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Forward, faster, together: Edinburgh Climate Commission publishes principles for green recovery

The Edinburgh Climate Commission has presented a set of five principles to guide thinking around recovery from coronavirus and accelerate the city's transition to being carbon neutral.

The principles draw on an already strong and consistent body of work from the UK Committee on Climate Change, the OECD, leading academics, C40 Cities, The Energy Transition Commission and other organisations. 

PCAN newsletter published

The first newsletter for the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN) is published today.

The newsletter, which will be bimonthly, features updates from research by the ESRC-funded PCAN team and our network of place-based climate commissions.

Read the PCAN May 2020 newsletter.

Keep in touch with PCAN news and events by subscribing to our newsletter.

Place-based perspectives on Covid-19 and climate change

Whether it's reclaiming the streets by more walking and cycling, investing in green projects, innovative finance schemes with local authorities or increasing local participation in decision making, place-based climate action is key to the recovery from coronavirus.

These are the messages from a suite of special Commentaries published by PCAN tackling the subject of Covid-19 and climate change.

PCAN Fund reopens for place-based climate action projects and new Fellowships

Round 2 of the popular PCAN Fund is now open for place-based propject proposals that develop ideas and approaches with wider relevance to the delivery of local climate action plans. It takes the form of small grants worth £5,000 – £35,000 each. This round sees the introduction of a new element to the Fund: the PCAN Fellowships, for early career researchers.

Surrey County Council launches climate change strategy

Members of PCAN's expert team at the University of Leeds have produced a carbon roadmap for Surrey as part of the county's climate change strategy, released today (29 April 2020).

The report, Surrey's Greener Future, presents a collective approach for how the county can achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Fairer future 'imperative' says Chair of Edinburgh Climate Commission

The Chair of the newly formed Edinburgh Climate Commission has called creating "a resilient, fairer future" to respond to climate change "an imperative that must guide us as we emerge from Covid-19".

Dr Sam Gardner, who was appointed to chair the Edinburgh Commission in February 2020, made his remarks in an article for the Edinburgh Evening News on 22 April - the 50th anniversary of World Earth Day.

Citizens' assemblies help build social mandate for climate policy

Should citizens’ juries and assemblies be a “one off” – or should deliberation be included at every stage of climate policy design and implementation? The question was one of the broader issues discussed at an event co-hosted by PCAN and the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation (CAST) to address the role of citizens’ juries and assemblies in engaging the public on climate change.

Croydon community comes together to launch Climate Crisis Commission

A new climate commission has launched in Croydon, extending the  PCAN (Place-Based Climate Action Network) wider network of UK climate commissions to five.

The Croydon Climate Crisis Commission joins climate commissions in Leeds, Belfast, Edinburgh and Surrey and will kick-start the borough's move to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Climate commissions report stresses importance of diverse networks

Climate Commissions need to have representative and meaningful engagement with existing groups and organisations, be financially independent, have a clear governance structure and share a means of networked communication.

These are the recommendations of a report authored by a team from the University of Edinburgh, which has studied emergent climate commission platforms for driving place-based climate action.