Together we made sure 2020 wasn't a write-off.

It’s true, 2020 hasn’t been what any of us were expecting, and as we look back at the year just gone the first things that come to mind might be zoom quizzes, unclear government messaging, and captain Tom. But while an unexpected crisis took the world’s attention, we didn’t stop. Thanks to you, 2020 was also a year of climate action. 

So before you write off 2020, take a moment to remember these highlights: 

We brought back onshore wind

For four years, the government has stopped people in the UK from powering their homes with cheap, clean electricity from onshore wind turbines. Since 2015, onshore wind projects were not allowed to bid to supply energy to the national electricity grid, effectively rendering new wind projects inviable. This year that changed. After thousands of us urged our MPs to convince decision makers to let onshore wind back in the game, in March 2020 they came through - onshore wind is once again welcome to power our homes. The fight for onshore wind is not yet over, but we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped us get this far.

We planted thousands of trees

Less than two weeks after the government announced our campaign for policy change on wind energy was successful and we were already knee deep (literally) in another form of climate action. On the 15th and 16th March we were in the village of Munslow, Shropshire, for our tree planting weekend. Thanks to the hard work of the volunteers we managed to collectively plant 3,375 tree whips (small trees), amounting to over 675m of new or restored hedges- that’s longer than 60 double-decker buses! These trees and hedgerows will suck carbon straight from the atmosphere and protect the local community from flooding.

Those of us who could chose to stride and ride

As the first lockdown came to a close, our towns and cities were at risk of becoming even more clogged with cars. More cars means more toxic air, more climate wrecking carbon emissions, more road deaths, more noise, longer traffic jams for essential workers - and less public space. Yet, if people piled back onto trains and buses, those who simply must use them - including key workers - and those who work on them would have been put at risk. Thousands of us made a public pledge to walk and cycle our journeys, and inspire others to do the same.

We broke the silence on SUV advertising

We know we need to stop buying things that harm the planet. Yet while companies have been quick to capitalise on the new trend for 'eco' products, we haven’t seen polluting products (such as large vehicles) disappear. Probably the simplest way to reduce demand for polluting products is to stop promoting them. Our new Badvertising campaign has brought the issue of SUVs and advertising into the public eye, and hundreds of us have written to our councillors with the tools they need to take practical action.

We showed our appreciation for bike lanes

To create the low carbon UK that we want, we need to reimagine our towns and cities. If we care about something we give it a name, and yet our cycleways are numbered. So to kick of our upcoming ‘car free cities’ work, we held a public competition to celebrate cycle lanes and give them proper names.

As of December 10th, our cycleways now have names - and we love them! 

We produced a climate-themed game (and then gave schools and community groups free copies).

After the success of Carbon City Zero last year, we decided to build a new and improved version of our climate-themed game. And thanks to your support we’re sending 220 copies of the new game to schools and community groups for free. A special thank you to everyone who sent in feedback and joined our game review events. Without your input (including suggestions to make the game co-operative, include transport solutions, and make the rules clearer) Carbon City Zero World Edition wouldn’t be the game it is.

We got loads more businesses to give their employees days off work to go flight-free.

This year we've helped 50 new organisations (including Bryt Energy and Bates Wells) to sign up to Climate Perks, our scheme that allows employees extra time off so they can travel more sustainably. There are now over 2000 people in the UK who can get paid days off work to travel to their holiday destinations by train instead of plane. 

We’ve started the conversation about wind-powered hospitals 

Thanks to everyone who chipped in to fund our research, we’ve published a report that shows hospitals could save millions of pounds in healthcare costs if they were powered by community owned wind turbines. At the moment, the government won’t let them do that (planning barriers still block new onshore wind projects from getting off the ground) - but this report will help decision makers see why things have to change, and inspire them to take the action that’s needed to build the low-carbon UK that we all want to see. 

Even during a global pandemic, together we made sure the UK kept moving towards the low carbon society we know we can be. 

We’ve got big plans for 2021. Help us make them happen by chipping in to our year end appeal.