Green Growth and Sustainability 2023

FREE webinars: Green Skills for Small Business

Date: Tuesday 7 November – Tuesday 12 December, 11-12 noon

Small Business Britain is excited to deliver Green Skills for Small Business. Oxford Brookes Business School is partnering with Small Business Britain to deliver to this programme.

This free six-week programme equips small businesses with vital knowledge on how to implement sustainability into their business, as well helping them develop skills to make a positive impact on the planet and the business. The programme is open to all small businesses, including those who have previously completed Small Business Britain’s Business for Good and Sustainability Basics programme. This programme is being supported by a grant from the American Express Foundation

Waste Strategy for Essex 2024-2054

Every item we discard has a cost – not just for us, but for our environment too. By working together, we can make a real difference. This includes reducing waste, protecting our planet and conserving valuable resources. The Essex Waste Partnership are excited to share their new, draft Waste Strategy. This outlines the plans to manage recycling and waste in Essex over the next 30 years.

We value your input and want to know what you think before it is finalised. Read more and have your say: https://linkd.in/ei3SjEpu

Essex County Council NEW app to support Essex’s fight against climate change

A new free app will help residents of Essex find out how to reduce their carbon footprint. Carbon Cutting Essex launched to promote International Day for Biological Diversity. (22nd May 2023)

The app allows residents to track their carbon footprint and discover how they can reduce it. It provides hundreds of practical and cost-effective ideas on how to minimise our impact on the planet. Many of these suggestions will not only help to reduce the county’s carbon footprint but can also help save residents money.

It features a range of fun activities, quizzes and videos and will also motivate. It will reward positive actions by providing points and rewards for residents when they mitigate their carbon footprint. Residents will be able to use their points to enter prize draws or donate them to good causes.

Developed by Greenredeem, the app forms part of our £200 million Climate Action Plan to tackle climate change.

Councillor Peter Schwier, Essex County Council’s Climate Czar, said: “We are delighted to launch the Carbon Cutting Essex app which we hope will play a significant role in helping us all to tackle climate change.

“We can all play our part in cutting greenhouse gas emissions so that we can protect the future of our planet for generations to come. I would encourage everyone across the county to download the app today.”

Find out more about the Carbon Cutting Essex app and download it for free from the App Store or GooglePlay.

January campaign – Check out our range of Guest Speaker sessions … missed the session, watch the presentations here …

This year, in 2023, with climate change, quite rightly, being high on the global agenda, here at Working Well we want to support your organisation or business to learn more about the funding and support that is available for you.

If we can all pledge to make one small change, collectively as a country and world, we can make a massive impact on our world.

The sessions are available below for you to watch, in case you missed the.

Essex County Council launched NEW Green Entrepreneurs programme

Sign up for the 6 week programme to help you set up and grown your business … and win the chance to win up to £5,000 in funding. You can also access the Working Well Apprentice Growth programme with Working Well as well!

Find out more here

Working Well offered the following Guest Speaker sessions:

Green Skills Pledge launched – Sept 23

What are the Essex Green Skills Pledge actions?

Work collaboratively to increase investment in upskilling and the transition to net zero.
Join up resources and collaborate on green skills initiatives to align the skills system with business needs.
Support and incentivise employees to invest in green skills and training throughout their working lives.
Use expertise, skills and experience to combat climate change and share best practice in green skills development.
Contribute to the public debate on climate change and use the power of our example to encourage others.
Work across industries and sectors to improve working practices and find practical solutions to green skills challenges.
Educate employees, managers, learners and residents about the impact of their daily lives on the environment.
Publish a five-year Action Plan outlining steps to support green skills development.

Thurs 12th January – Energy Funding and support for workplaces

We were pleased to welcome Kayra Salih, Energy Efficiency Officer at Essex County Council, and Loretta Hoy, Green Growth Manager from Essex County Council, who shared the range of energy efficient projects and grants for SMEs, which include Locase Energy grants for the environmental sector, STEM workshops offering a free accreditation scheme and the materials needed for SMEs to get started on implementing an environmental policy and management system and the free Climate Action Business Pack. Solar Panel Discount Scheme for domestic and small businesses. Why not sign up for the Essex County Council Great Start Pledge?

The Business Pack is available on the website at: https://www.essexclimate.org.uk/essex-business-advice-pack

Lots of other useful advice for residents schools and others is available at: What Can I Do? | Essex Climate Commission

Missed the session … don’t worry, why not watch the presentations now (please note there is no narration with these slides)

Great Start – Lorretta Hoy: https://youtu.be/zAtwdODow7o

Why not Sign up to Great Start Today … https://www.essex.gov.uk/climate-action https://www.essex.gov.uk/topic/energy-climate-environment

Climate Action Business Pack – Craig Bourne:https://youtu.be/SjsOLwriCfw

LoCASE funding: Kayra Salih: https://youtu.be/ANrmxVJCHjw

Thur 19th January – Bakers Labels Workplace Energy Saving Project – our story

A big thank you to Kirsty Dailly, PR and Marketing Manager at Bakers Labels, for a fantastic session. An honest and interesting insight into simple changes that any organisation can make to improve their Green Credentials. Everyone enjoyed the photos of the animals at the zoo enjoying some “enrichment playtime” with the paper ream cardboard cores that would normally be sent to landfill:

Tues 24th January – Abberton Rural Training – Green Gardening Tips

Learn helpful seasonal hints and tips for your garden. Simple ideas to attract wildlife, reuse and repurpose to make your garden more sustainable. We want to extend a BIG thank you to Angela for a thoroughly fascinating session, which over ran because of the number of questions! The session was so well received that we will be running a regular monthly Guest Speaker Session – Seasonal Green Gardening Tips. Our next sessions will be:

Tue 28th February
Tue 28th March

Thurs 2nd February – Colbea Sustainable Business Training

Why not book onto this free Business Low Carbon Sustainability training. This training and support is available if your business is based in: Braintree, Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping, Maldon, Rochford, Tendring & Uttlesford and is open to any size or sector. For more details go to: https://colbea.co.uk/learn/low-carbon/

Essex Wildlife Trust hints and tips:

Essex Wildlife Trust has these hints and tips that people can do:

Take one of our actions at home to be more sustainable and/or create wildlife habitats
Get involved by supporting one of our campaigns
Become an Urban Wildlife Champion and help your local community to be a better home for wildlife
Help to nurture our wild spaces by volunteering with us

NEW Eco Anxiety eLearning

It can be confusing and frightening, thinking about the impact we are having on our environment and what changes us, as individuals can have in the bigger picture. Our new 20 minute eLearning module will help you to manage the natural response to climate change, and includes a mindfulness practice. click here

NEW Fuel Poverty eLearning

This 20 min eLearning has been produced by Citizens Advice and the Essex Anchor Network to raise awareness of the risk and how spot the signs and signpost to trusted support to manage the cost of living crisis and the environmental impact.

Watch the eLearning here