Council climate action and emissions summary 2022-23

Kingston is very fortunate to have a large number of green-minded groups and individuals that are committed to protecting and improving the environment for current and future generations.

With their help the council created Sustainable September in 2022, which was a month of activity hosted, supported and promoted by the council, community groups and businesses to get people talking about climate change and inspiring them to take action. 

Over 40 activities took place across the borough including; bat walks and nature walks, bike maintenance sessions, eco-home open days, energy saving workshops, events at Tolworth Court Farm, tidy-ups at local nature spots and a variety of webinars on different topics.

The month came to a close with GreenZone at the Ancient Market Place which brought groups together from across the borough for a day of activity and public engagement. 

September also saw the reformation of the Kingston Environment Forum (KEF) with support from the council’s Climate Action Team. KEF is an umbrella network for local environmental groups, and acts as a ‘critical friend’ to the council on climate action. The members of KEF play an important role in delivering environmental community action across the borough.

The council has strengthened its working relationships with groups across the borough throughout the last year. In 2022 and early 2023, it worked with the Kingston and Richmond Youth Parliament on their Climate Youth Fund which provides the borough’s younger residents with funding to bring their environmental ideas to life. 

Examples include a new food growing area and healthy cooking club at Dickerage Community Centre, an Eco Fair run by St Mark’s and St Andrew’s Youth Group, rewilding projects at Tiffin Girls’ School and Richard Challoner School and the creation of VegePods at Kingston Academy to grow food for school meals. 

The council also worked with Kingston Hive to find and provide a temporary space for their Climate Emergency Centre, in the heart of Kingston Town, as well as a space for Transition Town Kingston’s monthly Repair Cafe, giving old and often loved items a new lease of life.

Connecting individuals, communities and businesses with information to help them tackle climate change is integral to helping the borough reach its climate targets - a bespoke section on the council’s website, providing a variety of information to help everyone take steps to reduce their climate impact has been created. This has been supplemented by the regular sharing of events, media campaigns and funding opportunities across all of the council’s promotional channels.

The council would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Kingston’s green-minded groups for the important role they play in tackling the climate and ecological emergencies at a local level, as well as helping to improve the borough and protect it.