News
Oxford University Passes Motion Banning Investment in Fossil Fuels
Mon, 11 May 2020
Oxford University is now required to divest all fossil fuel holdings from its £3.4bn (€3.8bn) endowment fund. The motion also requires endowment managers to request evidence of net-zero carbon business plans from companies across Oxford’s entire portfolio of investments.
The resolution was passed by Congregation (decision-making body of the university). To ensure this resolution is followed, the Investment Committee will have a new member who is experienced in endowment management and climate-conscious investment.
However, they are not required to divest from companies outside the fossil fuel sector who do not have net-zero business plans. Furthermore, many Oxford colleges have separate endowment investment policies which may still allow investment in fossil fuels.
Radio 4 Interview with Christiana Figueres
Mon, 11 May 2020Christiana Figueres, the diplomat who ‘knocked heads together’ to get a deal at the Paris Climate Change talks in 2015, gave a short interview on Radio 4 (08:38, 22nd April). In just a few minutes she applied what we are learning from the management of the Coronavirus crisis, to the management of the climate crisis. She covered top-down policy, bottom-up behaviour change, the issues of equity, the importance of noting but not celebrating current falls in carbon emissions, and why the vast recover programmes that will follow lockdown must take the path of decarbonisation. We’ve recently heard some of these points from others, but she brought them expertly together as only an international diplomat can - in an insightful and pragmatic way.
You can view full transcription here or listen to interview on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/2KZJ1Mg
Nottinghamshire COVID-19 Community Fund
Tue, 7 April 2020
If your group is currently focusing on community support around COVID-19 then you might be interested in the 1 million Nottinghamshire COVID-19 Community Fund. It has been created to support local charities and community organisations that are delivering essential services to vulnerable Nottinghamshire residents impacted by COVID-19.
Nottinghamshire charities, voluntary groups, Parish and Town Councils can now apply for a grant of anywhere between £200 to £10,000 to deliver projects or services that meet the Nottinghamshire COVID-19 Community Fund criteria. Businesses and individuals are ineligible for this fund.
They are particularly interested in:
Projects that directly help vulnerable people affected by COVID-19 such as by providing access to food, toiletries, necessities.
Projects that are already set up and helping vulnerable people now
Applications are welcome to help cover the running (revenue) costs as a result of responding to COVID-19 (e.g. the costs of recruiting volunteers to deliver essential services and costs such as telephone calls, rent, gas and electricity).
For the full eligibility criteria and/or to apply: https://bit.ly/2woNZOY
Online Meeting for Climate Change-focused Community Groups
Fri, 3 April 2020
Wednesday 8th April, 7pm-8pm (log on from 6:45pm if you’re new to Zoom and would like some help with understanding how it works)
Log on via this link: https://zoom.us/j/8341415085
Organised by Community Climate Action Network/Marches Energy Agency
This will be:
- An informal opportunity to ‘meet’ with people from other climate change-focused community groups in the Nottingham/Nottinghamshire/Derby/Derbyshire area.
- A chance to see how online Zoom meetings work.
- An opportunity to talk about what support you might want from the Community Climate Action Network in the next few months while life is very different to normal. This could be more Zoom meetings, more content on our website or something else.
Online meetings can be tiring, and many of us are new to them, so we won't attempt too much in this meeting. It's an experiment to see if these kind of meetings would be of use to groups during this time.
We appreciate some of you will currently be very much focused on community responses to Covid-19. If you cannot join us for this meeting or are not ready to think about climate change at this time, but are interested in future Zoom meetings, you can let us know by emailing shital@mea.org.uk
As an example of the kind of support we might offer in the next few months, back in June 2018 we organised a Zoom conference on the topic of Community-led Sustainable Transport. You can see a recording of it here. There is the potential for us to run this kind of event again (with different topics) if groups feel it would be of use in this time.
Nottingham secures £16.7 million for Future Transport Zones
Fri, 3 April 2020
Nottingham City Council has successfully secured £16.7 million from the Department for Transport (DfT). This will be used for joint projects with Derby to improve connectivity, traffic information, ticketing.
Proposed projects include creating:
- electric mobility ‘hubs’ to encourage the take-up of alternative travel methods,
- a new website and app to allow users to plan, book and pay for public transport, and
- a data platform that will pool various transport data sources to help improve the efficiency of the traffic control centre.
Councillor Adele Williams, Portfolio Holder for Transport at Nottingham City Council, said:
“This is exciting news and yet another example of how good we are at bidding for, and securing, this type of grant to improve local transport options. As ever, we were up against a number of other bids from right across the country.
“It’s a significant amount of money for Nottingham and Derby, and we have innovative plans in both cities. Here in Nottingham, we’re going to improve traffic information to help commuters and motorists navigate their way around, while at the same time helping our traffic control officers manage traffic better.”
There will also be the opportunity to trial innovative modes of transport such as self-driving vehicles, e-bikes, and e-scooters to investigate if they could be used safely and sustainably