Banksiders engage with climate week

As COP26 enters its final few days, it’s a time for reflection for many of us. Our own Climate Week in the run up to COP 26 (25–29 Oct) showed that Banksiders are as engaged as ever when it comes to taking action to become a low carbon neighbourhood. It was great to see like-minded members of the community coming together to learn and interact from experts and each other. Now that we’ve calculated the carbon footprint of the area and modelled how to prevent the emissions of thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, we can all focus on making the changes needed to reduce our business, personal and collective footprint.

Last week’s activity started with young people from local school Haberdashers Borough Academy and their March to the Arch, where we collected the students’ powerful messages for adults in the area to respond and add too.

These served as the backdrop to our conversations, discussions and debates with local councillors talking policy for the area, talks on how to get to net zero for the built environment through retrofit, minimising the embodied carbon in new buildings and working at a district level to provide efficient services. A discussion on food and the climate crisis explored the food footprint of the city and identified the importance of soil health and its erosion from factory farmed meat. The panel asked the audience to explore your local veg box. We also displayed Bankside’s carbon calculations from Eight Associates and Tate Collective Producers, along with actions to take to meet those targets in our exhibition.

Members in the area got involved with Paper Round’s Thames Foreshore beach clean (collecting 34kg of rubbish in just one hour) and a Thursday evening Silent Disco Litter Pick took place along the river front too. Keen, green fingered enthusiasts also got involved with walks around the pocket parks and green spaces of Bankside, showing how important it is to makes space for, and protect, nature in Bankside.
 
To keep the momentum going and to continue learning from each other, we are creating a new Climate Network for members in the area to share knowledge and take collective action. If you’re interested in hearing more, email info@betterbankside.co.uk with subject BB Climate Network and watch this space for more action from Bankside 2025: pioneering a low carbon neighbourhood.