust), the housing associations can now coordinate programmes of work to ensure that a steady pipeline is always available.

As well as collating maintenance and supply chain data, the partners also shared ideas and existing programmes in place to support local community organisations. This led to a further combining of the partners’ resources – this time to support community spaces and initiatives better through the disruption that COVID-19 has caused. Working with CLES, The Wales Cooperative Centre and The Federation of Small Business, the project has also worked to set up a Social Enterprise Network in Blaenau Gwent, that they hope will continue well beyond the grant timeframe.

As well as achieving the original objectives of the Challenge Fund application, the closer partnership working that the grant enabled is influencing wider work also.

Like many housing associations, those in Blaenau Gwent are working on plans to decarbonise homes through retrofitting. Although this will be challenging, and means that maintenance plans already in place will need to change, it also provides another significant opportunity to support new, well paid, green jobs in the area.

The partnership believes that the new collaborative ways of working established during the Challenge Fund project will enable them to plan and deliver retrofitting in ways that – because of its scale – could deliver even greater benefits than the original project. The pooling of budgets and work programmes could even go so far as to help catalyse a new local retrofit industry through being able to guarantee a steady pipeline of work, geared towards smaller local suppliers.

This will include using the relationships built during the project with local colleges, SMEs and academia to explore how any training and skills gaps for the planned works can be addressed to ensure that work can be delivered locally. This could be an important contribution to building up the skills base in the county, which like many other post-industrial areas, has higher unemployment levels than the national average.

The partners are starting by retrofitting 200 homes, funded by a separate Welsh Government grant, which will be a source of learning about how to retrofit in a way that works for the people living in the homes and delivers the works through local SMEs.

An important spin-off to complement this work is the Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly – the first of its kind in Wales. This citizen’s assembly will allow local residents to help shape the decarbonisation plans not only of the four housing associations but also Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and other local decision makers, ensuring that they align with the aspirations of local people. It forms one part of the new community engagement approach that the 4 housing associations have developed during the project.

Steve Cranston, The Foundational Economy Lead from United Welsh, believes that the initial project has therefore expanded into something much wider that will have a long-term influence on the way the partners work together, allowing them to better serve their residents and the local communities around them.

Steve has two key insights for others doing this kind of work. In building collaboration across organisations, he cites trust as a key driver, explaining that “change happens at the speed of trust”. How to develop trust? Openness, transparency and listening.

Another insight is maintaining focus on what the foundational economy is about – people. Providing people with good services backed up by good jobs. Steve explains how having regular conversations with local people and communities and focusing on listening to their views is vital to ensure resources really go to where it’s needed.

Steve says the best part of being part of the Foundational Economy Challenge Fund has been “having time to build trusted relationships with partner organisations. Trust is the most important currency and we have opened up opportunities for long term mutual benefit.”

United Welsh: “Change happens at the speed of trust.” Read More »

‘Collectively we demand change’ – Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly published recommendations

The Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly has spent the last four weeks designing and deliberating on proposals to tackle climate change in Blaenau Gwent.

The final proposals were presented and voted on during the Assemblies final session on Sunday (28 March).

Five key recommendations were passed with over 80% of the assembly members support across areas such as transport, housing and green spaces including:

The establishment of an affordable, integrated road and rail transport system in Blaenau Gwent with a one-ticket system for bus, rail and cycle schemes
Establishing safe and easily maintainable infrastructure for walkers and cyclists
New training for local tradespeople, qualifications and upskilling to increase green construction skills across the borough
Implementing a programme of woodland preservation and reforestation increasing opportunities for jobs, biodiversity and connecting woodlands.
Ensure new housing is developed with the latest sustainable techniques

The final report of the Assembly will be published the week of 18 April 2021. A full list of recommendations can be found here.

Michelle Morris, Managing Director, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council said:

“I would like thank everyone who took the time to take part in Wales’ first climate assembly. The Council and Public Service Board welcome the views of local people and their ideas for dealing with the climate crisis.
“Climate change is a global issue and it’s absolutely vital that we act now to protect our environment for the well-being of future generations and the recommendations from the Assembly are vital for us as the Welsh public sector when we develop our long term plans to shape our approach to tackling the challenges ahead.
“We’re already taking a number of actions as part of our Decarbonisation plan to reduce our carbon impact. The 5 recommendations from the Climate Assembly will help us to prioritise our work in a number of key areas and these will make a significant contribution towards our carbon neutral aim.”

Jess Blair, Director, ERS Cymru said:

“The Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly shows what happens when you do politics differently – brining a community together and providing them with the space to deliberate on important issues in their local area. . This was Wales’ first climate assembly but we hope it will not be the last.”
“Citizen participation is vital in local decision making, it brings legitimacy, builds trust and shows that, when given the support, ordinary people can help shape their communities and come up with valuable solutions to important issues.
“Now the assembly is has spoken we look forward to seeing how Blaenau Gwent responds to their recommendations.”

Matt, Participant, Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly said:

“I found the climate assembly a really rewarding experience. I was able to connect with many different types of people from all walks of life within Blaenau Gwent to talk about a common goal.
“Some of the evidence that we talked about certainly shocked me, but it was comforting to know that the solutions are really within our own hands and I’m really looking forward to having our recommendations evaluated, and hopeful some will be taken forward to make a real difference within Blaenau Gwent so that we can really start to see some positive change.”

Sunita, Participant, Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly said:

“Before taking part in the climate assembly, I was aware of the causes and the effects of climate change and have always been passionate about doing everything that I can to make a difference on an individual level.
“I have learnt so much from my experience as an Assembly Member; from recognising that there is a lack of awareness about climate change on a local and national level, to understanding the level of interest and passion from the people of Blaenau Gwent to make things better.
“Collectively we demand change from our council and our government. We urge the council and the governing bodies to listen to our recommendations that we as an assembly decided on and act upon them.
“We will not stop here. We will continue to learn. We will persist to make sure that our voices are heard. We will strive to make a positive difference in our own lives and in the communities around us.”

The assembly, was the first deliberative democratic event of its kind in Wales, brought 50 Blaenau Gwent residents together with expert speakers to develop proposals to address the climate crisis in their area.

The participants have been selected to be demographically representative of the wider Blaenau Gwent community representing the views and backgrounds of the borough’s residents.

Participants spent four weeks hearing from over 20 expert speakers on a range of issues including housing, fuel poverty, transport, nature and green space, jobs and skills before considering the evidence, make and vote on recommendations.

These will be sent to the Blaenau Gwent Public Service Board’s Climate Mitigation Steering Group, who have made a commitment to respond to the recommendations.

‘Collectively we demand change’ – Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly published recommendations Read More »

Why saving water matters

Being water efficient not only helps to reduce water wastage but as an organisation, you pay for all the water that passes through your meter – so it makes good financial sense to ensure you are not letting any of it go to waste. Taking simple inexpensive measures can typically reduce your water consumption by up to 50%.

Saving water is also good for the environment and will help to reduce the carbon footprint of your organisation. Cleaning and treating water uses valuable energy and resources, and if water levels fall, the wildlife in wetland habitats may suffer. Also, if you are heating your water prior to use, any reduction in water consumption will also have a positive impact on your energy bills.

Calculate your water usage

As with carbon foot-printing, it is important to understand how much water you are currently using in order to reduce your impacts.

The following resources are available to help you in this process:

Water Footprint Assessment

Reduce your water usage

Simple, quick measures to reduce your water usage include installing a water-butt, water-saving taps, and low-flush or dual-flush toilets. More ideas for ‘simple changes’ to help you save water and reduce leaks can be found from Waterwise and The Carbon Trust’s Energy and Water Efficiency’ guide.

Dwr Cymru offer businesses Water Efficiency Audit.

They estimate that most small businesses (or organisations) can typically achieve a 20 – 50% decrease in the amount of water they use.

Their Rainscape project also provides ideas and links to further resources for ‘rainscaping’ buildings; from simple rainwater collection to more ambitious projects such as green roofs. There is also information about ‘porous paving’ which is increasingly required due to recent changes in planning consents.

Why saving water matters Read More »