It was Earth Day this week, which usually brings on a repetitive strain injury from hitting the delete button on the deluge of eco themed press releases that hit my inbox this time every year. This April there was one I was rather looking forward to sharing however, and that’s the impact report from Let’s Go Zero.
Let’s Go Zero is a campaign working for zero carbon schools, led by the climate solutions charity Ashden in partnership with a coalition of other organisations. Having doubled its reach in the last year, it’s now the UK’s biggest sustainable schools movement. They’re also my employer. I work as a Climate Action Advisor for them three days a week, alongside the writing the rest of the time. Impact is part of the reason I wanted to work for them. I don’t want to look back on my years of climate advocacy to find that I just wrote about it and hoped other people would act. I want to get stuff done, put a dent in emissions and empower others to do the same. So I enjoy working for an organisation that takes its mission seriously and measures its impact.
First of all, the challenge: the UK has committed to reaching net zero by 2050. That’s a target that includes everyone, including the government, the National Health Service and the education sector. Schools are responsible for 36% of public sector emissions, so there’s no net zero without schools.
Let’s Go Zero have a net zero target of 2030, twenty years ahead of the government’s, because young people deserve better schools now, not in two decades’ time. And make no mistake – a net zero school is better. It’s warmer in winter and cooler in summer. It’s cheaper to run. It’s greener and more biodiverse. Schools should be at the top of the list for climate action.
The good news is that’s happening, and there’s real demand from schools: 5,880 schools have signed up to Lets Go Zero, and the impact report notes some further stats:
- In the last year, Let’s Go Zero has recruited a full complement of Climate Action Advisors, 32 in all and working across every region of England.
- Between us our advisor team has supported climate actions at 3,419 schools.
- Across all the schools we’re working with, there are a total of 2 million students and 311,000 staff.
- 489 schools have completed a climate action plan, a bespoke programme for reducing emissions, adapting the school for a warmer climate, enhancing biodiversity and embedding sustainability across the school. I delivered one of these myself yesterday for a school in Hertfordshire.
- It’s tricky putting hard numbers to this kind of work, but actions taken by schools we’ve supported have reduced emissions by an estimated 82,477 tonnes. That will rise dramatically as schools move onto the bigger ticket items on their action plans.
With over 24,000 schools in England, there’s a lot more to do, and 2030 is only five years away. So I’m going to crack on, and if you’re working in a school and haven’t called on Let’s Go Zero yet, here’s where you sign up.
Header image shows three pupils at Esher Church School, which is signed up to Let’s Go Zero and recently planted a forest of 400 trees in its school grounds. Photo by Jon Spaull/Ashden.
The Earthbound Report 