A number of events related to climate change and sustainability are being staged across Dundee and beyond in the run-up to, and during, the COP26 conference in Glasgow.
What is Dundee City Council doing?
Together with local partners across the public, private, community and creative sectors, Dundee City Council created the ‘Dundee Celebrates COP26’ Events Programme. The six-week programme was launched at the end of September at Slessor Gardens and Waterfront Place.
The Carbon Battle Bus
Highlights of the programme included the visit of ‘The Carbon Battle Bus’ on October 28th. The 100% electric ‘Carbon Battle Bus’ visited Dundee on the road to COP26.
The event, hosted by Dundee City Council and Dundee Science Centre, shared carbon stories from local organisations and community groups, highlighting impactful projects they are undertaking in Dundee to reduce their carbon emissions and discussed the concept of net-zero as part of the #TogetherForOurPlanet campaign.
Pecha Kucha Night
Further events include Dundee’s Pecha Kucha Night (or PKN) with a focus on sustainability of our planet. What is Pecha Kucha? Hosted by Creative Dundee in the city since 2011, PKN now runs in over 1,200 cities around the world! It’s a simple quick-fire format – speakers show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. This will be held on November 4th at the Dundee REP Theatre and online.
Eco-Schools Dundee COP26 Conference
Also, the Eco-Schools Dundee COP26 Conference will be hosted online by Dundee City Council and includes a series of interactive workshops to help Dundee schools implement long-term climate action. The workshops are aimed at Dundee schools on their Eco-Schools journey and will include: Energy, Waste, Food Growing, and Eco-Schools action planning.
Festival of the Future
In the lead up to, and throughout COP26, the University of Dundee has organised an exciting virtual seminar series ‘Festival of the Future’ to grapple with some of the key issues around water, food, energy and creativity from a range of expertise and perspectives.
Urban Energy Transitions
Members of the city council’s Sustainability and Climate Change team, together with the Leader of Dundee City Council, John Alexander, will be showcasing Dundee at the Urban Energy Transitions: Cities leading the way to clean electrified futures event.
Hosted by World Economic Forum and Accenture in Glasgow on November 3rd, the event will be an interactive session to demonstrate Accenture’s Toolbox of Solutions to life through a ‘City Sprint’ simulation.
The Toolbox is a digital platform containing 200-plus best practices and case studies for policy, business and finance models. The City Sprint is a process co-created with a range of global cities to rapidly prioritise decarbonisation solutions for near-term implementation. Dundee will be used as a case study city for this.
Carbon Literacy Training
Lastly, the council is going to become a climate literate workforce. All council staff will receive Carbon Literacy Training, to help them reach the net-zero target and make changes. Sustainable Dundee has developed presentations for this.
To find out more about what the Sustainability Team at the council is doing, visit: www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeeCOP26 or follow the team on Twitter: @sust_dundee
What is SWARCO doing?
To promote transport decarbonisation SWARCO Smart Charging – the firm that took over as the service provider of Scotland’s charging network, ChargePlace Scotland – is involved in a number of green-related activities taking place around the climate change summit.
Here are just some of the initiatives the organisation – which has a base at Dundee’s Michelin Innovation Scotland Parc (MSIP) – are part of:
Road to Renewables
SWARCO is a supporting partner of SSE Road to Renewables, which will see an electric bus travel from London to Scotland, the bus set off on October 18th and will arrive in Glasgow today (October 29th). The electric bus tour from London to Glasgow will celebrate the low carbon energy and transport projects that are transforming our lives. The 11-day tour kicked off at Go-Ahead’s Northumberland Park bus garage in north London, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, to showcase the people and places driving the transition to net zero.
The ‘Road to Renewables’ journey concludes in Glasgow on October 29th three days before COP26 gets underway where the bus will open an official charging garage for the climate change summit.
EV Rally of Scotland
SWARCO is a sponsor of EV Rally of Scotland (EVROS). Its Head of Operations Martin Symes and Network Manager Bob Murphy are taking part in the Rally. The EV Rally of Scotland will be showcasing EV excellence as it travels 1,200 miles in five days, starting on November 8th.
The rally, fronted by EV adventurer Chris Ramsey will involve 20 electric vehicles and call it at 30 checkpoints between Glasgow and Dundee, covering all corners of Scotland, including Skye, Thurso and John O’Groats.
EVI Pilot City Forum
At the EVI Pilot City Forum, SWARCO Smart Charging’s managing director, Justin Meyer, is giving a presentation about the firm’s 10-year partnership with Dundee.
Demonstrator and Showcase Event
SWARCO is an exhibitor at MSIP’s Demonstrator and Showcase event in Dundee. The two-day event at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc – where ChargePlace Scotland team is located – will discuss the future of zero emissions transport with SWARCO taking part in a panel session titled: What will power and enable future zero emissions transport?
The vision for 2030 will also be discussed on day one. Innovation and entrepreneurship for a net zero future will be the theme of day two, as well as finding solutions.
To find out more about SWARCO and Dundee City Council’s commitment to electric vehicles and how you can take part, visit Drive Dundee Electric.
