The Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change

This voluntary, high level statement of local government commitment was launched in the East Midlands in 2000 by Nottingham City Council and then revised and relaunched in 2005 with the backing of a group of key national agencies who came together as the Nottingham Declaration Partnership. The Partnership aims to broaden and deepen local government commitment to climate change by encouraging more councils to sign up and by providing support and guidance to those which have made a commitment. By 2008 the number of signatories had grown to almost 300. The Declaration itself, the signatory list and free guidance is online at: www.nottinghamdeclaration.org.uk

By June 2007, the East Midlands became the first English region to have all 46 of its local authorities publicly committed to tackling climate change by becoming signatories to the Nottingham Declaration, thanks in part to the influence of regional bodies. A number of the signatories in the region have gone on to develop their own climate change plans and initiatives. Following this success, efforts are now underway to roll out new versions of the Declaration for other sectors.

The Nottingham Declaration for Schools

The latest version of the Declaration is for schools and has been developed by education and environment professionals in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire where there is a long history of environmental education.As centres of learning, schools are ideally placed to facilitate local action on climate change by extending the commitment of a council out to a neighbourhood level and engaging with staff, young people and their families. A number of stakeholders are currently being consulted to see whether this version could work in the same way as the original.