People with a passion for sustainability and desire to tackle the climate crisis are being urged to volunteer for a national climate education programme with a base at Keele University.
The university is hosting the West Midlands Hub – one of nine across the country – for the Department for Education (DfE)’s Climate Ambassadors Scheme.
Keele is helping the DfE recruit expert volunteers from across the region’s public and private sectors to the Government scheme.
They will support the rollout of the project that will offer every nursery, school, college and university in England free access to expert support, to become greener and more climate resilient.
In the first two years, the scheme aims to support 2,500 education settings on their sustainability journey.
Emma Baines, who is based at Keele and is the West Midlands Regional Hub Manager, said: “We are proud to be leading the West Midlands region to deliver the Department for Education’s ambitions for driving climate change action in education settings. We want to engage ambassadors from across the region, from public and private organisations, as well as with a breadth and depth of experience.
“Even if your knowledge is niche to a specific element, we want to hear from you. Education settings will vary in their needs for support and delivery of climate action plans, so it’s important that we engage a vast network of ambassadors with a range of expertise who can help settings become more sustainable.”
The Climate Ambassador Scheme is a £2 million DfE programme, launched in partnership with the University of Reading and EAUC (the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education), with support from STEM Learning.
A key aim of the programme, as part of the DfE’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, is for all 30,000 education settings across England to have a climate action plan in place by the end of 2025.
The regional hubs have been set to so that experts can be matched with education settings in their area.
Experts can make a critical difference to the ability of nurseries, schools and colleges to reduce their carbon emissions, improve biodiversity and young people’s connection with nature, while also helping them adapt to climate risks and provide a world-leading education in sustainability and climate change critical for their future lives. Free training and support will be provided.
To sign up or for more information on the scheme, email [email protected]
