Cynnal Cymru Strengthens Board with New Trustee Appointees

The charity turns these sustainability values into practical action by providing advice and training to assist businesses on their sustainability journey. Cynnal Cymru also works to spread fair working practices across Wales, including by managing Living Wage Wales and delivering pay rises for the lowest paid in Wales’ economy. These actions make Cynnal Cymru a catalyst for a just transition to a greener and fairer society.

The journey towards sustainability however is a challenge that needs to involve everyone. With this key objective in mind the Charity’s Board set out to seek broader representation of skills and lived experience amongst its trustees – from a wide range of applicants that exceeded expectations. From a diverse range of candidates, each bringing different insights, skills and perspectives, three new trustees have joined the Board to steer the Charity’s future work.

Dan Tram grew up in Cardiff and has worked for Arup, a global sustainable development consultancy, for six years. As a senior engineer in Arup’s water team, he advocates and delivers sustainable solutions to the many challenges we face, with a particular focus on using nature and sustainable water management to reshape our towns and cities. Dan was listed as a Future 100 Changemaker by the Future Generations Commissioner.

Sam Stensland works for Business in the Community, which aims to bring about a fairer and greener world driven by fairer and greener businesses. He is a Trustee of Tylorstown Welfare Hall and is a Grants Panellist with WCVA, bringing strong experience of place-based grant-making, cross-sector collaboration, and strategic marketing. He has a strong sustainability background, holding an MSc in Political Ecology.

Nirushan Sudarsan is deeply embedded in the agenda to bring fair working practices to all people and communities. He runs two social enterprises, Ffair Jobs CIC and Grange Pavilion Youth Forum CIC. His work with Ffair Jobs has been instrumental in establishing the Community Jobs Compact, which has been signed by major employers such as IKEA, ITV Wales, Careers Wales, and the Welsh Parliament.

Diane McCrea, Chair of Cynnal Cymru’s Board, said: “All charities rely on small groups of committed volunteers to step up and take on the role as trustees. They safeguard the organisation’s mission, oversee key financial and governance tasks, and provide critical thinking, challenge and support to help staff deliver their best work. Dan, Sam and Nirushan bring with them skills and insights from a broad range of professional and a wide range of lived experience, strengthening our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. I am delighted to welcome them to the Board Trustee team to help further Cynnal Cymru’s mission.”

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Nature Wise for business – ‘Give it a go, because the clock is ticking’

Tell us about Orangebox and your role

We design and manufacture office furniture and the company is sustainability-led. Our HQ and two factories are in south-east Wales, and three years ago we were bought out by Steelcase, a big American company.

I joined as a furniture designer around 20 years ago, but just over a year ago I became Head of Sustainability. I’m interested in minimising our carbon footprint and I also look after our energy efficiency.

Why is nature important to you and the businesses?

I do a lot of cycling, I’m a keen birdwatcher and part of a conservation group. So I’m passionate about biodiversity and I’m helping Orangebox acknowledge that climate change isn’t the only big risk.

Part of the Orangebox team volunteering at the Stump up for Trees nursery outside of Abergavenny.

How important is nature in your sector?

Increasingly so, but we are at the first rungs on the ladder. Orangebox prides itself on being environmentally-led, but it’s always felt like we’ve been pushing. Now customers are asking how they can reduce their carbon footprint. The biodiversity and nature discussion is nowhere near as mature, but as we see more media exposure of biodiversity loss that will increase exponentially in the next 5 years.

What do you think are the best things about nature in Wales?

It’s the variety. I love where I live because in half an hour I can be on top of a mountain, on a cliff looking out to sea, or at Newport wetlands surrounded by thousands of starlings.

I work in a design studio on the banks of the Taff, where I’m lucky to look onto woodland. Every time we see a species of bird we print out a picture and put it on the wall. You won’t believe how many species we’ve seen!

Why did you choose to do Nature Wise?

The minute I saw it, I wanted to deepen my knowledge of how ecosystems work and get a better understanding of biodiversity loss. Because I’m with Cardiff Conservation Volunteers my course was essentially free, as it was funded by GWR.

How was the course?

I really enjoyed it. The trainers knew the content and had passion for it, and it was just the right level in terms of complexity.

What changes are you making, following the course?

Personally, I’ve pledged to do more in my village and have been talking to my neighbours. But more impactful will be how I can help at Orangebox. We’re thinking harder about the materials we use and where they come from. For example, we use a lot of wood, and while that is low impact compared to plastics and metals, we still have to buy most of it from abroad. So we’re working hard on developing partnerships that allow us to source wood from well-managed forests in the UK.

Litter Gareth collected from a local stream.

What would you say to others about why they should sign up for Nature Wise?

Give it a go, because the clock is ticking.

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

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'It's important for people to disconnect from work and get out in nature' Julie Longton, Associate Director (Grasshopper Communications)

Nature Wise for Business – ‘being outside and close to nature is crucial for wellbeing’

What is your job at Grasshopper Communications?

I’m a communications professional at Grasshopper, a communications agency with an office in Cardiff. Our work is all about social value, we create campaigns that change attitudes and actions in positive, lasting ways. We partner with like-minded organisations, such as renewable energy companies, environment agencies and local and Welsh Government, supporting campaigns on active travel, regeneration, net zero and conservation.

What are the best things about nature for you?

I work remotely and I’m usually in front of my laptop, so it’s critical I spend any free time out by the beach, or in the woods walking with my kids and spotting birds and beetles.

I want to bring my children up so that they’re really fond of nature. Our local beach, Maenporth (near Falmouth), has lots of craggy rocks and little tunnels which kids love. We can go whatever the weather – they just love it!

How important is nature to your sector?

I think that for communications – for most industries – people have realised that the environment is important for staff wellbeing. The pandemic was a bit of a turning point, when we realised that we need human connection but also that being outside and close to nature is crucial for wellbeing.

Why is nature important to you and the business?

Personally, being closer to nature was part of the motivation for moving with my family from London to Cornwall. I wanted my children to be close to the woods and the beach, to have more work-life balance and be closer to wildlife.

As for Grasshopper, wellbeing is a real focus for us – it’s part of our culture. It’s important for people to disconnect from work and get out in nature. In fact, this year we’re hopefully starting some team voluntary work to support a local conservation charity.

Grasshopper Communications team on a wellbeing day.

Why did you do the Nature Wise course?

I was keen to do it because at the time I was putting together a communications strategy for a project for Natural Resources Wales, called Natur Am Byth. The aim is to bring people closer to nature and protect endangered species. So Nature Wise was really helpful for that role, particularly for the work I was doing on how to inspire people.

How did you find the course?

I thought it was brilliant. The trainers were really good and it really was a two-way course with lots of discussion. Doing it over two days meant you could go away and digest it before coming back to the next phase.

What would you say to others about doing Nature Wise?

Go for it! Whether you’re a junior member of staff or a senior manager, it’s relevant for anyone with an interest in the environment who wants to take a more active role.

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Nature Wise for Business – Working in harmony with nature

What is your role 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.

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!

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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

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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, 10^th 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.”

10^th 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 30^th 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:

How could Wales feed itself by 2035?
How could Wales meet energy needs by 2035 whilst phasing out fossil fuels?
How could Wales heat and build homes and workplaces by 2035?
How could people and places be connected across Wales by 2035?
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

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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.

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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.

The role of business in supporting future generations Read More »

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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DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal

DEC launched the Pakistan Floods Appeal in response to overwhelming destruction caused by extraordinarily heavy rainfall, submerging one third of the country – an area the size of the UK – in muddy, dangerous flood waters. Homes, possessions and lives have been lost with no sign of the flood waters abating. As described by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres; “The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids – the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding.”

DEC member charities are on the ground and report widespread destruction and huge humanitarian needs, on a scale not seen in more than a decade, when heavy rains in 2010 resulted in unprecedented flooding. 20 million people were affected by the flooding in 2010; in 2022, 33 million people are affected, in what the UN Secretary General is calling a “climate catastrophe”. Buildings, road and bridges are badly damaged or even completely destroyed, and over 3 million people have fled their homes, with half a million in temporary shelters in relief camps. People are desperate. The danger from disease, hunger and exposure will continue long after the floodwaters recede. Support for the people of Pakistan is particularly vital at this time.

DEC charities are already on the ground providing life-saving aid either directly or through local partners, but need more funds to scale up their operations, particularly with conditions expected to worsen as the rains continue.

The worst hit areas have seen five times as much rainfall as the 30-year average.

The immediate and primary focus of the relief effort is to save lives and provide temporary shelter and blankets to people who lost their homes, clean water and sanitation to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases, food for sustenance, and medical assistance for those who have been injured or are ill. Providing cash assistance and protection have also been identified as priorities, with the latter focusing on child protection, psychological support and distributing dignity kits. In the longer term, work to restore livelihoods through the provision of seeds and livestock will also be vital to getting communities back on their feet.

If you can please help. Donate today: bit.ly/DECPakistanFloodsFV

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