Category: Event

Categories
Event Notice

Zero Waste Community Leadership Training

Zero Waste Community Leadership Training

Update 14 December 2024: The Zero Waste Community Leadership Training is running again on Friday, 17th January 2025 at 11:30-2pm in Finchley. See https://ecoshowandtell.org/news/.

A shout out for Eco Show and Tell who are running a waste-reduction course for community-minded people in Barnet which is also open to residents of other boroughs in North London.

The course runs in October and November 2024. Apply before October 1st 2024. [Update 21 October: places are still available; the deadline has been extended to 10th November 2024]

More details at: https://ecoshowandtell.org/news/.

Eco Show and Tell say:

With the support of North London Waste Authority, we are delighted to offer courses designed to empower aspiring community leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to galvanise their communities to reduce waste. Climate and environmental leadership is needed more than ever, so we are looking for individuals passionate about helping their communities discover innovative ways to reduce waste and by doing so save money, conserve electricity, water and other precious resources. By teaching community-minded and motivated residents, we hope to increase the impact of the course in helping communities to reduce their waste.

The training is FREE to Barnet residents. A £15/session fee is charged to residents of other North London boroughs including Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.

Categories
Event Meeting Notice

Barnet’s Citizens’ Assembly Action Group Kickoff

Update 14 March 2024. The six Action Teams have now been set up. The name was changed from Action Group to Action Team. If you would be interested in joining one of the teams, please contact the webmaster, details at the foot of the page. The teams correspond to the five areas in the Citizens Assembly report, plus an inter-faith team. For details of the five areas, see the council’s response to the recommendations from the Citizens’ Assembly (PDF download from https://engage.barnet.gov.uk/response-to-recommendations-from-the-citizens-assembly).

Update 18 January 2024. After attending the Barnet’s Citizens’ Assembly Action Group Kickoff meeting last night (17 January 2024, details below), I (Charles) think that there are major problems with the way that the community action is being organised. We need to have a much clearer view of what the council is planning to do, with cost/benefit numbers attached, and plan together how it is going to be implemented. Please get in touch via the email address at the bottom of the page if you would like to help improve the process.

As a followup to the Barnet Citizens’ Assembly, Barnet council have organised Barnet’s Citizens’ Assembly Action Group Kickoff meeting on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 in the evening.

Flyer here: BarNET ZERO Digital Invitation.pdf (PDF, 1 page, 140kB)

Dave McCormick writes:

The next event on the road to working to address the climate and biodiversity challenges is Wednesday 17th Jan 6.30- 9pm at Middlesex University Hendon.

My understanding is that the session will have 3 main elements:

  1. Sharing information about community activities that are already happening
  2. How to make community activities more impactful – building networks and partnerships, working with the council etc
  3. Action planning for action groups on areas to focus on. Action groups will include residents and council representatives and will have the challenge of making tangible progress by this summer on the path to sustainable Barnet

Example areas that I think may feature are housing and buildings (renewable energy/retrofit), food, waste, air quality, active travel, healthy nature… – but it will be shaped by who is in the room.

If you have a passion for something, want to find out what is going on, see how you can help make a difference, say what the council could do to help please come along.

To register please go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/barnets-citizens-assembly-action-group-kickoff-tickets-779351099117

Please share this invite.

Categories
Event Meeting Notice

September 2021 Meeting — Updates and Organising

The September meeting of Barnet Climate Action Group is a chance to hear updates from members about their activities, and to organise our plans for the future. It will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 28th September 2021 at 6.30pm. Those on our mailing list will have received the Zoom details. If anyone else would like to join us, please get in touch via the email address at the foot of the page.

We will be covering:

  • An update on Barnet’s Sustainability Strategy
  • BCAG communications with Barnet Council
  • Friends of the Earth communications with Barnet Council
  • Barnet Local Plan
  • Forward looking plan on environment issues national/local
  • Supporting the work of BCAG
  • Phone Hubs
  • AOB
Categories
Event Meeting Notice

June 2021 Meeting — Nudging Barnet

Nudging Barnet: Behaviour Change and the Climate Emergency

Our June meeting is on Wednesday 16th June 2021 from 6pm to 7.30pm online.

Please book on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nudging-barnet-behaviour-change-and-the-climate-emergency-tickets-157198846983. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants.

Introducing “positive” behaviours in residents and businesses in Barnet to encourage initiatives to reduce climate impacts.

This month’s Barnet Climate Action Group (BCAG) meeting will discuss opportunities in Barnet on measures, information and “nudges” that could be introduced to support “positive” behaviours in residents and businesses in the borough to encourage initiatives to reduce their climate impacts.

The discussion will be led by Dr Simon Moore of behavioural science experts Innovation Bubble.

The UK has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40% since 1990 but this progress has come largely from actions that have not involved consumers changing their behaviour – notably decarbonisation of electricity supply. Over the coming decade there will be a need to shift focus to other more challenging sectors of energy use such as decarbonising transport and heat which will require more more intervention in our lives.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) are also pointing to other areas where public action will be needed such as a reduction in the consumption of all meat and dairy of 50% by 2050 compared to today’s levels, a reduction in flying of 10% compared to pre- COVID levels, and up to one third of all car journeys being replaced by walking, cycling or public transport

The role of individual behaviour change will be important if the UK is to achieve Net Zero and there is now an urgent need to identify and implement solutions for promoting greater engagement and action from citizens and consumers.

You may be interested in reading Prof Nick Chater recent report from the CCC ‘Net Zero after Covid: Behavioural Principles for Building Back Better‘

Categories
Event Meeting Notice

May 2021 Meeting — Barnet Climate Plan Workshop

Outline map of Barnet with the words "A climate plan for Barnet, Sunday 16th May 2 to 5 pm"

Update 24 May: reports and slides are gradually being assembled on the Barnet Climate Plan page.

Barnet Climate Action Group will be hosting an online workshop from 2pm to 5pm on the afternoon of Sunday 16 May 2021 to discuss citizen, business and council climate action needed in the London Borough of Barnet to respond to the Climate Emergency.

The current plan is to have an introductory session all together followed by two breakout sessions and a final plenary.

In the first breakout session, we will break up into two groups to discuss in parallel:

  • Buildings
    • Retrofitting existing buildings
    • Domestic and non-domestic buildings
    • Energy efficiency
    • Renewable heat and renewable power
  • Waste and Consumption
    • Waste reduction, food waste and recycling
    • Plastics
    • Circular economy
    • Spending in a climate friendly way
    • Food: meat, dairy, plant-based, vegan, vegetarian

You may join whichever group you wish.

In the second session we will discuss, again in parallel:

  • Transport
    • Reducing car use and switching to electric vehicles
    • Public transport
    • Walking and cycling
    • Deliveries
  • Nature
    • Green spaces
    • Trees
    • Rewilding
    • Biodiversity
    • Flood prevention using nature

If there is something not mentioned that we ought to cover, let us know and we will add it to one of these lists. When it is not obvious, topics will be assigned to these in an arbitrary way. For example industrial emissions will be discussed under Buildings, as a lot of industry in the borough consists of offices.

We have allocated quite a long time so everyone gets a chance to have their say. If you can’t spare that much time, feel free to attend just part of the workshop.

We are hoping to assemble some suggested background reading here. As a start:

Please book via the Eventbrite page at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-climate-plan-for-barnet-tickets-152394424827 . The Zoom link will be sent to those people who have registered. There are also more details of the timetable on that page.

Categories
Event Meeting

March 2021 Meeting — Net Zero Finchley: A Thought Experiment

Thursday, March 18, 2021
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM online

Please register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/net-zero-finchley-a-thought-experiment-tickets-146320497547.

It is estimated 80% of buildings in our cities today will still be here in 2050. How could one part of LB Barnet – Finchley – go Net Zero?

The Government has set a Net Zero CO2 emissions target for 2050. Retrofitting UK’s 27 million homes and millions of non-domestic buildings remains one of the biggest challenges to achieve Net Zero. It is estimated that 80% of the buildings in our cities today that still be here in 2050, therefore efforts to reduce emissions must primarily focus on existing stock. But how can this such wide scale retrofit be undertaken? How much of an inconvenience will it prove to be to households? What technologies do we need to deploy to decarbonise? What buildings should be tackled first? What are the cost implications?

Taking one part of Barnet as a ‘thought experiment’ – around the main high streets of Finchley – what would be required to retrofit buildings in this area such that they would be fit for a Net Zero future? Please come along and contribute your thoughts!

This event will be held online: please register on Eventbrite using the link above.

Categories
Event Meeting Notice

January 2021 Meeting — 2021: Climate Talks – Local Actions

Tuesday, January 12, 2021
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM online

Please register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2021-climate-talks-local-actions-tickets-133987631613.

Despite the pandemic, climate and energy headlines dominate the news. We look at the pathway to COP26 and the role of local actors.

In November 2021 the UK will host the international climate negotiations for the first time. The UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) 26 will be held in Glasgow from November 1-12. Details of the event are set out on the official conference webpage at ukCOP26.org

Leading up to the COP, the Government will be making some significant decisions on the future of energy policy in the UK. Recent weeks have seen the publication of the Energy White Paper and the Committee on Climate Change’s advice to Government on the Sixth Carbon Budget (which covers the years 2033 – 2037). The coming year will see a number of new strategies published which will impact on the way we live our lives. From heating our homes (Heat and Buildings Strategy), to the way we travel (a Transport Decarbonisation Plan), to our green spaces (a Trees Strategy) and even what we eat (a National Food Strategy).

BCAG’s January 2021 meeting will highlight some of the key discussions and decisions leading to the COP event, and importantly, how new policy outputs from Government will work their way into local decision-making – into our homes and neighbourhoods – and what opportunities we have to influence these decisions.

We are delighted to have as a guest speaker for this event Kirsty Hamilton. Kirsty has three decades of international experience in tackling and leading efforts on climate change and accelerating the energy transition and has been an Observer in the UNFCCC process since the early 1990s. She is currently seconded in to advise the COP26 Energy Transition team on private investment and ‘investment confidence’ for governments.

Since returning to the UK in early 2000s she has focused on bridging between leading energy finance practitioners and senior policy counterparts on clean energy outcomes originally setting up an initiative through an affiliation with Chatham House in 2004. She went on to establish the Low Carbon Finance Group (2010-2015), founded by senior financiers, heading its factual policy engagement throughout the electricity market reform process. Advisory work has included Specialist Advisor to a UK Parliamentary Inquiry into Financing Energy Infrastructure and a senior policy advisor to a leading energy storage investor. Kirsty’s ‘Finance Guide for Policymakers’ BNEF, Chatham House, UNEP-FS can be downloaded here.

Zoom link: to be provided via registration.

This event will be held online: please register on Eventbrite using the link above.

Categories
Event Meeting Notice

November 2020 Meeting — Electric Vehicles in London’s suburbs

Thursday, November 19, 2020
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM online

Please register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/evs-and-outer-london-decarbonising-transport-in-the-suburbs-tickets-128651687661.

How can we successful implement Electric Vehicle (EV) strategies in London’s suburbs?

Part of London Climate Action Week https://www.londonclimateactionweek.org/

14- 20 November 2020 #LCAW2020 #EVsOuterLondon

As London boroughs begin to implement actions to accelerate the take up of electric vehicles in their climate emergency plans – join us to explore what key issues challenges and opportunities will London’s outer boroughs face

London is seeing a slow but steady shift to the electrification of transport. The past year has seen more than 1,000 new charge points installed at petrol stations, in town centres and retrofitted into street lighting columns. More than 2,000 electric black cabs are now on London’s streets and Transport for London runs Europe’s largest electric bus fleet.

While mode shift is key to cleaning London’s air, reducing congestion, vehicle related injuries and greenhouse gas emissions, there will ultimately still be some essential vehicles on the road. These vehicles need to be zero emission. Electric vehicles in particular, will play a key role in London’s green recovery post-pandemic. They produce zero tailpipe emissions, are quiet and has and can create new jobs in battery manufacturing across the UK.

London is some way ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to charging infrastructure, with 28.8 charging points per 100 electric cars (compared to the national average of 12.5). Wandsworth is the London borough with the highest availability of chargers, with 34 per 100 electric vehicles however Outer London boroughs have the fewest charging points, with Harrow having the least with just 14. This works out as 1.7 per 100 electric vehicles. However, more of Outer London’s households have off-street parking, and home charging should be a more viable option. Also only 40 per cent of inner London households having access to a car, compared to 70 per cent in Outer London.

On average, car owners drive slightly more than six kilometres on a typical day, but those living in Outer London travel, on average, nearly 2km further per day (close to 7km) than those from inner London (5km per day).

More information on TfL and EVs

London EV Infrastructure Delivery Plan (PDF)

DfT Decarbonising transport: setting the challenge

This event will be held online: please register on Eventbrite using the link above.

Categories
Event Meeting Notice

October 2020 Meeting — Barnet’s Waste Policies

A presentation and discussion around London Borough of Barnet’s existing and future waste policies

Thursday, October 15, 2020 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM online

October’s BCAG meeting will explore opportunities to reduce the environmental and climate impacts of waste streams in the London Borough of Barnet, including waste avoidance and minimisation, re-use, recycling, composting and the use of waste streams to generate energy.

**A full agenda will be available shortly. Following registration a zoom link will be forwarded nearer the time of the event.**

Please register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/barnet-climate-action-group-barnets-future-waste-tickets-123674023333.

A list of policies and information notes from Barnet Council on their waste programmes follows below.

We hope to see you on the night!

Barnet is one of seven London local authorities making up the North London Waste Authority (NLWA).

Barnet council’s waste policies are set out in this 2018 information note: Barnet Council Household recycling and waste policies

Further information is provided in the Barnet Reduction and Recycling Plan (September 2019)

The council’s key programmes and progress against them is set out in Barnet’s Environment Delivery Plan (published in March 2020) – the previous year’s report can be seen here.

Charging for garden waste collections (a report in this policy can be seen in the following Environment Committee paper from January 2020)

Barnet webpages also exist for the following:

Barnet Council suspended brown bin food waste services in November 2018

A note on reducing food waste

Waste collection in flats

Categories
Event Meeting Report

Report on meeting with Alex Gilbert

12th February 2020, 6.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Hendon Lane N3 1TR

NOTES
Present: 27

Welcome By Philip Davison and reading of poem – “The meaning of existence” by Les Murray.

Syed Ahmed gave an update on Barnet Climate Action Group (BCAG)
We agreed to link ourselves to the Friends of the Earth Climate Groups which will give us access to information and resources
Charles Wicksteed had offered to build a BCAG website. This now exists in skeleton form. It can be found at barnetclimate.org.uk. Claire Martin is happy to run @barnetclimate twitter. [Update: this page used to say “Actually @B_C_A_G”, the old name, but now it is indeed @BarnetClimate (Ed)]
Syed Ahmed, Jeffrey Newman and Philip Davison met with the Barnet Director of Environment, Geoff Mee, Adam Driscoll and Robert at the council offices in Colindale. There is a desire to actively promote dialogue. The climate message needs better coordination. There is an issue of politics in this borough (!). It was acknowledged that information for businesses and residents was hard to find on the website. GM and Barnet Environment are taking these matters seriously.
Letter to Theresa Villiers – a work in progress with Green Christians Barnet.

Presentation: The Future of Transport and Energy in London, Alex Gilbert

Alex is an investor and advisor and focuses on opportunities within Clean Technology, Future Infrastructure and the Energy Transition.

Alex acts as an independent ‘Green Infrastructure’ investor and advisor, focusing on: the ‘energy transformation’; clean-tech investment; and the financing of smart, low carbon, sustainable cities.

He is currently curating, commercialising and delivering the energy projects that will assist in the transformation of TfL; London’s largest and most significant energy user.

The context – increase in powers of Local Authorities and cities with decline at national level. The direction is the rise of the city state. London has notable cohesion.
TFL – working for innovative integrated infrastructure. TFL is a transport authority but much more beside. It has power and influence to make an impact on the city greater than similar organisations in other cities eg building 10,000 homes – the most active housebuilder in London – operating 17 modes of transport. With integration it can achieve as low carbon as possible. There is need to support SMEs, local enterprises and logisitics – 500million packages come into London.
What is the future of the city? More congestion, more deliveries and returns. There is a need to join up freight fleet organisation corporate sellers, streets and modes of transport.
The way we order is important – bulk buy, local drop offs.
Target is to have 10,000 banks of lockers impacting both the environment and community.

Q – next day delivery – we are used to it but is it necessary?

Transport and energy.
Commercial development: TFL has some 6,000 acres
Waste heat capture: fuel poverty is a big issue, along with the movement to low carbon homes. Working on capturing heat from the tube both to get it out of the underground system and also use it to heat homes
Renewables wherever possible – using rooftops for solar. Feasibility of trackside solar?
Electric vehicles: charge point hubs.2040 mayor strategy is 80% journeys not by car. Demise of the car in the inner city? TFL to lead on building hubs. Infrastructure not like functional patrol stations and not piecemeal development but rather strategic placing.
Electrification is essential – buses 2030 and zero carbon rail.

Q – is proposal to increase air quality in the tube? Yes! Air quality is a big issue. Problem is cleaning stations and old trains and tunnels. We are though not in the tube for that long. Looking at sucking particulates out of the air. Ultimately new trains.
Q – local transport issue West London Orbital railway (Cricklewood to Ealing) The tracks are already there
Q – Electric Vehicle chargers in Barnet, TFL thoughts.
How do we drive down car ownership and what will replace it? TFL talks to all boroughs. There are different types of charging, slow (home), fast and rapid (50KW+). Rapid charging is closer to filling with petrol.
TFL concentrate on those who have to drive – taxis and fleets – public will be less than 1/3. Co-locate with bus hubs, elockers and ebikes. There is a danger of EV congestion as ULEZ expands. Aim is to decrease use of cars.
TFL housing developments are all car free.
Q – terrace houses parking and charging. Need to rethink future of fuel. Need to provide a service – public charging facility.. Possibility of shared taxi-type transport. With latest technology pick up on demand. Increase in charging points means increase in electricity supply – is that all renewables?. City planning – private hire taxi option with car share and ride share. In Netherlands developments have 30 flats with 4 shared cars.
Hubs with top quality facilities, possibly local solar. Offer many opportunities to charge and dynamic pricing eg solar in middle of day for free.
Pressures in grid are huge. Decarbonising electricity required – still using fossil fuels.. Essential national question – keep decarbonising the grid.
Q – e-cargo bikes: TFL has a freight strategy stepping down ultimately to cargo bikes for the last mile (the most expensive part of the system)
Q – storms and resilience plans of TFL and flood prevention. There is team focusing on climate change, adaptation & mitigation. Also house building.
Q – cool tubes? Adaption to climate change challenge also an opportunity eg waste heat.
Q – phone charging lockers at Victoria station. Revenue £100K per year yet got rid of…terror threat!
Nov 29 5.035million journeys a record.
Heat – old stock. Need for deep tube upgrade, Northern line is deepest tube in world.
Q – orbital route. Is it necessary?
Realism necessary. Possibilty of trams in outer boroughs
Local transport and get rid of short journeys across London
DLR change in communities astonishing
Opportunities new communities city energy etc