Plymouth’s social enterprises have declared a “climate emergency” and vowed to go carbon neutral by 2030.
The Plymouth Social Enterprise Network (PSEN) made the announcement ahead of the Global Climate Strike being staged for Friday, September 20, 2019.
PSEN had pledged to:
Declare a Climate Emergency
Ensure its activities are carbon neutral by 2030
Encourage and support PSEN member organisations to reshape their strategy, business model and operations towards carbon neutrality by 2030
Engage with local government, businesses and the voluntary and community sector to champion bold and sustained action towards carbon neutrality by 2030.
PSEN has more than 150 members, employing a combined 7,000 and with a total turnover of £500million.
Plymouth was named the UK’s first Social Enterprise City in 2013, because of its large number of social enterprises, which include such major businesses as the University of Plymouth, Plymouth Community Homes and Livewell South West.
PSEN follows Plymouth City Council and the University of Plymouth which both declared a climate emergency in 2019.
Climate emergency is an internationally recognised declaration being used by the UK Government, local authorities, higher education institutions and businesses to publicly declare concern about the impact of human activities on the climate.
The national day of “strike” action has grown out of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg’s School Strikes for Climate, which have been running since 2018, and now include adults alongside children.
Miss Thunberg has visited Plymouth and set off from Mayflower Marina for her carbon neutral yacht voyage to the USA in summer 2019.
The PSEN said its declaration also serves as a commitment to take urgent action and shift towards carbon neutrality.
“It is a powerful call to action that engages the entire community, including the social enterprise and business community,” a PSEN spokesman said.
“Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt around the world.
“Scientists agree that limiting global temperature increase to below 1.5C is the best way to avoid catastrophic change. This will require global reduction in emissions to net zero by 2050.
“Climate leaders such as Plymouth City Council are aiming for net zero by 2030, and this declaration shares that ambition.
“Individuals cannot be expected to make this reduction on their own. We must all work together to achieve the changes that are needed.
“These include changes in legislation, regulation, education, and infrastructure as well as in day to day behaviours and business practices.
“PSEN believes socially responsible businesses, including social enterprises, co-operatives, community businesses and private enterprise have a responsibility to all stakeholders, whether they be employees, customers, members or shareholders to accept that there is urgency and we must act now, take a positive approach which maximises engagement and minimises blame, and significantly step up our commitment to addressing the climate breakdown.”
