Camden schools join fight to tackle the climate crisis
On Wednesday 3 November, schools across Camden came together at Samsung in Kings Cross to discuss ways to make schools more eco-friendly as part of borough-wide action to tackle the climate crisis.
Organised by the Council and the Camden Climate Change Alliance, the Camden Schools Climate Summit gave schools the opportunity to share what they have been doing to respond to the climate crisis and what support they need to make further progress in this area.
As well as school representatives, organisations that work closely with schools attended the summit to talk about how they can make changes to improve the environment including food service Caterlink and waste management service Veolia.
Parliament Hill, Torriano Primary School and University College School also spoke about successful climate action initiatives carried out at their schools including banning plastics, promoting active travel to and from school, growing their own fruit and vegetables and planting more trees on site.
The Camden School Climate Charter, which is a local framework to empower schools to play their part in making Camden a zero-carbon borough by 2030, was also launched during the event.
By signing the Charter, schools will declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency and commit to taking action to protect the planet as well as giving schools the chance to network and find new ways of collaborating and supporting each other in their climate ambitions.
It’s no secret that we’re facing a climate emergency which is affecting us fast, so it’s more important than ever we work together to tackle this growing threat. Camden is a leading local authority on the climate agenda, but we know much more needs to be done to make a real difference. This schools summit gave us a fantastic chance to hear first-hand what schools are doing to become greener as well as find solutions to the barriers schools may be facing.
Our schools are doing some great work to become greener and are working hard to teach the future generations about the importance of protecting our planet. However, there is clearly more we need to do to make a lasting difference and I’m asking all schools in Camden to lend their support to the Camden School Climate Charter which is a key part of reaching our goal of making Camden a zero-carbon borough by 2030 - we can only achieve this by working together.
The Camden Council's Schools Climate Summit provided an excellent platform to launch the Schools Climate Charter. It showed how committed the Council is to ensuring they are supporting schools in reducing their environmental impact and embedding sustainability into the education sector of the borough. I certainly came away from the event with a notebook full of actions, ideas and ways to overcome some of the obstacles that I had faced prior to attending.
The event took place during COP26, a summit where leaders from around the world are agreeing on an approach on how best to tackle the climate crisis globally.
To find out more on the Camden Schools Climate Charter visit: www.camdencca.org/school-climate-charter/
For more information on how Camden is responding to the climate crisis head to: www.camden.gov.uk/climate-crisis