Volunteer Hub
Climate Ambassador
Organisation Details
University of Manchester Environmental Sustainability Team
Activity type: Community Work, Education, Environment and Gardening
Sub theme: Children, Education, Youth Work and Young People
Stellify Award: This opportunity is part of 'Make a Difference'
Description of role: Stellify Award - This opportunity is part of the Stellify Award in the Making a Difference category.
Training: You will need to undertake any training that is required for the volunteering role. However, training hours will not be included towards your total hours.
https://climateambassadors.org.uk/
Organisation Description:
Early years, schools, colleges and other education settings across the UK are eager for help in delivering better climate education, mitigating their climate impact, improving their biodiversity, and adapting to the extremes of weather associated with the changing climate. By helping make climate and sustainability education more widely available to all learners, you can help develop the citizens and workforce needed for the green transition.
Climate Ambassadors is a two-year project, funded by the Department for Education as part of its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which states that by 2025 all education settings in England are expected to have a designated sustainability lead and a climate action plan.
DECARBONISTATION – ADAPTATION & RESILIENCE – NATURE & BIODIVERSITY – CLIMATE EDUCATION & GREEN SKILLS
Description of Role
Whether you are a student, or a staff member, your role as a Climate Ambassador is primarily about supporting education settings to develop and implement climate action plans (CAP), wherever they are on their sustainability journey. You might support a single school or multiple settings - and this could be in person or online, working with staff, learners or wider community leaders including school governors.
What is a Climate Action Plan?
A CAP should cover all four of decarbonisation, adaptation & resilience, nature & biodiversity, and climate education & green skills. It doesn’t have to follow a prescribed template - but there is range of support and various tools that you (and the setting(s) you are supporting) can draw on to help shape, develop and implement a CAP. These resources will be signposted during your Climate Ambassador training.
Why volunteer as a Climate Ambassador?
As a Climate Ambassador you will:
• Develop sustainability and climate leadership skills - for yourself and those you work with - with training on climate essentials, systems change and working with education settings.
• Make your knowledge and skills count to tackle real world sustainability and climate challenges.
• Make a genuine difference to your community, supporting education settings that need and value your contribution.
• Inspire future generations and their influencers with positive solutions to environmental challenges.
• Gain a sense of achievement as you see your advice and ideas put into practice.
What support will I receive as a Climate Ambassador?
As a Climate Ambassador you won’t have to work in isolation - there is a wide range of support available to help you in your role - which will be coordinated via your Regional Hub:
• Climate Ambassador Training: core training with further upskilling modules (e.g. Sustainability Leadership & Carbon Literacy).
• Climate Ambassador Resources: slides, guides, and checklists to use at education settings.
• Further CPD opportunities, support and networking through your Regional Hub.
To help you get started as a Climate Ambassador, you can access these regular training courses:
Climate Ambassador Programme Events - 6 Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
Some suggested activities to deliver in your role:
• Engage with Senior Leadership - e.g. introduce CAPs.
• Support the Sustainability Lead / Team in developing a CAP.
• Signpost supporting resources and platforms - e.g. our sister projects - Sustainability Support for Education, National Education Nature Park and Let’s Go Zero.
• Support the design of a carbon audit.
• Deliver training to staff on one of the CAP areas.
• Support projects for students to get involved in action.
• Run workshops on the co-benefits of climate action to build interest and enthusiasm.
Skills / qualities associated with the role:
Anyone with knowledge & skills related to (one of) the four CAP areas who is passionate and motivated to offer support to education settings can be a Climate Ambassador. The scheme takes a cross-disciplinary approach and aims to connect volunteers of all backgrounds and expertise with education settings, educators and learners.
As a Climate Ambassador you will support early years settings, schools, and colleges by helping to:
• Mobilise and support settings to act on climate change.
• Reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
• Improve the biodiversity of their estate.
• Be more resilient to the impacts of climate change (e.g. overheating, flooding).
• Embed climate change and sustainability across the curriculum.
There will be opportunities for you to work with the leaders, staff, learners and governors within your paired education setting and we hope you will develop a long-term relationship so that you can see the impact of your work with them over time.
Duration of role
You should be willing to build a meaningful connection with the community at the education setting or settings you are linked to. We ask that Climate Ambassadors volunteer a minimum of one day a year, spread over at least three activities, to support settings with climate action planning.
Opportunity times
Flexible
How to become a climate ambassador:
1. Register as a STEM Ambassador: https://www.stem.org.uk/climate-ambassadors/stem-ambassadors
2. Complete the STEM Learning induction - which includes a free DBS check (essential!)
3. Look out for an email from your Regional Hub Manager. Your Regional Hub is your localised group for support, networking, and finding out about Climate Ambassador opportunities
4. Attend the “Getting Started as a Climate Ambassador” training.
Once you’ve completed the steps above, you are ready to connect with and begin supporting education settings through your Regional Hub and the STEM Learning platform.
Regional Hubs will help match Climate Ambassadors with education settings and give access to extensive regional networks to share guidance, tips & best practice.
Contact Your Regional Hub
• North East - climateambassadors.ne@newcastle.ac.uk
• Yorks & Humber - climateambassadors_yh@leeds.ac.uk
• North West - climateambassadors_nw@mmu.ac.uk
• West Midlands - climate-ambassadors.wm@keele.ac.uk
• East Midlands - ca-eastmids@nottingham.ac.uk
• East of England - climateambassadors_ea@uea.ac.uk
• London - climateambassadors_london@ucl.ac.uk
• South East - climateambassadors_se@reading.ac.uk
• South West - climateambassadors_sw@metoffice.gov.uk
Training: You will need to undertake any training that is required for the volunteering role. However, training hours will not be included towards your total hours.
https://climateambassadors.org.uk/
Organisation Description:
Early years, schools, colleges and other education settings across the UK are eager for help in delivering better climate education, mitigating their climate impact, improving their biodiversity, and adapting to the extremes of weather associated with the changing climate. By helping make climate and sustainability education more widely available to all learners, you can help develop the citizens and workforce needed for the green transition.
Climate Ambassadors is a two-year project, funded by the Department for Education as part of its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which states that by 2025 all education settings in England are expected to have a designated sustainability lead and a climate action plan.
DECARBONISTATION – ADAPTATION & RESILIENCE – NATURE & BIODIVERSITY – CLIMATE EDUCATION & GREEN SKILLS
Description of Role
Whether you are a student, or a staff member, your role as a Climate Ambassador is primarily about supporting education settings to develop and implement climate action plans (CAP), wherever they are on their sustainability journey. You might support a single school or multiple settings - and this could be in person or online, working with staff, learners or wider community leaders including school governors.
What is a Climate Action Plan?
A CAP should cover all four of decarbonisation, adaptation & resilience, nature & biodiversity, and climate education & green skills. It doesn’t have to follow a prescribed template - but there is range of support and various tools that you (and the setting(s) you are supporting) can draw on to help shape, develop and implement a CAP. These resources will be signposted during your Climate Ambassador training.
Why volunteer as a Climate Ambassador?
As a Climate Ambassador you will:
• Develop sustainability and climate leadership skills - for yourself and those you work with - with training on climate essentials, systems change and working with education settings.
• Make your knowledge and skills count to tackle real world sustainability and climate challenges.
• Make a genuine difference to your community, supporting education settings that need and value your contribution.
• Inspire future generations and their influencers with positive solutions to environmental challenges.
• Gain a sense of achievement as you see your advice and ideas put into practice.
What support will I receive as a Climate Ambassador?
As a Climate Ambassador you won’t have to work in isolation - there is a wide range of support available to help you in your role - which will be coordinated via your Regional Hub:
• Climate Ambassador Training: core training with further upskilling modules (e.g. Sustainability Leadership & Carbon Literacy).
• Climate Ambassador Resources: slides, guides, and checklists to use at education settings.
• Further CPD opportunities, support and networking through your Regional Hub.
To help you get started as a Climate Ambassador, you can access these regular training courses:
Climate Ambassador Programme Events - 6 Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
Some suggested activities to deliver in your role:
• Engage with Senior Leadership - e.g. introduce CAPs.
• Support the Sustainability Lead / Team in developing a CAP.
• Signpost supporting resources and platforms - e.g. our sister projects - Sustainability Support for Education, National Education Nature Park and Let’s Go Zero.
• Support the design of a carbon audit.
• Deliver training to staff on one of the CAP areas.
• Support projects for students to get involved in action.
• Run workshops on the co-benefits of climate action to build interest and enthusiasm.
Skills / qualities associated with the role:
Anyone with knowledge & skills related to (one of) the four CAP areas who is passionate and motivated to offer support to education settings can be a Climate Ambassador. The scheme takes a cross-disciplinary approach and aims to connect volunteers of all backgrounds and expertise with education settings, educators and learners.
As a Climate Ambassador you will support early years settings, schools, and colleges by helping to:
• Mobilise and support settings to act on climate change.
• Reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
• Improve the biodiversity of their estate.
• Be more resilient to the impacts of climate change (e.g. overheating, flooding).
• Embed climate change and sustainability across the curriculum.
There will be opportunities for you to work with the leaders, staff, learners and governors within your paired education setting and we hope you will develop a long-term relationship so that you can see the impact of your work with them over time.
Duration of role
You should be willing to build a meaningful connection with the community at the education setting or settings you are linked to. We ask that Climate Ambassadors volunteer a minimum of one day a year, spread over at least three activities, to support settings with climate action planning.
Opportunity times
Flexible
How to become a climate ambassador:
1. Register as a STEM Ambassador: https://www.stem.org.uk/climate-ambassadors/stem-ambassadors
2. Complete the STEM Learning induction - which includes a free DBS check (essential!)
3. Look out for an email from your Regional Hub Manager. Your Regional Hub is your localised group for support, networking, and finding out about Climate Ambassador opportunities
4. Attend the “Getting Started as a Climate Ambassador” training.
Once you’ve completed the steps above, you are ready to connect with and begin supporting education settings through your Regional Hub and the STEM Learning platform.
Regional Hubs will help match Climate Ambassadors with education settings and give access to extensive regional networks to share guidance, tips & best practice.
Contact Your Regional Hub
• North East - climateambassadors.ne@newcastle.ac.uk
• Yorks & Humber - climateambassadors_yh@leeds.ac.uk
• North West - climateambassadors_nw@mmu.ac.uk
• West Midlands - climate-ambassadors.wm@keele.ac.uk
• East Midlands - ca-eastmids@nottingham.ac.uk
• East of England - climateambassadors_ea@uea.ac.uk
• London - climateambassadors_london@ucl.ac.uk
• South East - climateambassadors_se@reading.ac.uk
• South West - climateambassadors_sw@metoffice.gov.uk
Skills / qualities associated with the role: Oral Communication Skills, Written Communication Skills
Are volunteer expenses available?: No
Duration of role: Ongoing / Long term
Start date:
End date:
Opportunity times: Monday AM, Monday PM, Monday Evening, Tuesday AM, Tuesday PM, Tuesday Evening, Wednesday AM, Wednesday PM, Wednesday Evening, Thursday AM, Thursday PM, Thursday Evening, Friday AM, Friday PM, Friday Evening
DBS required: On
Can reasonable adjustments be made regarding additional needs?: Yes
Minimum hours commitment: We ask that Climate Ambassadors volunteer a minimum of one day a year, spread over at least three activities, to support settings with climate action planning. The commitment is to do this once a year, for two years.
Location: