Local Climate Pacts: A youth-inclusive green future for Sunderland

The path towards building a more sustainable Sunderland has been prioritised for many years. In November 2008, the city signed the Eurocities Declaration on Climate Change, and four months later the European Covenant of Mayors. In 2019, Sunderland significantly increased its commitment and ambitions towards reaching Carbon neutrality. The city declared a climate emergency in March 2019, and committed to reduce city-wide emissions to help the global temperature rise stay below 2.0°C. In November 2019, children and young people identified the tackling of the climate crisis as their top priority at the “Young People’s State of the City Debate”. Over 10,000 votes were cast.

Creating youth ownership

The Low Carbon Framework puts people at the centre. It aims to change behaviour and reshape organisational practices, and has set out five thematic work areas to take forward. To this end, the City Council has drafted a Low Carbon Engagement Plan which outlines the need to create Low Carbon solutions to maximise adoption rates. The Engagement Plan identifies the principal target groups and the key activities to take on with each of them. The main audiences are: residents, children and young people, the voluntary community sector, employees, local, regional, national and international partners, and businesses. The plan outlines proposed methods of engaging with each group individually to involve them in decision-making and support them in taking action to limit climate change.

Sunderland understands that the actions they undertake now will have an impact on the next generation. This is why the city has launched dedicated engagement activities with children and young people, from school projects to specially developed local sustainability resources. Environment champions are also being recognised in the city-wide Young Achievers’ Awards for Low Carbon activities at youth events.

Results and next steps

Although Sunderland exceeded its interim recommended target of a 16.1% reduction of GHG emissions between 2015 and 2020 and is on track to meet its first interim 5-year carbon budget of 5.8 MtCO2 for 2018–2022 (aligned with the carbon budget of 8.2 MtCO2 for 2020–2100), the city still has a long way to go.

Read the full case study!

Available in English in our library!