One year on from Climate Conference time to take next steps to make Warrington Carbon Neutral by 2030

ONE year on from Warrington’s first Young Peoples Climate Conference it is now time to take the next steps in the bid to make the town carbon neutral by 2030.

Warrington Youth Voice held the first Climate Conference in Warrington at the beginning of 2020 in February, and since then they have worked very hard to reduce the impacts of climate
change.
Ranging from litter picking and awareness-raising through social media posts, to being involved in sustainable energy policy and influencing Warrington Borough Council’s Climate Emergency Commission, Warrington’s official Youth Voice organisation has been taking many steps to ensure a green and clean future.
The Conference, which was attended by more than 10 schools, asked young people in attendance to commit to one thing each they would do to reduce their carbon footprint and brought ideas for how their school could become more environmentally friendly.
Schools such as Birchwood Community High School & College had been working throughout the year before the conference, with more work since, to create a more environmentally friendly school with their “fabulous” ECO team. However, this is just one “brilliant” example of the great work going on across the community and other schools in Warrington.
Warrington’s Chief Youth Officer Louis Groarke says a year has now passed and it’s time to take the next steps, with a Climate Emergency Youth Forum which feeds directly into the WBC Climate Emergency Commission.
The main objectives of the Climate Emergency Youth Forum are to:
● Create a youth action plan that is aligned with the Climate Emergency Commissions plans
● Support a network for schools/colleges ECO Councils and to empower them to take action
● Promote community-based action on climate change and to encourage young people to get involved
● Provide feedback to the Climate Emergency Commission
● Consult with the Climate Emergency Commission
Warrington Youth Voice will be running the Climate Emergency Youth Forum for the council, and will be responsible for ensuring its effective delivery. You can find more information about the Climate Emergency by visiting www.warringtonyouthvoice.org/climate-youth-forum.
Louis, formally Chief Executive at Warrington Youth Voice and Deputy Chair of the Climate Emergency Commission for the Council said: “As the person who hosted the Greener Schools Conference/Youth Climate Conference in February 2020, I was very happy to know progress has been made as a result of it and knowing this has empowered myself and my team to do more, we want to create a better town which is ready for the future however this needs to be a community effort. Young people have a part to play but so do the adults. We need to take the situation that we face with Climate Change as an emergency because that’s exactly what it is. It’s only by taking actions locally we will help to reduce the impact of climate change and by doing this we are supporting our environment in its job to sustain life.
“The aim to get Warrington to net 0 by 2030 is only going to be achieved if all groups of society work together and young people are a part of this, I’d urge any young person who wants to get
involved in our new Climate Youth Forum to do so by visiting our website and emailing us. It is also very important to note that COVID-19 has had an influence on how we travel and the carbon emission we produce, this, of course, has helped our environment but we still have a long way to go, especially with reduced recycling and masks being littered and getting into our ecosystem, harming water, animals and birds” “The youth climate conference which I personally managed had a great deal of support behind it, from climate scientists such Dr Markus Swann and Cllr Dr David Ellis who is also the Chair of the council’s Climate Emergency Commission presenting to those young people in attendance, we also had senior local officials who took part in a Q & A session with the students.”
“The event was very successful and it achieved its intended purpose despite only being arranged within the same 2 weeks from when I had the idea.”
For more details on Warrington Youth Voice visit www.warringtonyouthvoice.org