While COP26 takes place in Glasgow this week, four regional roadshow events will be held in Wales, hosted by the Welsh Government with support from the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities.
These events are part of a wider programme of roadshows being held across the UK, to show how Devolved Governments can work with the UK Government to fight climate change.
The events aim to engage the different regions of Wales in conversations around the themes of COP26. They will be broadcast to a virtual audience – and registration for each event is now open.
The roadshow will travel around Wales and cover the following:
- Clean Energy Transition (4th November) hosted in North Wales
- Nature Based Climate Solutions (6th November) hosted in Mid Wales
- Adaptation & Climate Resilience (8th November) hosted in South West Wales
- Clean Transport (10th November) hosted in South East Wales
The links between food & climate change
I recently did some filming with ITV Wales, looking at the growing sustainable food scene in Cardiff. The piece highlighted the relationship between food and climate change; more than a third—34%—of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions are generated by food systems.
To explore this further, I’ll be tuning into the South West Wales roadshow (Nov 4th), for a talk which specifically looks at Agriculture and Food Independence here in Wales. The session – which will be led by founder of Food Sense Wales, Katie Palmer – will consider climate change and its impacts on agriculture and food security at regional and national scales.
Joining Katie, speakers include Will Ritchie (curator of National Botanic Garden of Wales), Aled Davies (county adviser of Carmarthenshire and Glamorgan at NFU Cymru), Katie Davies (agricultural advisor at Agri Advisor), Edward Morgan (group CSR and training manager for Castell Howell), and Simon Wright (journalist, restaurateur, and newly appointed UWTSD professor of practice).
The Mid Wales show on nature-based solutions will also include talks on topics of regenerative agriculture and food waste (because 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stopped wasting food).
To sign up to virtually attend the Roadshows (and/or the broader programme of online events) being held as part of COP Cymru, click here.
And, to sign up for any of the Wales Climate Week events (22 to 26 November), click here.
On route to a ‘Net Zero Wales’
Welsh Government also recently revealed the Net Zero Wales Plan, covering 26 key things that are going to change under government plans for Wales to reach carbon net zero.
The targets and budgets followed the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) recommendations; they require Wales to reduce CO2 emissions by 37% for 2025 and by 58% for 2030. By 2040, we need to achieve a 63% reduction and by 2050 it needs to be at least 100% (i.e net zero).
Like the Net Zero Wales Plan, the COP26 roadshow events will be streamed live, but will also be available as on-demand video content after the events.
