Net Zero Now is a free programme designed to give you the knowledge and confidence to support your community to accelerate the move to net zero emissions.

Net Zero Now is for residents of South Cambridgeshire who would like to learn more about how to bring climate action into their community. This could be through 

• combining environmental action into your existing activities (e.g. within community or faith groups), 
• supporting an existing environmental group or activity or 
• setting up a new project (e.g. repair cafes or a community energy project). 

While the course is open to all residents in South Cambridgeshire, the course is mainly designed for:

• leaders in the community (parish councillors, faith leaders, teachers etc.) interested in climate action,
• interested residents who would like to be more active on the climate in their local area,
• and representatives from newly formed local environmental groups that would like some guidance and support to improve the impact of their work.

There are only a limited number of places available on the course, so we will select applicants to reflect a broad spectrum of local parishes, individual backgrounds, organisation types, pre-existing knowledge and strengths.

As this programme is looking to bring together keen residents from various backgrounds, existing knowledge or experience is not as important as enthusiasm and motivation to take action in your local community.

Weekly sessions

The course consists of six sessions, four online on a Wednesday evening and two in person on a Saturday.

Example Course Outline (from Spring 2023)

Session 1. Climate Action: From past to present and bottom to top

Session 2. From Ideas to Impact: What’s right for you and your community?

Session 3. Community Engagement: Understanding and connecting with diverse audiences

Session 4. Influencing: Behaviour change, climate psychology and working with local government

Session 5. Getting Practical: Creating an action plan and finding support

Session 6. Onwards and Upwards: From small wins to big victories

Other activities

In addition to the online sessions, there will be a small amount of additional work to be undertaken outside of these sessions an opportunities throughout the course for 1-1 support.

While this course is suitable for applicants with a range of knowledge, experience and proposed actions, successful applicants will demonstrate an interest in supporting their community to take action on climate change. This may be through a number of factors, including demonstrating:

• an interest in their local community. Either through previous experience of engagement with their community or through an interest in getting involved as a result of attending this course.
• concern about climate change combined with an interest in developing and improving knowledge on this topic.
• a motivation to take action on climate change. This can be from larger-scale ambitious actions (such as setting up a community energy project) down to smaller-scale actions (such as running a clothes swap with your local scout group)
• a commitment to the course activities. Including both attending weekly sessions and the additional activities outlined above.

In order to take part in this course, applicants will need:

• access to an internet connection strong enough to use the video conferencing service Zoom.
• a basic knowledge of using Zoom. Please let us know if you would need training on this before taking part as we may be able to provide this.

We may be running this course again in the future. Please contact us through the 'Get in touch' contact form on this page if you would like us to email you if we are offering another programme in the future.