Summit questions and answers - Rugby Net Zero
Climate summit
Rugby Borough Council hosted a climate summit on Saturday 18 September, from 10am to 1pm. The summit was held online to allow greater participation and reduce the risk of spreading covid-19.
The summit explored some of the themes highlighted in the climate survey and updated participants on some of the steps being taken by Rugby Borough Council to lead the borough to a low carbon future.
Watch a recording of the Climate Summit
HERU
During a presentation on the HERU unit, Nik Spencer, CEO of HERU, set out a vision to eliminate household waste, instead using everyday products as an environmentally friendly energy source. He explained that the HERU unit takes everyday household waste such as coffee cups, plastics and nappies and converts then into a clean energy source which can be used within homes. Rugby Borough Council has helped with the technical evaluation of the HERU within council housing stock.
Sustrans
Ridhi Kalaria, from Sustrans, set out the charity’s vision for liveable cities and towns, where it is easy for everyone to move around healthily and residents benefit from clean air and green space for all. Her presentation noted that cycling increased by up to 300 per cent on some days during lockdown, and asked "how can we capitalise on this?"
Transition Town Rugby
Alex Becker introduced Transition Town Rugby, which supports networks of grass roots community action to ensure sustainable change. During his presentation Alex suggested that community level action can achieve great things with support from other organisations.
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
Ian Jelley, or Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, told the summit about how nature can help to tackle the climate crisis and the role that everyone can play in supporting nature’s recovery. The Wildlife Trusts are championing a campaign that 30 per cent of land should be returned to nature and have launched the Nature Recovery Fund Appeal to support this objective.
Next steps
At the summit’s conclusion, participants agreed a number of actions including holding future events to look into some of the issues in more detail and look at other factors such as climate change mitigation and the role of parish councils. Rugby Borough Council agreed to help voluntary and community sector partners to work together more effectively, and to set up a citizen’s panel and create and host a website to share key information and help residents get involved.