PrintI'm excited to announce that today is the launch of EEDA's Cut your Carbon campaign. The three year campaign and competition aims to bring together communities in the East of England to tackle climate change. Groups that take part will be able to measure their carbon footprint, become more energy efficient and seek to win EEDA match funding of up to £200,000 for innovative projects that cut carbon emissions.
One exciting aspect of the campaign is the community carbon footprint calculator. Based on DEFRA's Act of CO2 calculator, it provides the first step in helping groups understand how much carbon dioxide they produce and what they can do to reduce their carbon impact.
We also have a high profile panel of judges on board who will help to decide which projects are inspiring and innovative enough to go forward to receive funding. The panel will be co-chaired by Richard Ellis, EEDA chair and Jonathon Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, and also includes Fay Mansell, chair, National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) and Tim Pyke, head of climate change, E.ON UK, among others.
If you want to get involved or find out more, please visit www.cutyourcarbon.org.uk or email the team at cutyourcarbon@eeda.org.uk.
Comments (2)
I must admit to being a little confused at EEDA's launch of 'Cut Your Carbon'.
On the one hand, EEDA encouraging communities to cut their carbon can only be a good thing. The 'Cut Your Carbon' website has a good selection of information and links to other relevant organisations, and the competition should prove a good incentive to encourage community action. My confusion came from the feeling that this all looked very familiar.
Some years ago EEDA were instrumental in establishing CRed, the Carbon Reduction initiative based at the University of East Anglia (www.cred-uk.org). This internationally recognised initiative aims to raise awareness of the need for carbon reduction in both business and in communities. Individuals are asked to take the 'Cred challenge' to calculate their carbon footprint and then make a pledge to reduce it. All of this seems to have been re-invented in the 'Cut Your Carbon' website and strangely enough there doesn't seem to be a web link to the Cred website.
Wouldn't it have been better to use the 'CRed' brand to maintain a consistant (dare I say 'sustainable') message?
Ian Roe, Co-ordinator for the Norfolk Business Industry Group for the Environment, part of Shaping Norfolk's Future.
Posted on March 26, 2008 12:03 PM