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Student makes an impact at Yorkshire Post Climate Summit

Our Sixth Form student, Emma Keates, spoke about climate change and solutions for a sustainable future at an event organised by Yorkshire Post.

The summit brought together politicians, business leaders, academics, and media representatives from different sectors for vibrant discussions, debates, and networking opportunities. Held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, participants addressed Yorkshire’s climate challenges and explored strategies for the most effective future actions.

Emma spoke on stage about the lack of visibility amongst young people about the efforts from businesses to fix the state of the environment and how this could be rectified by business representatives speaking in colleges about how to be more environmentally friendly.

She also pointed out the lack of green job opportunities that do not require years of experience or some sort of specific training or education and believes that we need to see an increase in less skilled green jobs.

Emma, a current Geography, Maths and Physics A Level student, said: “Being part of the Yorkshire Post Climate Summit was an amazing experience and it was fantastic to have an insight into the professional world and hear about the measures that companies are taking in order to achieve net zero by 2050.

“There were some really interesting conversations around the time span that we have set to achieve net zero, and whether we are leaving it too late, which I found very engaging. I learnt that businesses are actually putting in a lot more effort than I had previously believed to counteract climate change, and it was uplifting to see evidence that the leadership of important companies and industries really do care about the voices of young people and are eager to enact the change that we are calling for.

“The majority of the day was very relevant to modules that I study in Geography, including renewable energy solutions and regenerating areas. It was very educational and interesting for me to hear about the real-life applications of the concepts I have studied, and how they are relevant and important to my life.”