Climate Action Summit 2020
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all delegates for attending, bringing this virtual conference to life and being such engaged and enthusiastic participants. We’d also like to extend our sincere thanks to the Nottingham Trent Students’ Union, who jointly hosted the event and to all of speakers and workshop facilitators who contributed their time and expertise to inform, empower and inspire us all.
The summit was an opportunity for us all to learn more, share ideas, network with fellow students, staff and sustainability professionals, embedding NTU’s zero carbon culture.
A virtual conference space served as a digital venue for delegates and a series of interactive workshops took place across the day. A total of 116 people attended, comprising 87 students and 29 staff.
The day was structured as follows. If you would like to listen again to any of the sessions, please email sust.dev@ntu.ac.uk
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 11.00am to 11.30am | Embracing Sustainability in partnership with NTSU: Overview of Sustainability at NTU and beyond |
| 11.30am to 12.15pm | Climate Action Now for a Carbon Neutral Future: Exploring how we can fight climate change through individual and collective action |
| 12.15pm to 1.00pm | Lunch Break and Live Cooking Demonstration with NTU Veg Society |
| 1.00pm to 1.45pm | Workshop Session 1 Option A: Beyond the Bottle: practical ways to get rid of single-use plastics OR Option B: Introduction to Hedgehogs Webinar |
| 2.00pm to 2.45pm | Workshop Session 2 Option A: Emmanuel House x NTU Fashion: Fashion Education Meets Textile Waste OR Option B: Recycling, what a load of rubbish! |
| 3.00 pm to 3.30pm | Closing session: This is where change begins! |
Feedback & Key Themes
Throughout the day we received great feedback, suggestions and comments during the discussions, workshops, via online polls and text chat.
Below are just some of the responses received via the online poll for the ‘Climate Action Now for a Carbon Neutral Future’ session. They detail suggested collective and individual actions that we can take to reduce carbon emissions.
- Making sure our suppliers are ISO140001 certified
- Rewards for active travel
- Discount on public transportation
- Cycling
- Efficient timetable, including restructuring courses, to ensure staff and students do not have to come to campus for just 1 or 2 hours a day.
- To improve NTU method of travelling to NTU campuses
- Improve cycling infrastructure, walking, water-efficient devices, more awareness on sustainable transport systems (labels) use energy more efficiently
- Buy goods sourced locally
- Online teaching being part of long-term plan (not 100% but giving students option of learning from home so there is less commuting)
- Try to persuade students who study at Brackenhurst to live at Brackenhurst rather than commuting in from the city.
- Free public transport to get to University
- Extend government cycling purchase scheme available to staff to students
- Clear and measurable sustainability targets that suppliers must reach (and maintain) in order to get NTU business
- Go vegan
Individual Pledges
Throughout the day we also hosted a ‘Pledge Wall’ where we encouraged all attendees to pledge to make a personal positive sustainability change. A screenshot of some of the pledges can be seen above. You can view the pledge wall of anonymously posted pledges here.
Thank you and staying connected
The Sustainable Development Team would like to thank all attendees and speakers once again for your involvement. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you again soon.
Further details available on Carbon Literacy Training for staff and students. And don’t forget to sign up to NTU Green Rewards to start earning points for your sustainable actions!
Please do stay in touch and follow our activities via social media. You can email us or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.