Access environmental support and training in 2023
2022 has seen positive steps forward in tackling climate change, protecting our planet, and ensuring a fair and equitable transition to a green future. COP27 on the climate emergency and COP15 on the biodiversity crisis led to important agreements to give financial support to countries disproportionately impacted by the climate emergency, and to protect nature worldwide.
In the US the historic Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, investing $369 billion in clean energy projects. In the UK we have also seen improvements to environmental legislation, including legal protections for beavers, a re-introduced species important to the health of our ecosystems, proposed reforms to planning permission to make it easier to create onshore wind-farms, and a wealth of projects improving natural spaces, such as restoring rivers to reduce flood risks, sequester carbon, and recreate habitats.
At Going Green Together, 2022 saw us expand the project from our website and create training opportunities for the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector to learn more about the climate emergency and how to take action.
We launched three programmes: our Become Green Together support network, with access to sustainability and carbon footprinting tools and frameworks; Act Green Together, our development seed funding programme to help organisations create new environmental projects with their communities; and courses in Climate and Carbon Literacy Training, in partnership with Cumbria Action for Sustainability.
Our work can’t stop here. In order to mitigate the impact of the climate emergency, carbon emissions need to fall dramatically. All sectors therefore should be looking at what emissions they create, and finding ways to reduce them.
Not only is this important from a perspective of climate, but demonstrating your commitment to tackling the climate emergency is increasingly important when working with funders and other stakeholders, and will keep you ahead of changes to legislation and procurement policies.
Support is available
We’re continuing to help our sector respond to the climate emergency through training and support into 2023.
Become Green Together has re-opened for applications through to Tuesday 31st January 2023. By taking part, you’ll be joining a friendly and supportive network of over forty VCSE organisations across the North East and Cumbria, learning together how to create practical, achievable sustainability goals, put strategies in place, measure and reduce carbon footprints, and receive externally verified accreditation so they can demonstrate their environmental commitments. You can apply to join by filling out a form on our website.
We also have new dates for Climate and Carbon Literacy Training. These courses are the perfect way to quickly upskill your team-members on climate change issues and carbon emissions. Find out more and register through the CAfS website.
If you need financial support in taking part in our opportunities, you can contact us to ask about bursaries at hello@goingreentogether.org.
We’re also planning open events and webinars in the new year, to help you learn about new topics such as how to communicate effectively about the climate emergency and tackle misinformation. To make sure you’re kept up-to-date about our new opportunities, sign up to our mailing list.
Let’s make 2023 green, together.
