Reading Schools Climate Conference 2021
Schoolchildren from six local schools will take on the role of negotiating teams during COP26 at a unique youth summit, and engage with local decision-makers.
The event on Wednesday 10th November 2021 will see pupils from six local secondary schools seek to generate what has so far eluded world leaders: international scale-up of global ambition to limit dangerous global warming. The backdrop will be the Council Chambers in the Civic centre.
Organised to emulate the real-life conference in Glasgow, the Reading schools’ Model Climate Conference is hosted by charity InterClimate Network and sponsored by Reading Climate Change Partnership (RCCP). Reading Borough Council is an active and founding partner in RCCP.
The students will form teams representing a diverse mix of 15 developed and developing countries attending COP26 – including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, UK and USA.
Putting forward policy positions using carefully chosen arguments in a conference debate model that mirrors the UN negotiations, the students will agree on a set of resolutions on key themes.
The second part of the conference brings the issues close to home so that young people can have a say about climate action in their area. In a ‘Climate Question Time’, young people will be invited to put forward their questions and contributions to a panel made up of local decision makers, a local business and an environmental organisation. The session will end with pledges for actions, including ways to make the most difference in school.
The schools participating in the Reading schools’ Climate Conference are:
The Bulmershe School; Highdown School; Kendrick School; Maiden Erlegh School in Reading; King’s Academy Prospect and Reading School.
The Mayor of Reading – Councillor David Stevens – will open the Conference, welcoming the students to the centre of local decision making. Councillor Tony Page, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Member for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport and Reading Borough Council’s Head of Climate Peter Moore will join the Climate Question Time panel along with speakers from the Youth Parliament; Thames Water and the Angling Trust.