Residents, businesses, local councils and community groups are being invited to take part in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly COP26 Regional Roadshow to discuss ways to act on cutting carbon emissions and help tackle the climate emergency.
The Let’s Talk Climate Action virtual event is hosted by Cornwall Council and the Council of the Isles of Scilly and will take place on November 8 from 10am-2pm. All are welcome to attend. Find out more and register now.
It is part of the COP26 Regional Roadshow and coincides with world leaders meeting to discuss accelerating action on climate change at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.
The Let’s Talk Climate Action event will focus on Cornwall’s biggest carbon-emitting areas – road transport, powering and heating homes, businesses and agriculture.
There will be sessions on transport, heat and power, and agriculture, as well as a special session for businesses on the journey to net zero. Other sessions include reducing waste, and how environmental adaptation is key to mitigating the effects of climate change.
The keynote address will be from Monty Halls, whose recent BBC TV series ‘Fisherman’s Apprentice’ was filmed in Cornwall while he lived and worked with Cadgwith fishermen.
Monty is a marine biologist who is passionate about climate change and has a huge affinity with Cornwall and will set the tone of passion and urgency for the event.
A message from Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26, will be shown at the engagement event which has been funded by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The event will be hosted by Councillor Martyn Alvey, Cornwall’s cabinet member for environment and climate change, who will be joined by Kate Kennally, Cornwall Council chief executive, Councillor Steve Watt, Council of the Isles of Scilly lead member for environment, environmental services and climate change, and Paul Masters, chief executive of the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
Speakers include Stuart Roberts, deputy president of the NFU, Steffen Boehm, professor of organisation and sustainability at University of Exeter Business School, and representatives from RegenSW and Natural England.
They will be joined by Caroline Drummond MBE, chief executive of LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming), Amanda Forman, co-founder of Planet A Solutions, Lord Robin Teverson, Chair of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Nature Partnership, and Matt Hocking from Leap design.
Cllr Alvey said: “We want to bring people in Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly together and inspire everyone to explore how we must collaborate and take action now to tackle the climate emergency.
“There will be discussions that participants can join about the actions we can all take to adopt low carbon ways of thinking and acting. In particular we want to hear from you what the key issues and barriers to tackling climate change are.
Cllr Watt said: "Neither Council can tackle the climate emergency on its own, but this Road Show is an excellent opportunity to set the pace and establish good practice.
"It's a daunting challenge, but we're not helpless in tackling it and I hope that lots of people from Scilly and Cornwall can join the discussion and help us find positive ways forward."
Let’s Talk Climate Action will feature themed conversations and participants can choose one talk for each of the four sessions:
Session one - choose between:
(a) Agriculture - How we grow things and what we eat; or
(b) Waste - How we buy and use things
Session two - choose between:
(c) Energy - How we heat and power things; or
(d) Adaptation and mitigation - How we adapt and improve things
Session three - choose between:
(e) Transport - How we move around; or
(f) Starting your business net zero journey - How we make things and provide services.
Session four will be for Cornwall or Isles of Scilly participants - choose between:
(g) Isles of Scilly – Launch of the Isles of Scilly Climate Change Action Plan consultation; or
(h) Cornwall – Next steps for the Carbon Neutral Cornwall Action Plan and how you can get involved in shaping Cornwall’s Climate Commitments.
Each of the talks will be an informal conversation between two guest speakers, about the key climate change issues and barriers to taking action.
Participants can put their questions and comments to the guest speakers via the chat.
Register for the event here: https://letstalk.cornwall.gov.uk/climate-action
Following on from the event Cornwall Council will be undertaking engagement to co-design a series of Cornwall Climate Commitments to encourage everyone to take climate action and reduce Cornwall’s carbon footprint.
Story posted on October 21, 2021
