Universities for Nottingham Sustainability Action Panel and Workshop

The event

Over 100 people joined the online session and it was encouraging to see so many informed and engaged students, staff and citizens share ideas and knowledge about ways to address climate change through individual and collective action. The event was organised by the Sustainable Development Team as part of Sustainability Action Week. We’d like to send a sincere thank you to all attendees, panel members and workshop hosts for helping make the event such a success.

Panel Discussion

NTU hosted the event as part of Universities for Nottingham which brought together staff and students from both Universities along with members of the wider Nottingham community to discuss how we continue to drive down carbon emissions in our city and region. It was fantastic to see the universities and Nottingham City Council working together to advance sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.

The panel was chaired by NTU’s Richard Bull, Deputy Dean of Architecture, Design and Built Environment and included representatives from Nottingham City Council and both universities:

• Wayne Bexton - Head of Energy Services, Nottingham City Council
• Charmaine Morrell - Head of Sustainability, Nottingham Trent University
• Ginny McAll-Porter - President, Vegetarian & Vegan Society, Nottingham Trent University
• Andy Nolan - Development and Sustainability Director, University of Nottingham
• Martha Roberts - Environment and Social Justice Officer, University of Nottingham Students' Union

The panel opened with a short presentation by each panellist explaining what their respective organisation is currently doing to reduce carbon emissions and how they will work to support Nottingham City Council’s Carbon Neutral 2028 Action Plan. Attendees were invited to submit questions electronically when registering or during the session via the live chat feature.

Workshop Session

Following the panel  Q and A session, attendees participated in workshop sessions focused on four key themes and participants shared a range of possible solutions focused on the individual, institutional and citywide levels:

• Our role as consumers
• Our travel behaviours
• Our energy usage and performance
• Our natural and green spaces

Attendees discussed each theme and were encouraged to think about barriers to progressing in these areas before then generating solutions and positive ways forward. The groups also considered the best ways of engaging staff, students and members of the public on each of these areas.

Questions

Questions, covering a range of topics, were submitted to the panel both before and during the event. Some were general and some were directed at specific institutions i.e. Nottingham City Council (NCC), Nottingham Trent University (NTU) or University of Nottingham. Questions were reviewed and categorised into topics; general responses relating to each topic were sent to attendees in a follow-up email. Further details about each institutions’ sustainability strategy and activities can be found on the following links:

• Nottingham’s 2028 Carbon Neutral Target
• Sustainability at University of Nottingham
• Sustainability in Action at Nottingham Trent University

Questions directed toward Nottingham City Council have been sent to the council for consideration in future planning will potentially addressed at future events or through existing communication channels.

Let’s keep the conversation going

We’d like to thank you all again for taking part in this important conversation. We do hope this is just one part of a continuous  conversation as we recognise there’s so much passion, interest and commitment to advancing sustainability in Nottingham and beyond.

We intend to host future events such as these to continue to explore what we can do as individuals and collectively. In the meantime we’d invite you to join us in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or emailing us at sust.dev@ntu.ac.uk. Students and staff are also encouraged to join Green Rewards to learn more about how to adopt sustainable behaviours at NTU and in their personal lives.