New climate and biodiversity festival coming to Bath

A new festival focusing on climate and biodiversity will take place in Bath this September.

It will showcase individuals, organisations and businesses that have taken action to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies.

The B&NES Climate and Biodiversity Festival will run from September 13 to 26 to enable people to connect, learn from and inspire others on reducing carbon emissions and restoring nature.

Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader, climate emergency and sustainable travel at Bath and North East Somerset Council, said “Since we declared both environmental emergencies, many others across our community have committed to reach net zero carbon by 2030 to restore nature and improve biodiversity.

“No single organisation owns these targets. We’ve got a shared responsibility to take action – public sector organisations, education, business and communities, right down to choices we make as individuals.

“In spite of the challenges of the past 15 months, our communities have been forging ahead with actions to reduce carbon emissions.”

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MsWarren continued: “Through the B&NES Climate and Biodiversity Festival we want to bring them together to shout about all the vital progress that’s been made as we look to the international conventions that will spark debate in the autumn.

“It’s a chance to raise awareness of what’s been achieved towards our environmental targets locally and highlight the wider reaching impacts that those in the business and academic sectors are leading.

“This is an opportunity to inspire others and it builds on the work our communities have already done towards One Shared Vision.”

The festival is being co-ordinated by Bath and North East Somerset Council and aims to enable the district to link with national debate ahead of two significant international environmental conventions taking place this autumn.

These are the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in China in October and the UN COP26 Conference in Glasgow in November.

The council is inviting communities across Bath and North East Somerset to shape the two-week programme of events by running their own activities on the theme of carbon emissions and nature including food, travel, waste, renewable energy, biodiversity, buildings and finance.

The festival will also launch a youth focused theme ‘Young People: What does your zero carbon nature positive 2030 future look like?’.

The council is inviting all forms of expression around the themes which could include music, poetry, film, theatre and art as well as discussions and debate.

Any individuals, organisations, community groups or businesses who would like to take part should register via the festival website or email sustainability@bathnes.gov.uk

The council will soon be publishing a report on the results of a wide-ranging engagement exercise which involved over a hundred local stakeholders in shaping One Shared Vision, for the renewal of the local economy in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

One Shared Vision aims to create a fairer, greener, more creative and connected city region – Bath with North East Somerset. Its aim is to be “Ambitious Together for a Fair, Green, Creative and Connected City Region”.