The UK’s Climate Leaders are regular people who are helping tackle climate change by making greener choices every day.
In the run-up to COP26, people across the country played their part to tackle climate change. We created this pack to encourage schools to join them.
This pack was been made for teachers and schools to help them get involved. It is filled with ideas and tools designed to help schools be a part of the growing green momentum.
You’ll find everything you need to take part in Resources, including inspiring educational activities your students will love. Help them take part and watch them grow as Climate Leaders.
WHAT ARE STUDENT CLIMATE LEADERS?
It’s not just the familiar faces leading the way against climate change. Everyday people are going about their lives in quietly revolutionary ways – helping cut carbon emissions and making the UK and the wider world a greener place.
Whether it’s by recycling, composting, walking to school, using a re-usable water bottle or turning the lights off when leaving a room, thousands of people are already playing their part. These are the UK’s unexpected Climate Leaders.
Climate Leaders instinctively see the wider benefits of doing these things – that a greener way of life means a healthier population, more jobs and a sustainable future for us all.
Join us in celebrating their achievements and inspiring others to follow suit.
“This generation is going to be developing renewable resources. They are very aware of what they need to do individually, and they can spread that through the community”
Melanie Winney
Geography teacher, Ormiston Venture Academy
WHAT IS NET ZERO?
Net zero means finding a balance between the greenhouse gases that an individual or organisation puts into the atmosphere, and those that are ‘taken out’.
In other words, it’s making sure that for all the gases emitted, you are removing the same amount from the atmosphere, making yourself ‘carbon neutral’.
Achieving net zero is necessary if we are to tackle climate change and protect people, the planet and our natural world.
The UK has set a target of being net zero by 2050.
WHAT DOES NET ZERO MEAN FOR ME?
The first step to becoming net zero is to avoid emitting greenhouse gases in the first place. This could mean using less energy at school, walking or cycling, instead of going by car, and reducing your food waste.
The second step is to find ways to neutralise or ‘offset’ any remaining emissions that can’t be avoided, as it’s impossible to reduce emissions completely. Offsetting can be done in a variety of ways, including planting trees (which absorb excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere).