Youth Climate Change Champion calls on South West to spend carbon budget wisely

Defra's Youth Climate Change Champion for the South West, Lucy Stansfield, has given her support to a new campaign launched by Sustainability South West.

'Fair Shares Fair Choice', which has received Defra funding, aims to encourage and assist people in the South West in reducing their carbon emissions by offering people in the region a personal carbon budget card. The carbon cards are based on a new 10-year carbon budget, set by Sustainability South West, which shows that CO2 emissions need to drop by 10 per cent this year and by 30 per cent by 2017.

The budget sets a target for each person in the region to consume no more than 8,400kgs of CO2 each year. Sustainability South West claims that people are able to control half of this amount (4,200kgs), and the new Fair Shares Fair Choice website, launched this week, provides a range of practical tips and advice on how to achieve this.

The project was launched at Bordeaux Quay, a restaurant and cookery school on Bristol's waterside, which is committed to minimising its impact on the environment by employing a range of sustainable practices, including sourcing local food where possible, recycling and reusing packaging and using the rain water from the roof to flush the toilets.

Lucy Stansfield gave her support to the scheme on Friday. She has been working hard since she was appointed in May 2006 to raise awareness of environmental issues among people in the region. Her role has included being involved in a range of national and international events, including visiting the Gurschen Glacier in Switzerland to see the effects of climate change first hand, speaking alongside the Climate Change and Environment Minister Ian Pearson at an international conference on global warming. She and her fellow pupils have also been busy at her school, Wellington School, where the new head teacher has new projects planned, including installing a new meter to monitor carbon emissions and trying to get the school buses running on bio-fuel.

Speaking at the launch, Lucy said: 'I am very excited to be here to support this project in my local region. Since I started in my role I have been working hard to get the message across that we need to take steps now to reduce our carbon emissions and this idea of a carbon budget card is a great and easy way for us to do this. It's not very hard to be environmentally friendly, so get on the wagon and start to make a difference today!'

Leslie Watson, Director of Sustainability South West, said: "The challenge of climate change calls out for champions to inspire us to take more carbon positive choices. Young and old, from the public, business or voluntary sectors, the Fair Shares, Fair Choice project will spur us on towards a more sustainable future for all."