People in Blaenau Gwent have been invited to share their views and solutions for tackling the climate crisis in what will be Wales’ first climate assembly to discuss climate change.
The Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly will bring together 50 citizens of Blaenau Gwent to draw out a set of recommended actions in response the governments’ plan to transition into a zero-carbon future.
The assembly will be held online during the two weekends in March bringing residents together from across the borough to address the question: “What should we do to tackle the climate crisis in a way that is fair and improves living standard for everyone?”
Jessica Blair, Director of Electoral Reform Society, CYMRU, which is also one of the lead organisers of the event said, “A Climate Assembly is a brand new thing for Wales and a completely different approach to traditional engagement exercises. The key difference with this model is that the participants are representative of the wider community and paid for their time, moving away from the ‘usual suspects’ trap that a lot of engagement work falls into.”.
Last year in September, the council declared a climate emergency along with plans to reduce carbon footprint in the area. It follows the Welsh Government’s ambition for the public sector in Wales to be carbon neutral by 2030
10,000 households in the region were sent out written invitations to register their interest in participating. From the application, 50 people will be selected randomly and would also be remunerated £10/hr in cash or vouchers, to take part and learn about climate issues facing their community, themes of housing, nature and transport before proposing and debating solutions.
The funding for the assembly came from Welsh Government through a consortium managed by energy service provider Sero, where 68 partners in Wales were awarded more than £7m to decarbonise 1,370 homes and create tools to roll out large scale decarbonisation of homes across Wales as part of the ‘Optimised Retrofit’ programme.
She further said, “The 50 people selected to take part in the Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly will be chosen on a number of different metrics including gender, ethnicity, socio-economic factors and things like interest in climate change. We are working with a mix of people who really reflect the community they represent.”
She added that the purpose of the assembly is to let the people come up with their own solutions to tackle the problem of climate change – a phenomenon that impacts everyone and also explained how the assembly plans on working saying, “People selected from the community will be provided with evidence from experts including Welsh Government ministers, local housing tenants and people working in the Blaenau Gwent area with space t deliberate and come up with recommendations. Those recommendations will go to decision-makers to influence local and national plans.”
The committee plans on publishing a final report in April 2020 which would introduce the actions identified by the assembly and shape discourse on decarbonisation by Welsh housing associations, local and national government, businesses.
The organisers which include, United Welsh, Tai Calon, Linc Cymru and Melin Homes in collaboration with Electoral Reform Society and Cynnal Cymru will use the recommendations to make sure their plans and adaptations fit with peoples’ expectation and maximises co-benefits.
“This Plan will see us take a more strategic approach towards achieving carbon neutrality and will help us to prioritise work in a number of key areas of our operations which, with some changes, can make a significant contribution towards our carbon neutral aim,” said Michael Morris, Managing Director, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.