We held our first ever zero carbon breakfast meeting this week (22 March) to present our new carbon footprint and green city ambition.
Held at the Park Inn by Radisson Palace, Southend-on-Sea, the ‘Zero Carbon Southend Breakfast Meeting’ was attended by a wide range of local businesses, stakeholders and residents interested in supporting the council’s drive to reach net zero by 2030.
Guest speakers included Cllr Carole Mulroney, cabinet member for environment, culture, tourism, and planning, Jo Gay, head of climate change at the council, and Claire Williamson, PlastiCity project manager.
Jo Gay said: “Today we presented our carbon footprint developed for the city of Southend through our work with Project REMeDY. It is an important step in our evidence-based approach to achieving our ambitious net zero target. The carbon footprint shows the scale of the challenge. At today’s breakfast meeting we shared how this will shape our future plans and priorities.
“The largest sources of carbon emissions in Southend are residential energy, commercial energy and road transport. It is essential as individuals and as organisations to understand how our activities contribute to city-wide emissions and to work with our communities and stakeholders to reduce them.”
Cllr Carole Mulroney added: “We announced our climate change emergency a couple of years ago now and we aim to get to net zero by 2030. To achieve this, everybody will have a role to play. It was very encouraging to see lots of local businesses and stakeholders in attendance today looking to support the council on its journey to net zero.
“This breakfast meeting is one avenue to try and get everybody on board so they understand the scale of the problem, the contribution they can make and the positive impact of collaboration. There’s never been a better time to get on the path to net zero.”
Green Love Southend - sign up for free energy saving workshops
Last month also saw Project REMeDY launch an engagement initiative called Green Love Southend and businesses, schools and charities were invited to participate.
The aim of the initiative was to encourage net zero conversations which includes practical advice on energy efficiency and how we can all work together to start our net zero journey in Southend.
An energy and waste workshop took place on 23 February in partnership with PlastiCity and included guest speakers from Energy Unlocked, Quant Energy, PlastiCity and Veolia.
The next energy workshop takes place on 31 March where you can learn how to understand your energy bill, find easy savings, and low carbon solutions that can help improve the energy efficiency of your buildings.
For more information and to sign up visit https://www.greenlovesouthend.org/speaking-events