Businesses and education leaders from across the West Midlands gathered at Keele University this week to officially launch a new initiative helping nurseries, schools and colleges become more sustainable and resilient to climate change. 

The Climate Ambassadors programme, a national scheme supported by £2m of Department for Education (DfE) funding, was established earlier this year to provide free expert support to every nursery, school, and college in England to help them become greener and more prepared for the adverse effects of climate change. 

The Service will recruit and support volunteers from industry and academia to work as Climate Ambassadors, who will provide advice and support to education settings in developing Climate Action Plans across four key areas — decarbonisation, adaptation and resilience, biodiversity, and climate education and green careers.  

Keele is supporting the initiative by hosting the West Midlands Hub, one of nine such hubs across the country, and held an event at Keele Hall this week which brought together businesses and organisations who have volunteered their expertise as Climate Ambassadors, along with the teachers and education leaders who will benefit from the scheme. 

As well as a keynote speech from Kimberly Sangha from the DfE, the event also featured talks from Keele experts on how sustainability research and best practice can be embedded in classrooms across the region, with guests pledging one action each as their first commitment from the scheme. 

Emma Baines, West Midlands Regional Hub Manager based at Keele University, said: “It was great to see the enthusiasm for climate action among so many stakeholders in the Climate Ambassadors scheme. Tackling climate change is a collaborative effort and there was a real willingness in the room today to work together, learn from each other, and support the development and delivery of impactful climate action.” 

The scheme is an expansion of the Climate Ambassadors programme led by the University of Reading and EAUC as one outcome of the National Climate Education Action Plan. In the first 18 months, the scheme saw around 230 Climate Ambassadors reach more than 80,000 learners and teachers in over 500 schools and colleges.  

To find out more about signing up to the initiative as either an ambassador or an education setting, email climate-ambassadors.wm@keele.ac.uk.