Wales Climate Week 2024 Roundup

Local Partnerships is proud to look back on yet another successful Wales Climate Week.

Wales Climate Week, an annual virtual event organised by the Welsh Government, took place between the 11^th – 15^th November. It featured ministerial roundtables, information sharing sessions and panel discussions. 

Each year, Wales Climate Week focuses on a particular climate issue, with each sector given their own weekday as the cynosure. This year’s theme was Climate Adaptation, with the itinerary as follows: 

• Monday: Land, Agriculture, Marine, Fisheries & Nature 

• Tuesday: Infrastructure 

• Wednesday: Business, Economy & Finance 

• Thursday: Health & Social Care 

• Friday: Towns, Cities & Communities 

On Tuesday, Local Partnerships’ Director Nicola Kneale hosted a discussion on the role that Smart Local Energy Systems (SLES) play in supporting climate adaptation and resilience. She was joined by Dr Jeff Hardy, Director of Sustainable Futures LTD and supporter of Ynni Cymru’s work as an associate; Calvin Jones, Professor of Economics at Cardiff Business School, and Leanne Wood, Co-Director of Community Energy Wales and past leader of Plaid Cymru. They discussed the positive impacts of SLES through an energy system, economic, and community/individual lens. This led to great interaction and feedback from the virtual audience of over 2,000 people. 

The speakers concluded that SLES are important for reducing pressure on the grid, therefore potentially reducing the expensive and time-consuming grid reinforcement work. This is not exclusive to renewables; it also pertains to smart deployment of energy and local use. It was agreed that the use of clean energy in a local area can make communities more resilient to market shocks brought on by climate or geopolitical events. However, the national energy system isn’t currently modelled to enable this. One speaker suggested that this can be combated by enabling investment and introducing incentives like Feed-In-Tariffs. Previously, these have made it viable for communities to develop renewable energy schemes, many of which went on to serve their locality or acted as a first step toward this. 

It is a daunting task to influence the way that energy systems develop in the medium term, but it is a necessary step and one that Local Partnerships can support through our interface with Welsh Government, GB Energy and DESNZ, as well as our unique position bridging the gap between local and national government by advocating for national policy based on a sound understanding of local practicalities. 

On Tuesday, Local Partnerships’ Senior Director Rachel Toresen-Owuor participated in a workshop alongside the Welsh Government centring on the Health and Social Care Emergency Programme and its links to climate adaptation. Rachel showcased our Climate Adaptation Toolkit and demonstrated its use in developing Climate Action Plans.