News

An Introduction to Carbon Footprinting (and why your business needs it)

‘An Introduction to Carbon Footprinting’ (and why your business needs it)

On the 11th July, Auditel and Cynnal Cymru will be hosting an online webinar discussing the process of Carbon Footprinting and why it is becoming increasingly essential for businesses.

Further information will be available soon.

Auditel is the UK’s largest carbon & cost management business network, that leverages its long-standing expertise to bring about a real sustainable change for its clients on their carbon & cost reduction journey.

Their carbon services are delivered to internationally recognised standards with independent third-party verification. Depending on your business needs, they have the flexibility to tailor an integrated package of solutions using their vast experience across a variety of industry sectors.

'Let's work with nature rather than fight against it!'

Nature Wise Case Study – Arup

What is your job at Arup?

My focus is on two projects with Welsh Water, helping them maintain and improve sewer systems. My job includes sending out survey crews and coming up with ways to make sure the system works properly.

Ivan Hutchinson – Water Quality Scientist (Arup)

Is there anything you think is particularly special about nature in Wales?

I grew up in west Wales and we have fantastic beaches there – one of my favourite spots is Tresaith (in Ceredigion). I love seeing birds, seals and dolphins. Since moving to the valleys I really appreciate the waterfalls and forests, and I like walking at Garwnant (in the Brecon Beacons, near Merthyr Tydfil).

Why did you take the Nature Wise course?

I was interested because I saw it as an opportunity to link my work with my interest in nature. I like spending time outdoors, doing walking and cycling in the Brecon Beacons, so I often think about how to improve the environment.

How useful did you find the course?

It was very helpful to focus on what you can do as an individual, how I can think in a more eco-friendly way and talk to others about preserving nature for future generations. I really liked hearing success stories like the recovery of the red kite.

Why should someone do Nature Wise?

It’s great for beginners, as it explains why it’s important to look after the natural environment, sets out the problem and lays out solutions. For those with more knowledge it’s a refresher. We need policy makers to have these attitudes embedded.

What have you been doing to help nature since doing the course?

Arup’s very good at considering the impact of its actions, but I have presented what I learnt to my colleagues and that’s been a useful reminder.

Personally, I’ve been working on my garden and had been planning to dig up the tree stumps. I’ve now realised they’re a vital habitat that’s being lost. I’ve explained this to my children – it’s a good teaching opportunity! Another thing in my plan is to try to have more native plants.

What about the future?

I hope construction will use more nature-based solutions, like using wetlands. And I hope that will filter through into the general population and people will realise how important nature is, and have more of a connection.

What is your message to other engineers?

I’d say that the more we involve nature in solutions, the more durable that project will be. So let’s work with nature rather than fight against it!

A laptop with online meeting in a backround and a plant

Try the hybrid way for the planet and people

When organisations grow, it is a cause for celebration. New staff members, new clients, and crowded offices! The obvious response is to move to a bigger place, upgrade the current space or make the leap from renting to buying an office! After all, staff productivity and healthy working places make a huge difference to businesses and their staff, as many tech companies confirm. But since the pandemic, and because of commitments to reducing impacts on climate, investing in offices and buildings is not the only viable solution.

The great shift

During the COVID-19 pandemic, like millions of other people who were not working in core services such as health care, transport or food retail, our Cynnal Cymru team (at that time just five people) left their shared office space unsure when they would come back. But as time went on, our team adapted to working online, and stopped printing material, travelling for meetings and to work, and ordering stationery for everyday use and events. As we got more used to working remotely, we also developed new habits and ways of working, which resulted in us creating new training products that addressed the newly emerging need for remote learning.

The new way of working spurred innovation and made us realise we can forego business travel, stop printing documents and buying office stationery, stop using business cards and give up commuting for good. We realised we can grow without having all the things every service-based organisation thought it needed.

With that came savings and a reduction in Scope 2 carbon emissions – that is, emissions associated with the use of electricity. Because we weren’t using an office, our emissions fell from 5.25 tonnes of CO2e to zero. We did not use gas for heating and we had no company cars, so this showed no change (we stayed at 0 tonnes of CO2e). There was also a change in some of the categories of emissions in Scope 3 (that is, emissions from everything but the use of gas and fuel (scope 1) and electricity (scope 2)). Our emissions from business travel went down from 1.9 tCO2e to zero, and likewise, staff commuting changed from 0.2 tCO2e to zero.

So far so good, but the team began to grow during the pandemic, which meant that if we returned to office working, we would need more space – and in the meantime, we needed new laptops. That alone meant our Scope 3 emissions increased from 2.96tCO2e before the pandemic to 3.84tCO2e – mainly due to the purchase of our new laptops! We were also still paying costs on our now-empty office, and although our bills were included in the rent, the space we occupied was heated by gas over which we had no control. If we were to continue this way, without making any changes, our emissions would continue to rise and we would not achieve our decarbonisation target. In fact, because of the increase in our staff numbers, we didn’t meet our target, but a change was clearly needed to our office situation. Our carbon footprint results for the post-pandemic year were not dissimilar to those of comparable organisations around the world, as during the pandemic, emissions were lower in areas such as business travel and commuting, but shifted to household energy use and logistics of goods. Moreover, many offices that were empty of workers during the pandemic were still operating, wasting the energy that powered them. The reductions seen during the pandemic turned out to be temporary, and in 2022, when the lockdown restrictions started to be phased out, the emissions rebounded.

Becoming hybrid

To have an office or not? That was the question we had to grapple with. By the end of 2022, Cynnal Cymru had twelve staff members but only three office-loving regulars. We had begun travelling for work again, and meeting in person. Events were back on the agenda. All of this was great for staff morale, but not so great for the planet.

Keeping low-carbon lifestyles at home seemed to be the way forward. However, a study by the Office of National Statistics shows that it is not that straightforward. Working from home means that during a cold season, heating will be left on for a few more hours a day than usual. Electrical equipment such as laptops will be left on. Between 2019 and 2020, household emissions that were not related to travel, which is mostly heating emissions, increased by 1.5% from 80 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to 81 million tonnes[1]. While emissions from travel to work fell significantly, many households continued to purchase goods online, increasing the demand for home deliveries.

We were also mindful of the fact that if we were to become a fully remote organisation, we would need to address a mix of negative and positive impacts on staff and the organisation. According to a POST brief on the impact of remote and hybrid working on workers and organisations, working from home can increase well-being, self-reported productivity and work satisfaction, reduce work-life conflict, and introduce new ways to collaborate and more inclusive ways of working through the use of technology. However, the challenges can include increased work intensity, longer working hours, more distractions, potential health issues, decreased social interactions, fewer promotion and learning opportunities and an inability to disconnect from work.

All that being said, we took a leap of faith and decided to go for the third option – become a hybrid organisation with a combination of office-based and remote arrangements. We did not want to own or rent a whole office in which we had to store office items we do not use, but at the same time, we did not want to lose a place where we could meet with each other and our clients.

Definitions


Hybrid’ working refers to a combination of office-remote arrangements.

Flexible working describes working arrangements that give people a degree of flexibility over where, when and how they work.

Remote working refers to a type of flexible working based on location, where workers work at home or a location other than the traditional workspace where the employer is based.

Source: POST Brief No.0049

We found a co-working space in a building that meets the BREEAM standard, meaning that energy and water saving measures are in place, waste is segregated into five streams, there are light and water sensors, and solar panels on the roof. In addition, the space we chose has secure bike sheds, storage for the things we absolutely need, plenty of spaces to relax, quiet booths for private meetings or focus time – and a sustainable cafeteria! In other words, lots of facilities that a modern and sustainable office space needs!

We chose to rent two permanent desks, with access to hot-desking, meeting rooms and events spaces, which removed the need for us to buy equipment such as desks, chairs, banners, or office stationery. It gives us flexibility and a quality standard which as a small organisation we would not have been able to afford in our own office. Staff who want to work from home can continue to do so, but we have the option of a co-working space for anyone who wants to come into the office to work, or when we have a staff get-together. From the perspective of our emissions, it was a great choice as we have staff members based across Wales and England, so the less commuting the better for their pockets and our decarbonisation plan.

We are only a few months into our new way of working, and the impact of this move, both negative and positive, has yet to become fully clear. In terms of our carbon emissions, our next carbon report will show whether it made a real difference because in 2022/2023 our staff numbers increased yet again!

One of the biggest benefits of moving to a co-working space is collaboration. We sit side by side with many organisations with whom we have worked over the years, as they too have made a move, and so a spontaneous chat over a coffee can lead to discussions that are hard to replicate remotely.

Unsure where to start? Here is what you can do

With the rise of flexible, remote and hybrid working, organisations need to rethink their strategy to ensure that it benefits people and the planet. Here are a few things to get you started:

1. Calculate emissions and compare emissions before and after the pandemic

A carbon report will give you a great understanding of what areas you need to tackle. If, for example, the report before the pandemic shows high emissions from your use of offices which are not often staffed, this is something that needs to be tackled first in your decarbonisation strategy.

2. Survey your staff

Given that every organisation is different, there is no one size fits all, but the trend in the UK and around the world points towards flexibility. One of the biggest benefits to offering staff an option to work from home is retaining and attracting talent. But, to understand what your team needs in terms of work arrangements, it is best to devote time to a conversation before any big decisions are made.

3. Learn from others

Whichever option you choose, it will have some impact on your organization, so have a chat with other organisations that had gone through the same process. Our Sustainability Adviser talked to IEMA about their decisions, experience, and the benefits of becoming a remote organisation, which helped her better understand the practicalities of a big shift. As noted earlier, just because there is no office, it does not mean that emissions vanish completely.

4.  Adopt a circular mindset

Whether you forego an office altogether or downsize, remember to do it with as little impact as possible on the environment. In preparation from our move, we didn’t simply order a skip and chuck everything in! Instead, everything was sorted into four piles: things to give away, things to sell, things to keep, and things to recycle – which left us with a small pile of items that had to be disposed of.

5. Focus on staff and emissions from home

Whether you decide to go fully remote, hybrid, or offer greater flexibility, you need to think about staff engagement as a priority going forward. Consider using the saving you made from selling or moving out of your office to invest in better remote procedures (automation), staff activities and get to-togethers, as well as well-being offers. If you are downsizing or reducing office hours, consider investing in low-carbon solutions both at work and at home. Use this resource to understand the impact of homeworking.

Here is how we can help

Training

We can help you build knowledge and an empowered workforce through our courses and training programmes

Membership

Join a growing network of sustainability leaders and connect with like-minded organisations.

Advice

We help you to identify your organisation’s impacts on people and the environment,.


[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/covid19restrictionscuthouseholdemissions/2021-09-21

Cynnal Cymru is looking for new trustees

We are the leading organisation for sustainable development in Wales, supporting change for a sustainable future. Our mission is to accelerate progress towards a low carbon economy, a fair and just society and a thriving natural environment. 

As a not-for-profit charity we have a small, expanding, creative and dedicated team and a supportive board of volunteer trustees.  

We are actively seeking to reach a diverse pool of candidates and we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that any potential trustees may need in order to be successful.

What we are looking for from new trustees

We want everyone who works for us and with us – including our trustees, members, and clients – to feel valued and accepted regardless of age, disability, gender, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

We recognise that the sustainability sector suffers from a lack of diversity and therefore particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups and those from diverse backgrounds.

As a trustee you will be supporting the team by providing guidance, challenge and leadership at our quarterly board meetings as well as being encouraged to lead on specific agendas.

To extend our skills and expertise, we are ideally looking for support in any of the following areas:

  • Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion;
  • Communications and marketing;
  • Charitable business development;
  • Income generation and financial management;
  • Welsh language and culture;
  • Emerging and new technologies, ICT, digital infrastructure.

If you have experience of being a trustee or are eager to step up to your first role as a trustee and want to contribute to our team, we would love to hear from you.

We are keen to support those new to being a trustee – right now you may not have all the skills and competences but if you have the enthusiasm and commitment to support us with our sustainability agenda, and the governance of our charity, we would love to hear from you.  We will provide training and support to those new to being a charity trustee.

To apply

If you think you could join us to promote a more sustainable future in Wales, then download further information from our website:

If you have any issues accessing either the Recruitment Pack or the online Application Form, please contact shwmae@cynnalcymru.com and we will directly provide the relevant documents.

Deadline 19 June 2023

We will invite candidates for interview in June and hope they will be able to join us at our board meeting in July. We will provide a full induction for new trustees, and the opportunity to be supported by a trustee mentor.

Our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are core values shared by the staff and board of Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales.  Even so, we are under-represented in diverse characteristics around our board table.  We are committed to improving the overall diversity of our Board in this round of recruitment.

Promoting EDI is at the centre of our work to create a fair and just society through initiatives such as the real Living Wage, however, we recognise that having an impact on reducing inequality through our work is not enough.  Creating an organisation that embodies EDI underpins our ability to carry out our charitable aims, including supporting a just transition to a low carbon economy and a thriving natural environment.

However, whilst our intentions have always been good, we have lacked the policies, procedures and people to show that we are truly committed to improving EDI within Cynnal Cymru and the sustainable development sector.  This year marks a step-change in actioning our EDI commitment and this statement serves to keep us accountable to this commitment and to set out our actions to date and for the future.

Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group Launches First Challenge: How could Wales feed itself by 2035?

The world is experiencing the disastrous impacts of the climate crisis and is currently off track to avert further impacts.  Leading scientists recently issued what they called “our final warning”. The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru have jointly invited an independent group to explore how the country can speed up its transition to net zero, and how amending its target to 2035 from 2050 could be made possible. 

The ‘Group’, led by former Environment Minister Jane Davidson, is tasked with: 

  • finding the best examples of transformative change from Wales and around the world and bringing them to Wales; 
  • challenging the Welsh government and Senedd (Welsh Parliament) to go further and faster; 
  • imagining what a fairer, more sustainable future looks like for the Welsh nation. 

Will Evans, 10th generation farmer from Wrexham and member of the Group said: 

“I am deeply concerned about the impact of climate change on farming in the UK and across the world, that’s why I am proud and excited to be part of this national conversation on how Wales can blaze a trail for action and adaptation to safeguard a future for our children.” 

10th generation farmer Will Evans, is proud of his work. Yet he has grave concerns about the future of farming in Wales and the future for his daughters in the face of climate change. He is aware that farming needs to change and this provides a huge opportunity. He has recently joined the newly formed Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group, chaired by ex-environment minister Jane Davidson to help ensure farming and the food system in Wales is fit for the future. The Group is formally launching its work today, with a first challenge to explore how Wales could feed itself by 2035

Jane Davidson, Chair, said: 

“Setting up the challenge group shows that the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru “get” the graveness of our global situation and are serious about how we can lessen the impacts and prepare for the future.” 

The Group is looking for the most imaginative solutions to inform 10-year deliverable plans from 2025 to 2035.  

It will be seeking views from Wales and the world; making draft conclusions public to openly put them to the test in Wales and beyond, before making recommendations to the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru in summer 2024.  

Jane Davidson added:

“I challenge anybody with big ideas about how to reach net zero by 2035 – whilst also making sure that we support communities in Wales and deliver better outcomes for nature – to respond to our calls for evidence.” 

The Group will be wanting to hear from people and communities across Wales and the world to listen to their experiences and ideas, across a range of key challenges. The first challenge, being launched today, is How could Wales feed itself by 2035? 

The first challenge’s call for views and evidence also launches today and is expected to run for two months, closing on the 30th June. The launch dates for further challenges will be announced in due course. The Group’s work is scheduled to run until summer 2024. 

The Group is made up of 25 independent, unpaid members and includes representatives from the Welsh Youth Parliament. 

The five Net Zero 2035 Challenges are: 

  1. How could Wales feed itself by 2035?  
  2. How could Wales meet energy needs by 2035 whilst phasing out fossil fuels?   
  3. How could Wales heat and build homes and workplaces by 2035?  
  4. How could people and places be connected across Wales by 2035?  
  5. What could education, jobs and work, look like across Wales by 2035? 

Visit the new website netzero2035.wales for more details >>

For more information, contact Stanley Townsend

Please follow the new Wales Net Zero for updates on their work at:
Twitter @WNZ2035
Mastodon @WNZ2035@toot.wales
Linkedin Wales Net Zero 2035

Free online eco-literacy courses to help community groups to respond to the nature crisis

Nabod Natur – Nature Wise is an online training programme from Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales which teaches you about how the natural environment works, the threats it faces, and how we can all help nature thrive.

Thanks to funding from the Moondance foundation, we are offering FREE places on our Nature Wise Eco-literacy course. Between May – July 2023 we will be offering regular online courses both in English and Welsh.

About Nabod Natur – Nature Wise

Nature Wise eco-literacy is a science-based, action-focused course to help you to understand the relationships between people and natural systems. It shares knowledge, builds understanding and provide the tools to motivate and catalyse action.

What you will learn about:

Your Nature Wise eco-literacy course will help you to become more knowledgeable and confident about helping to tackle the nature crisis both on your doorstep and further afield. Part of the course involves developing an action plan for nature based on what you will have explored during the course. This can be for your personal life or for your group/organisation.

The course is interactive. Attendees will work in small groups and also take part in group discussions to explore course topics.


Who should apply?

The Nature Wise Eco-literacy course is for:

  • Welsh community or voluntary organisations.
  • Any member of staff, volunteer or trustee for a voluntary organisation or community group can register. Town and community councillors in these areas are also eligible.

Course Dates

CourseSession 1 – 2.5 hoursSession 2 – 2.5 hours
12nd May 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)4th May 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)
23rd May 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg) 5th May 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)
316th May 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)18th May 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)
45th June 2023 1:30 – 4pm (English)7th June 2023 1:30 – 4pm (English)
513th June 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)15th June 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)
620th June 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)22nd June 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)
74th July 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)6th July 2023 10am – 12:30pm (Cymraeg)
811th July 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)13th July 2023 10am-12:30pm (English)
925th July 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)27th July 2023 10am – 12:30pm (English)

Course Commitment (5 hours) 

You’ll need just five hours to take part, centred on two online sessions held during the same week, held on a Tuesday and a Thursday or a Monday and Wednesday depending on the dates you select.

On successful completion of both session you will be awarded a certificate.

Please note: you must attend both sessions to complete the course. 

How do I register?

Please register your free place via Ticketsource.

For any other enquiries, please email training@cynnalcymru.com

Places are limited, so we are aiming to allocate places as fairly as possible.


FAQs

Do I need to have any prior knowledge of nature systems?

Nature Wise is a short course for everyone. No previous knowledge is necessary.

What do I need to participate?

  • You will need access to computer with internet access to attend and participate in the online facilitated sessions.
  • We recommend a computer or tablet as you will be shown course materials containing images, slides and videos.
  • The online sessions will take part on Zoom. In the sessions you will need access to a microphone.

What if I cannot attend on those days?

You do need to attend both sessions to complete the course. If you are not available at the advertised times but would still like to do the course, please get in touch and we will add you to a list for a course scheduled outside these times.

What if my whole group wants to do the course?

If you have a group of 10 or more that would like to do the course, please get in touch and we can see if it is possible to arrange a separate course at a time to suit you.

Will there be more courses?

We will be running courses between May – July 2023.

Where can I learn more?

For more details on our Nature Wise courses, visit the Cynnal Cymru training platform.

Heading for Net Zero? Our new partnership can help

We are seeing a growing demand for services not just to help organisations make sense of sustainable development, but more specifically to measure their impact relating to climate change and the Net Zero ambition.  Identifying robust and scientifically accurate data is a barrier to many organisations and so to assist with this challenge, Cynnal Cymru is joining forces with Compare Your Footprint to provide an enhanced carbon accounting consultancy.

Compare Your Footprint is a B Corp based in the UK which provides the best quality tools to consultants and businesses; and expertise to support organisations to make a just transition to a sustainable future. Their carbon software will allow us to measure scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions and generate a comprehensive analysis of a company’s footprint. This in turn will allow us to work with clients to find the most appropriate and effective strategies to decarbonise.

Our license agreement kicks off in April 2023. Please look out for our carbon accounting service launch and if you think this service may be of value to you in the future please contact consultancy@cynnalcymru.com.

Image to show the Future-proofing toolkit website.

The role of business in supporting future generations

It’s been 20 years since Cynnal Cymru began working on the sustainable development agenda for Wales, building consensus and catalysing change with government, businesses and individuals. From convening Wales’s first National Conversation on the ‘Wales We Want’ to providing one-to-one support to public bodies and enterprise, we played a major part in the ascent of the Well-being of Future Generations Act and continue to dedicate our efforts to making sustainability part of the everyday vocabulary.

In February 2023, Cynnal Cymru was delighted to join a project funded by the SMART Innovation team at the Welsh Government and led by Office of the Future Generations Commissioner to review a Future-Proofing toolkit aimed at the private sector.

What is the Well-being of Future Generations Act and why does it matter to business?

The Act, passed in 2015, is one-of-a-kind legislation as it places a legal duty on the 44 public bodies in Wales to think about the long-term impact of their decisions, to work better with people, communities and each other, and to work to prevent persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities and climate change from occurring, rather than just dealing with their consequences. The Act is unique to Wales, attracting interest from countries across the world as it offers a huge opportunity to make a long-lasting, positive change for current and future generations.  

Although the Act does not apply to the private sector, here in Wales large organisations such as Welsh Water began to align themselves with its overall purpose of improving Wales’s well-being in the broadest sense.  They saw the Act as a framework for talking about sustainability to stakeholders and wanted to show the public sector how they too can contribute to the seven Well-being Goals that the Act sets out. After all, the private sector supplies goods and services to the public sector, so it is important to demonstrate shared values. Moreover, given that the Act reflects the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), businesses in Wales, who have been working on the SDGs, understand the Act’s relevance.

Can the Act be a guide for all businesses?

Last year we got a chance to explore this much further. In partnership with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner we held a series of interviews with large organisations with a presence in Wales, as well as business networks who said that being able to “speak” the language of the Act would be of value to the private sector. However, in the absence of a readily available, comprehensive, and peer-reviewed guide to the Act and a framework to align with, businesses turn instead to global frameworks and the SDGs, which are more familiar to the private sector. The link between the SDGs and the Act in Wales is therefore missed.

On the back of this research, we suggested a framework for businesses to help them start making sense of the Act, which we are now trialling with larger companies. As further research we also ran a workshop with board members of Hafren Dyfrydwy (a subsidiary of Severn Trent Water) to help them realise how to contribute to the Act’s Goals.

Future-proofing smaller businesses 

While our research addressed the challenge that large businesses face, we felt that there was also an opportunity to engage smaller organisations with fewer staff and resources. 

Over the last two decades, we have noticed that small-profit and not-for-profit businesses want to contribute to sustainability but lack time, people, knowledge and money to take action. They want to sustain their operations and provide employment opportunities without causing damage to the environment, communities and economy for years to come. But they feel overwhelmed by the information about sustainability and confused when this is often presented as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must-have’ like HR, health and safety or finance. They are in need of clear advice and want to talk to someone with an understanding of their challenges. We also often hear that businesses want a one-stop shop where they can read and enquire about sustainability and find solutions that are relevant to their size or sector. And because most business owners feel that they are on their own, being part of a community is important to them too.

This is why we were excited to join Matt Appleby, Annabel Lloyd and Jonathan Tench in a project commissioned by Business Wales in conjunction with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner to review the existing Future-Proofing toolkit and expand it to make it more relevant and helpful to SMEs. 

The toolkit aims to support businesses to play their part in Wales’s journey to the Act’s seven Well-being Goals. It is free of charge, available in the public domain and most importantly, is written from the perspective of businesses and their sustainability priorities.

We recognise, however, that to increase its relevance and effectiveness, the toolkit can be enhanced with more tools, examples and case studies to help businesses future-proof their operations. This is the next stage of our work and we are excited to use the knowledge and insights we have gained from working with our members and others to inform this.

We hope the toolkit will act as a guide to sustainable development as described in the Act, and as a hub of knowledge for businesses seeking ideas and solutions. 

Can you help test this toolkit to meet business needs?

If you are an SME and you’d like to help test this toolkit, please get in contact.

DEC Turkey-Syria earthquake appeal

DEC launched the Turkey-Syria earthquake appeal in response to the devastating impact of two earthquakes that struck south-earth Turkey and north-west Syria on 6th February 2023. Turkey has declared a state of emergency, and both countries have appealed for urgent international assistance, with estimates emerging that 17 million people in total are exposed.

14 of the 15 DEC member charities are planning on or already responding to the earthquake directly or through local partners in Turkey and Syria. These member charities have strong local connections with the community, religious leaders, and elders, and have negotiated access locally to ensure they can get aid to the people who need it most. These relationship help ensure that aid reaches intended recipients. The DEC plays an oversight role to ensure accountability and transparency, and it’s ‘helicopter view’ of the response enables them to spot duplication, plug gaps in programming, and support cost-effective procurement.

DEC charities and their local partners are among the first responders. Immediate priorities are search and rescue, medical treatment for the injured, shelter for those who have lost their homes, heaters for safe spaces and winter kits with blankets, and warm clothes, and ensuring people have food and clean water.

If you can, please help. Donate today: Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal

Warm this Winter Campaign Launch

Climate Cymru is coordinating a campaign called Warm This Winter (Cynnes Gaeaf Yma) in Wales, to urge the Welsh and UK Governments to act on the interconnected cost-of-living, energy and climate crises. The campaign is led by antipoverty and environmental groups, and backed by hundreds of organisations and thousands of individuals from every corner of Wales. It will launch digitally on 24th September, and at a physical launch in Bangor at the same time. The campaign will spend the subsequent week touring and speaking to communities all over Wales alongside the Climate Cymru Green Tour.

Warm This Winter in Wales has four headline demands:

1)      Emergency support for vulnerable households

2)    An ambitious energy efficiency programme

3)   A rapid scale-up of low-cost renewables

4)    Free us from fossil fuels

Bethan Sayed, Campaigns Coordinator for Warm this Winter said:

Audio segments here: English, Cymraeg

Sam Ward, Manager for Climate Cymru said:

“There is an escalating cost of living crisis, an energy crisis, and an ongoing climate emergency. These crises are connected. They have shared causes, like fossil fuels, which are making them all worse, and shared solutions that can help us get out of this mess, like mass insulation of Welsh homes and investing in super-cheap, clean renewable energy.

“We hope to work productively with the Welsh Government on our demands and their implementation, as well as with UK partners to make sure UK Government does its part to unlock the finances and levers that Welsh Government needs to tackle these issues at the pace and scale that the situation demands”

The Climate Cymru Green Tour will take place 24th September to 2nd October, during the Great Big Green Week, which is the UK’s biggest call for action on climate change. Electric vehicles will travel around Wales during the week, with each stop showcasing inspirational stories of climate change action in Wales. There is further information about each stop on the website at https://climate.cymru/great-big-green-week/green-tour-2022

The Warm this Winter launch will be held at 11am on 24th September at Penrhyn Hall, Bangor City Council, hosted by Climate Cymru partner North Wales African Society, in a mini citizens assembly themed around the cost-of-living crisis.

A week later the Climate Cymru Green Tour will be at the Grangetown Green Gala on 1st October, for another cost-of-living event that coincides with the introduction of the energy price cap.

About Climate Cymru

Climate Cymru is a coalition of over 300 Welsh organisations, and almost 14,000 individuals who have signed up to work together to tackle the climate and nature emergencies.

There will be a professional photographer at the Warm this Winter launch and throughout the week covering the Climate Cymru Green Tour.

For full details about how to attend the physical launch please visit the website: https://greatbiggreenweek.com/events/great-big-green-week-launch-and-citizen-assembly-have-your-say/

For further information about Climate Cymru visit the website:  https://climate.cymru/

For further information on the Warm for Winter campaign visit:  https://climate.cymru/warm-this-winter/

Further information about The Great Big Green week is found here:

UK website: https://greatbiggreenweek.com/

Wales https://climate.cymru/home-page/great-big-green-week-2022-2/

You can also keep up with the campaign and tour on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok. Follow the hashtags #WarmThisWinterWales #WarmthisWinter #ClimateCymru

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