To watch this event, you can rent or buy the video here.
Tuesday 28th May saw The Future Economy Network run an interactive webinar on Better Breathing: Improving Our Air Quality, an event extremely relevant given the air quality improvements since the pandemic. The event was attended by a diverse range of delegates, all prepared to dive into detailed discussions on behaviour change, transport and emissions.
The team introduced everyone to the virtual events space and gave quick training on how to make the most out of the interactive webinar and networking opportunities. Once everyone was used to the space and had networked a little, the seminars began. Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business, where you can check out the video here.
As the event was originally going to take place at Bath Spa University, who are members of the Network, Andy Salmon (Pro VC External) briefly welcomed the audience with an update on the University’s commitment to sustainability. With 95% of their students caring about sustainability, they have recognised a duty to “be better”. Since the pandemic, Andy noted the air quality improvements and emphasised that “we mustn’t rush back, because our lives before were literally killing us”.
Dr Ian Walker from Network members University of Bath presented first on the psychology of behaviour change within transport. He noted that coincidentally it was a great time to be presenting, because the University had just released their 11 point plan in response to declaring a climate emergency. He highlighted the contentious issue of dictating what their staff do in their own time. From surveys, the majority of staff had a strong viewpoint that it is not any of the university's business, and therefore not their business to decide how they travel to and from work. However, with the correct structures in place, companies can provide more sustainable practices that shift the behaviour of their employees (for example, Wessex Water provide their own employee-owned bus service). Ian then used the Social Ecological Framework to liken everyday behaviour to layers of an onion, where your social influences run at different priority levels (for example, your immediate family/friends may influence you in depth, but culture may influence you in breadth). He then related this to transport – how pedestrians give way to cars, for example. So, for true change, it needs to be large and structural; and businesses can be a major player here e.g. parking levies and expenses systems. Ian then spoke about individual change, and how our habits and routines are not the product of deliberate thinking. Tweaks such as increased fuel costs and cycling posters will not change a routine. Influential information must be given when a person is not in their usual pattern, because our minds are closed to new information when we are in our routine. An example of this is when someone starts a new job.
Next, we welcomed Thomas Buckland from Ricardo Energy and Environment, who spoke on mitigating air quality impacts. He ran through the standard business emissions (transport, energy, waste and industrial processes) and the types of emissions most focused on. He looked at how to mitigate these impacts, from behaviour change to large technological advances such as urban air purifiers and green roofs. He then focused on pollution in the UK in particular, a large proportion of which is caused by vehicle emissions. Thomas used a 3-step plan to look at this; Avoid, Shift and Improve. He gave examples of reducing vehicle miles and the importance of data collection. He emphasised the importance of moving to low emission vehicles, and how their popularity is impacted by policy, funding and whole life costing. He gave some ULEV examples, such as the electric bus routes in London and British Gas’ commitment to an entire EV fleet by 2030. He finished his presentation by highlighting the Business Clean Air Task Force, a fantastic way for organisations to make a real impact one step at a time.
Finally, we welcomed Councillor Joanna Wright from Bath & North East Somerset Council. She gave some history behind Bath and why it is the way it is – how its structure has huge limitations for the progress of sustainable improvements. Joanna explained a car counting project she undertook, where she counted vehicles between 8am-9am on a tiny residential street in central Bath. She counted 1000 cars. She explained that the Bath Clean Air Zone had been defined before her time as Councillor, and how it had already been decided that fees would be for businesses and not for private use cars. During her time trying to change this, Joanna confirmed that central Government have mandated delays due to the pandemic. She then showed images of her previous campaign work, including mask wearing in the city centre to highlight emission effects on our health. Her role has showed her how hard and complicated the structure is to create change, and gave examples of the WebTAG checklist (an essential part of making transport changes) and its lack of sustainability considerations. Joanna highlighted how Highways England receive £6 million per mile per year, noting that big decision makers receive large budgets but small Councillors do not see this money. She went on to show her campaign titled “We live within the sky, not beneath it”, and also looked at the gender issues around transport decision making. She finished her presentation by emphasising that what needs to change is the assumption that cars are the most important use of public space. It is in our everyday language and behaviour, and we all need to make the steps to make sure our public space is not given to vehicles as a priority. With the pandemic, public transport can only be at 25% capacity and the potential negative impact this may have on private car use is astounding.
We continued with our new mini Q&A’s after every speaker, which created a continuous buzz throughout the event. The seminar finished with some insightful and high-level questions to the panel as a group after the mini Q&A’s. Network members Stantec and The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Consultant gave a 60 second pitch - a popular opportunity at these events that continues given the virtual nature. Finally, everyone was able to network in different groups using facilitated break out rooms, before the event finished.
A huge thank you to the speakers and attendees of this event, without this support we would not be able to do these wonderful inspiring events.