One Planet York

Mike Bonsall, June Tranmer, Peter Watkins

Delivered: 10th March 2020

Update Report for York Climate Scrutiny Committee

Brief

After recommendations from York Community Consulting (YCC) and subsequent leadership meetings One Planet York has been invited to report back on progress and ambitions for the future of the project.

We also have information to report back on after discussions with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Carbon Literacy Project (CLP).

 Note: The chair Mike Bonsall is unavailable - so members June Tranmer and Peter Watkins will deliver the report.

June

Update on the work of OPY and how it relates to the work of York Council in tackling Climate Change:

We would like to report that, although progress has been slow, due to the work being done by volunteers and the need for checking back with the current Leadership Group to confirm we are all in agreement, we have some results: see the attached Suggested Structure for our interim board and Management Group, with a Board of Directors to be elected by the members at our AGM in May.

Since March 2016, the One Planet York initiative has brought together over 60 organisations with a common concern for the environment and the health and wellbeing of York residents . The partnership co-created a framework to develop a shared vision of a more resilient and sustainable city. The Leadership group has organised three major annual events since 2016 and many smaller “mingles” where people shared best practice in various aspects of sustainable living and doing business. Since the declaration of the Climate Emergency last year, we have felt the urgent need to move onto more specific activities, providing more help and support to organisations, groups and individuals. This would take the form of mentoring to help them measure and report on their activities. This way, we will have a record of achievements around the city, heading towards the year 2030 and our shared vision of becoming carbon neutral in that time. We wish to collate and share best practice more widely and thus support and liaise with the Council Climate Emergency Scrutiny Committee in order to facilitate reaching that target.

To that end, as you know, we commissioned the York Community Consulting to prepare a brief for us on our strengths and challenges, and giving us an overview for a way forward. Pete will talk a bit more about that.

Update on new organisational structure proposed on how this will be delivered. See the attached diagram on our proposed new structure, which I can explain a bit more about if you wish.

Update on Carbon Literacy Project - “An awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis.”

The attached information says a bit about their Carbon Literacy Training. We would like to provide  this for our members, volunteers and pledgers so they can become experienced trainers / mentors for others. We hope to attract funding to further that aim and then cascade the actions throughout the different “petals” of One Planet York.  (List of the petals also attached)

Potential funding - YCC suggested we set up a crowdfunding page, a donations button on the website and Facebook page. Pledgers can contribute an annual amount that will help fund the basic running of the organisation while external funding can support specific projects like the Carbon Literacy Training. We also have several supportive experienced funding bid writers who are ready and able to help us research and apply for funding. We hope to attract more pledgers who will contribute to helping us provide our stated goals of:

a. To support the members and membership organisations with metrics, measurement, case studies and mentoring in how to measure their carbon footprint and improve their contribution to the overall aim of reaching Carbon Neutral Status by 2030 in York, within the 10 petals – listed in our memorandum and articles.

b. To become a part of the new Climate Commission, to liaise with the Climate Scrutiny Committee and share information and best practice

c. To organise regular networking events within the 10 petals and broadly across the city, fostering general collaboration among groups and businesses

d. To provide a website and other social media connections for members and non – members to easily access and share information    

We have ascertained four main roles for the new Management Group:

Outreach, Events and Communications Manager

Project Coordinator

Treasurer and Funding Manager

Minutes Secretary

These are in addition to the Chair and Secretary

Peter:

Update on recommendations from York Community Consulting (see attached summary document) They presented their proposal to us in October 2019 and the final report in December 2019. We have attached a summary of their findings. Main points include a clearer vision of our aims and goals, a stronger and more structured social media presence, improvements to the website, which is currently very out of date. They also recommended other useful social media actions we can take, plus starting a pool of volunteers (which we already have done, with their own Facebook Group for discussions and action planning)

Update on the Consulting Project undertaken last year - and the recommendations relevant to the Scrutiny Committee:

1. Marketing strategy - how we engage and get message out to our members

Clear mission, social media, web site and physical marketing.

          2. Engagement strategy

How we will engage with members - providing guidance, advise and networking opportunities.

          3. Funding Strategy

How we will fund these activities locally and externally.

Update on the discussions with CDP:

Update on the work of the CDP - and what capacity OPY has been involved with their project:

          1. Carbon Disclosure for Business in York

Larger Businesses can disclose directly to CDP - OPY could be a tool used to discuss this with larger organisations and form a list of which companies are already on the list.

Discussions were had about the engagement of SME business (which makes up most of economic activity on a local level). We have suggested to CDP that we could create a simple disclosure  and have approached a University of York group to assist us with planning and writing this.

          2. Carbon Disclosure For City of York Council

The Council has been approached to disclose to the CDP - but agreement not yet made. If this can be done by April 2020 the results could be back later this year. It will be key for setting the example which business can follow. We feel that if CYC and other large anchor organisations were to follow that model, then we could follow the Carbon Literacy Project model for smaller businesses, voluntary sector bodies and social enterprises, as well as individuals.

Question for the committee: have the Council made any commitments to disclosure with CDP - and can this progress be followed up?

General Questions for committee from OPY:

What support is available for OPY in it’s new format - particularly in its capacity to engage and relate climate policy back to its members.

COP26 - preparations and involvement of York in this National initiative. We would like to organise an event in York in October just prior to COP26 but time is short so we need to get into action on this.

Car Free 2023 policy - our members are very interested in this key piece of policy. How is this progressing?

Supporting documentation:

1. CDP Summary document.

2. York Community Consulting Summary

3. Carbon Literacy Project information

4. Our suggested structure

5.  The 10 Petals