Coventry & Warwickshire Climate Change Conference
Individuals from public, private and community organisations across Coventry and Warwickshire were invited to this Conference on 11 March 2022, organised by Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council, to respond to the COP26 outcomes.
It was planned that they would make a public and united commitment to work together to fight climate change and agree firm action plans to reach net zero across the region.
The fact that the conference was by invitation only upset some organisations that would like to have attended.
Coventry Green New Deal, for example, sees the Conference as both a continuation and symbol of the exclusionary approach to climate change strategy we have already seen from Coventry City Council.
Chair David Ridley said the Conference “reflects perfectly the top down, business led philosophy of Coventry City Council’s recently formed Climate Change Board, which contains as its members only one elected representative directly accountable to constituents, and no representatives from the city’s knowledgeable and experienced climate action community.
“It’s a shame that Warwickshire County Council has adopted CCC’s exclusionary approach, we hope they return to their previous policy of listening and including local groups, such as the Warwickshire Climate Alliance (which was invited), in their climate strategy.”