Wildwood Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust, The Foundry Brew Pub, Canterbury Repair Café, Kreston Reeves and Barham Primary School were among the winners of the first ever Canterbury Climate Action Awards.
Canterbury’s climate action champions were recognised on Sunday 25th September at the culmination of Canterbury’s second annual Climate Action Festival, where organisations and individuals working on low carbon and biodiversity initiatives were celebrated.
More than 30 local businesses, community groups, schools and universities came together on 24th and 25th September at the free public event, organised by the Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (CCAP) and sponsored by E.On, HSBC UK and Canterbury BID.
The festival and awards took place during national Great Big Green Week at Augustine House, courtesy of festival host Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). There were 30+ stalls and free family activities to make bug hotels, bird feeders, eco-artwork sessions and workshops on low-waste living, as well as a programme of talks.
This was the first year that the festival ran its own awards, and a total of 28 nominations were received across five award categories for businesses, schools, colleges and universities, community organisations and individuals.
The overall winner at the awards and recipient of a Unitrax folding electric bicycle was announced by Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, and was received by Wildwood Trust / Kent Wildlife Trust, who are working in partnership to regenerate natural habitats and increase biodiversity in Canterbury district, and to help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Category winners were Canterbury Repair Café (Community Award), The Foundry Brew Pub and Kreston Reeves (Business Awards), Barham CofE Primary School and Herne Bay Junior School (Schools Awards), Canterbury College and University of Kent (Higher/Further Education Awards) and individual awards were given to CCCU student Anastasia Semaan and Jo Baker of Future Food Forests.
Secretary of the CCAP John Yard received the Climate Champion Award for his work as an architect in developing sustainable building and his efforts to launch the CCAP with fellow board members.
Climate Action Awards 2022 Flickr Gallery
Full details of the nominees, winners and their projects below.
The festival was sponsored by E.On, hosted by Canterbury Christ Church University with event support provided by Canterbury BID and Reward Events. The headline award sponsor was HSBC UK with individual award sponsorship provided by Unitrax, Barratt Homes, Canterbury BID, Convert Energy, David Wilson Homes, Mansfields and Shepherd Neame.
As in 2021, CCAP has official accreditation at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and will use this opportunity to showcase the outcome of the Climate Action Festival internationally.
The festival and awards were created by The Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (CCAP), an independent not-for-profit Community Interest Company working to bring together all like-minded interest groups within the district to mobilise action towards a more sustainable future; especially to achieve a zero carbon district by 2030.
Visit the CCAP website for full details of the different nominees and the festival: https://www.ccap.org.uk/canterbury-climate-action-festival-2022
Award nominees and winners
- Overall winner – Wildwood Trust / Kent Wildlife Trust
- Climate Champion 2022 – John Yard
Community
- Canterbury Alliance For Sustainable Transport (CAST)
- The Green Team Canterbury
- Soroptimist International South East England
- Natural Whitstable
- The Franciscan Gardens Canterbury
- Wildwood Trust / Kent Wildlife Trust WINNER, Leader in Innovation Award
- Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust are working in partnership on internationally recognized conservation projects to regenerate natural habitats and increase biodiversity, factors that will help mitigate the effects of climate change. We aim to do this by restoring natural processes that are able to withstand the current environmental crisis.
- Canterbury Repair Café WINNER, Climate Action Award
- A community initiative where volunteers with craft or professional skills help mend clothes and repair broken things such as household objects, woodwork, toys, ceramics, jewellery, electrical appliances, computers, phones, bicycles, etc., and offer energy advice on how to make homes more energy-efficient, saving money on fuel bills — all for free.
Business
- Vita Stores in Whitstable
- Solaris Energy
- F W Mansfields & Son
- Conker Conservation
- Convert Energy (SolarPanels in Harwell)
- Convert Energy (Solar Array – Herne Bay Pier)
- The Marlowe Theatre
- The Foundry Brew Pub WINNER Leader in Innovation Award
- The brewery, distillery, restaurant and bar takes numerous steps to reduce waste and carbon emissions; it donates all spent grain to a local farmer for cow feed, all packaging is fully recyclable and spirits are dispensed from glass Kilner barrels to stop bottle waste. The brewery naturally carbonates beer, saving on CO2 and the team recycles the energy created from brewing to heat the water for the next day’s brew.
- Kreston Reeves WINNER, Climate Action Award
- The Canterbury based accountants and financial advisors are holding themselves accountable against four of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals –‘Good Health & Wellbeing, Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities and Climate Action. “Our people are passionate about reducing our emissions and the positive impact we can have on our environment, which is why we are carbon neutral and transparent about our emissions.”
Primary / secondary schools
- St Anselm’s Catholic School (Secondary)
- Whitstable & Seasalter Endowed CofE Junior School
- Herne Bay Junior School WINNER, Climate Action Award
- Over the last 3 years the school has begun to replace all lighting with LEDS (project planned completion by 2025), the have expanded their forest area by 300% along with fruit/veg production and a composting programme. In 2022 they installed 70kWp solar panels and created workshops on energy use/sustainability workshops. Next year they will be introducing recycling bins and will continue to broaden sustainability/carbon impact teaching within curriculum.
- Barham CofE Primary School WINNER Leader in Innovation Award
- Barham school Eco-Warrior team encourage more people to do their part in caring for the world. Recycling pens, filters and rubber gloves; repurposing crisp-packets for blankets; collecting litter; creating a space where their fellow pupils can marvel at the wonders of the world. Next stop: designing an eco-play park in village Jubilee Garden!
Hight Education/Further Education
- Mid Kent College
- Canterbury Christ Church University – Academy for Sustainable Futures
- Canterbury Christ Church University – Student Green Office
- University of Kent – Kent Community Oasis Garden
- University of Kent – BioBlitz – WINNER, Leader in Innovation Award
- This student-led initiative has proved successful in recording the number of species on campus and engaging students, staff, and the community. A BioBlitz is an intensive period of surveying the living species in a particular area.
- Canterbury College WINNER, Climate Action Award
- The student union persuaded the Local College Governing Board to declare a climate crisis back in 2019. Since then, EKC Group’s Executive Board have followed suit and the College is now set on a path to being Carbon Neutral by 2040, read about it at Sustainability Strategy 2021.pdf (ekcgroup.ac.uk).
Individual
- Anastasia Semaan, CCCU – Using Widgets to Communicate Climate Action – WINNER, Leader in Innovation Award
- Anastasia has translated the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) into a simplified format using Widgit Symbols, which are often used to support students with additional needs. She hopes this will lead to the beginning of translating the SDGs into local sign and symbol languages and developing activities around
- Jo Barker – Future Food Forests – WINNER, Climate Action Award
- Jo Barker has been integral to many of the organisations and initiatives over the last 30 years to tackle the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, soil depletion and pollution in a positive and proactive way. She has helped to establish and been a part of alternative money systems, Transition Towns, Permaculture Networks, and numerous perennial wildlife food gardens.
ENDS
For more information about the Festival and Awards, including information on each of the nominations, please visit https://www.ccap.org.uk/canterbury-climate-action-awards-2022/
About CCAP
Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (CCAP) was formed in June 2019 as a partnership between the Canterbury Society and the Canterbury Sustainable Development Goals Forum. It has now grown to include representatives from Canterbury City Council, local civic society groups, our three universities, business, residents’ associations, faith groups, youth groups and many others.
The partnership is an independent not-for-profit Community Interest Company working closely with our city and county councils, and councillors from various political parties attend our meetings. The Partnership sees its main role as bringing together all like-minded interest groups within the district to mobilise action towards a more sustainable future; especially to achieve a zero carbon district by 2030. Our aims have been agreed by all our partnership groups and by extension, our residents (via residents’ associations), our young people (via the universities and youth groups), and our business community (via the Business Improvement District).
These aims are:
- To support the Council in the implementation of their Climate Emergency and associated actions
- To reduce consumption and the related carbon emissions throughout the district and work towards a net zero carbon Canterbury by 2030.
- To promote the regeneration of our ecology and biodiversity and to increase the proportion of energy we consume that is generated locally from renewable sources.
- To work with and support other groups that are campaigning for a more sustainable future and SDG implementation for/in our district: for better air quality, modal shift, sustainable transport, the reversal of habitat loss and bio-diversity collapse, sustainable land management, the avoidance of waste (reuse, repair, buy less), the conservation of water, better recycling rates, a reduction in the use of plastics generally and the eradication of single use plastics specifically.
- To support the work of the Canterbury Society and the Canterbury SDG Forum in respect of the above.
Visit www.ccap.org.uk for more information.
FESTIVAL & AWARDS SPONSORS
