Celebrate Peterborough’s Environment heroes

In November, the UK hosts COP26 in Glasgow, bringing world leaders together to tackle the climate crisis.

In the run up to the event Peterborough City and Cambridgeshire County councils are searching for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire’s Climate Leaders - the community groups, individuals, businesses and others who’ve found meaningful ways to take positive environmental action.

The councils want to celebrate those everyday people who are doing their part to tackle climate change - often in unexpected ways - and to help the UK reach its goal of becoming net carbon zero by 2050.

They’re not activists or officials, just ordinary people who have quietly found meaningful ways to cut carbon and make the UK a greener place.

This is part of a wider COP26 initiative which has seen organisers call on every place across the country to highlight local #OneStepGreener Climate Leaders.

Those chosen as Climate Leaders will have their contributions celebrated in the hope of inspiring others.

The global conference in November will highlight how if we don’t act immediately, by the end of the century we will warm the world by at least 3C. This would cause catastrophic flooding, pollution, bush fires, extreme weather and destruction of species.

One of the UK’s aims at COP26 is to secure a global commitment to go net carbon zero by the middle of the century and prevent the planet warming by more than 1.5 degrees.

In Peterborough, the city council has committed to making its activities net zero by 2030 and has produced a carbon management action plan to hit this target. It has also committed to helping Peterborough become a net zero carbon city by 2030.

In Cambridgeshire, the county council has set a deadline of 2050 but aims to reach net zero by 2030 as well. It has actioned 15 priority areas to achieve this goal.

Both councils declared a climate emergency in 2019.

Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald, leader of Peterborough City Council, said: “We know there are many groups and individuals across Peterborough making huge efforts to keep our city a clean and pleasant place to live and work in.

“We want to celebrate those selfless people who are going above and beyond to keep our planet sustainable for future generations.

“In Peterborough we are proud of our environmental record, including placing solar panels on rooftops across the city and our residents’ high take-up of electric vehicles. But there’s always more we can do, which is why we hope COP26 will inspire people to make the small changes which will lead to a greener and cleaner future.”

Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council are working with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority – the county’s mayoral body – to raise awareness of COP26, its aims, and how every person can make a difference to limit global warming.

This will include highlighting everyday lifestyle changes individuals and organisations can make which, when combined, will make our planet a greener and more sustainable place to live.

To nominate yourself or someone as a Climate Leader, email [email protected] explaining why they deserve to be chosen as an ambassador for their local area.

More information on how both councils are taking action to become carbon neutral can be found at: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/climate-change-energy-and-environment/climate-change-and-environment-strategy and https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/council/campaigns/climate-change.