Active Partnerships network successfully stages first ever Climate Collaboration Convention

Last week colleagues from across the Active Partnerships network came together for the inaugural Climate Collaboration Convention – APCCC23.

The event was organised by representatives from the Active Partnerships National Organisation (APNO) and from several Active Partnerships, who have been working together for some time and wanted to expand the conversation to the wider network. They were also keen to extend an invite to key partners and inspiring speakers, so that they could share their experiences and knowledge.

The aim of the event was to discuss ideas and to encourage network-wide collaboration on environmental sustainability and to agree some next steps for how Active Partnerships can continue working together and contribute to tackling climate change.

Guest speakers at the event included Dan Sherrard-Smith, who is the founder of MyMotherTree and he spoke about how ethical banking and being financially literate can help the climate. Kate Strong, a climate activist and world champion triathlete, also provided insight into her work and what motivates her.

With a firm commitment to environmental sustainability including in the Government’s ‘Get Active’ strategy, which was published earlier in the year, and with Chris Boardman, Chair of Sport England, recently reinforcing his organisation’s commitment to tackling climate change, the group also discussed how climate change has risen up the agenda for the sport and activity sector.

The delegates were pleased to welcome Will Hale from DCMS and Denise Ludlam, Environmental Sustainability Strategic Lead for Sport England, who were on hand to participate in this discussion and to expand on their organisation’s objectives in this area of work.

David Gent from Active Humber has been leading the Active Partnerships network’s discussions on environmental sustainability and he officially opened last week’s event. He said: “It was great to be able to bring people from across the Active Partnerships network together, to discuss this important topic.

“It was a very enjoyable day with lots of interesting contributions. I’m hoping this will be the first of many events like this, where we focus on the crucial topic of climate change so that we can establish the network’s role when it comes to tackling environmental sustainability and so that we can explore how we can work together to bring about meaningful change.”

Kate Bartels from the Active Partnerships National Organisation helped to organise the convention and was pleased to see the response from the network: “It was fantastic to be able to bring together more than 50 people to talk about this important topic. There was lots of lively discussion and some fantastic case studies were provided by Active Devon and Active Lancashire in particular.

“It was really good to hear how different Active Partnerships are facing the challenge of working towards a more sustainable future in sport and physical activity.”

The Active Partnerships network is a member of the Sport Environment and Climate Coalition (SECC) and you can find out more about their work here.