Twenty Things
This is a guide produced by Friends of the Earth and outlines actions local town and parish councils can take on climate change and nature. Its purpose is to support those of the 10,000 local councils across England and 750 community councils in Wales who want to “do their bit” in addressing the climate and nature emergency.
NALC Advice
NALC have set up their own climate change page where you can find extensive information on what climate change is and how your local council can make a difference.
Their advice for local councils includes:
- Declare a climate emergency
- Create a task force to establish a green agenda that includes developing a resilience policy and engaging in flood defence measures
- Develop and promote green transport plans, including safe routes to school
- Ensure that all council buildings are as energy-efficient as possible and that energy is not wasted through unnecessary heating and lighting
- Use green energy sources and environmentally friendly products
- Plan for a green community in a neighbourhood plan
- Limit the use of plastics, especially single-use plastics, in your council
- Reduce waste and recycle as much as possible
- Protect important open spaces and carbon sinks and consider creating a community orchard and/or wildflower meadow and/or allotments
- Look at the existing powers of councils regarding climate change
NALC also have a report on how local councils can action against climate change and case studies of other local councils across the UK and how they have actioned climate change in their local communities. To access these and read more you can access the website here.
Funding for climate action
We have attached links to sources of grants and funding available for local parish and town councils that will support climate initiatives.
National Lottery Climate Action Fund
Other Useful Resources
There are many other useful resources offering advice and support to local councils and to your local community that you may find useful. Responding to climate change doesn't have to involve creating your own policies, it can simply be changing current policies to suit your local community and spreading more information and guidance to the residents.
Community Climate Action Network are Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire based sending out newsletters packed full of the latest climate news, events, and resources for people in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. If it's happening, this is the place to find out about it!
Marches Energy Agency are an independent charity working towards heating homes whilst making them more energy efficient and cheaper to heat. They provide training and support to local authorities in climate change and how it is affecting the most vulnerable to help them achieve this goal.
Centre for Sustainable Energy is a charity supporting people and organisations across the UK to tackle the climate emergency and end the suffering caused by cold homes.
IMPACT is a tool to calculate your local communities carbon emissions. It helps your council identify areas where taking action to tackle climate change will make the biggest difference.
Groundwork are providing free independent energy assessments to help your VCSE organisation identify energy-saving opportunities in your buildings.