Erwood Climate Action Group has successfully bid to become one of only four communities in Powys to carry out a “community carbon audit”.

Supported by PAVO (Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations) and PACE (Powys Action on the Climate Emergency), this audit will develop a community climate action plan.

This plan will identify the best opportunities for Erwood community to take action to help stave off the worst of future climate change impacts, while at the same time protecting and revitalising local wildlife and natural habitats. The PAVO/PACE project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

Erwood Climate Action Group was set up following Erwood Community Council’s declaration of a Climate and Nature Emergency and support for the Climate and Ecological Emergency bill. The Group’s aim is to raise awareness and share knowledge within the community of climate change and its impacts. In this, Erwood joins other local communities including Brecon, Hay-on-Wye, Welshpool, Machynlleth, Knighton and Llanidloes.

Climate Emergency was declared by both the UK Parliament and the Welsh government in 2019. Powys County Council followed in 2020. The Climate and Ecological Emergency bill aims to reverse the climate and ecological breakdown which we are facing. It has the support of 110 MPs from 8 political parties, representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Everyone in the UK will be affected by changes to our climate. In Wales, heavier rainfall is already causing flooding. Future extreme summer heat will result in droughts, higher mortality rates, and shortages of selected foods. Impacts of climate change will be felt by all of us in the coming decades, and even more strongly by future generations. Erwood, a small rural community in the upper Wye valley in mid Wales, is no exception.

Every UK citizen must take action now, to enable the UK to achieve net zero carbon emissions. The Erwood Climate Action Group, along with other groups throughout the UK, will assist in this vitally important endeavour.

Follow the Erwood Climate Action Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/erwoodclimateaction