Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report

            To update members about an approach to Belfast City Council for funding (£8,750 plus VAT) to support the 30U30 (30 under 30) Northern Ireland Climate Change-Maker’s programme. The programme is coordinated by the leading charity, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and their partner Podiem. This programme is an exemplary example of cross sectoral partnership with support from DAERA, Belfast City Council, Invest NI, Queens University Belfast with broad ranging corporate support including Pinsent Masons, Coca Cola, Danske Bank, Northstone and ARUP. This is a request for continued local authority involvement and support for the programme from Belfast City Council.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       It is recommended that the Committee:

·        Agree the contribution of £8,750 plus VAT to the overall programme costs.

2.2       Whilst Belfast City Council’s support represents a modest proportion of the overall budget (circa £100,000 in total) it will be crucial in making the initiative (the themes of which complement and supplement the Council’s climate programme) a reality.

2.3       The Council’s support will resource the launch along with 6 modules/events featuring world-class speakers/experts taking place from December 2024-May 2025. 

2.4       In supporting this initiative Council will:

-       Empower the next generation of climate change makers, equipping young leaders with the tools to enact meaningful climate action and developing a talent pool for Belfast and the wider region;

-       Foster innovation and leadership: In supporting this programme, Belfast City Council will go beyond its own carbon footprint; proactively inspiring and equipping those who have the ambition to transform industries. This programme will help build an ecosystem that promotes the collaboration between government, companies and individuals that is needed to address the magnitude of the crises facing us and it is an opportunity to align with Belfast City Council’s Resilience Strategy. 

3.0       Main report

            Background

3.1       The programme supports a network of young people from a diverse range of backgrounds, cultures, industries & specialisms with the common goal of becoming planet positive Climate Change Makers. This growing network of aspiring young leaders is equipped to drive meaningful change within their spheres of influence across Northern Ireland, influencing governments, institutions, networks, employers, colleagues and peers to drive carbon reduction and spearhead the transition to a more sustainable, just future. Similar to the pilot year in 2023, the second 30U30 programme which concluded in June 2024, was again oversubscribed with a wider range of sectors involved including environmental conservation, government & policy, construction, energy, academia, transport, agriculture & food production, technology & research and culture & communications.

3.2       Under this cycle of this initiative, 30 young people are competitively selected annually to embark on an impact leadership and capacity building programme that builds literacy across a range of themes to underpin future behaviours, decision-making and help foster collaboration and innovation in leadership. Common knowledge gaps including Finance/Economy/Business, Policy/Politics, Communications/Media & The Art of Persuasion, Purpose and Social Impact, Sustainability Literacy, Leadership/Resilience and Health, Wellbeing & Performance are addressed underpinned by the strategic themes of Inspiring & Informing Action; Cultivating Change-Makers; Sharing Stories & Alternatives and Enabling the Future. Most of the 30U30 modules are being delivered in Belfast City Centre and the vast majority of the participants will either reside or work within the Belfast City Council footprint. The cohort will be diverse with a broad range of backgrounds, sectors and interest/expertise areas represented. Within the current alumni of 60 emerging young leaders, 78% are female and thus the programme is making a tangible contribution to championing the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda in Belfast.

3.3       Within the modular programme participants will learn from globally renowned thought leaders and exemplars across a range of relevant topics. These topics have been carefully crafted to create a cohort of leaders who will return to their fields of expertise with the tools to become planet positive change-makers in the short/long term. Speakers and facilitators from the previous cohorts included globally-renowned individuals such as:

·        Alice Thompson, an international speaker and social business leader who co-founded Social Bite in Edinburgh and helped to establish ‘The Worlds Big Sleepout’ which took place in 52 cities around the world.

·        Gerry Hussey, Ireland’s leading health, wellbeing and performance coach, who has worked with many leading sports people and teams, and author of ‘Awaken Your Power Within’.

·        Philip Hesketh, an international authority on influence and persuasion, who has worked with clients such as the BBC, Nestle, Walt Disney, Nike, Microsoft and Bank of America among others.

·        René Carayol MBE who has worked with leaders such as Mikael Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Sir Richard Branson, Bill Clinton, and Kofi Annan, and authored the book ‘SPIKE’. He has been Chairman, CEO and MD of businesses and served on the boards of Marks and Spencer’s and Pepsi. He is an authority on inclusivity and leadership.

·        Participants in the 3rd cycle of the programme (November 2024 - May 2025) will also have the opportunity to have an audience with Mary Robinson. The first female president of Ireland and formerly the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary is a lawyer, politician and diplomat and is the President of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice. 

3.4       The programme also includes an international element which will encourage and enable the NI climate change-makers to build relationships and collaborations with climate change  - makers from other parts of the world through the 30 under 30 programme currently run by the North American Association for Environmental Education. The Northern Irish programme is the only programme operating in the UK presently.

            Potential benefits to Belfast City Council

3.5       The programme coordinators will ensure that Belfast City Council will be positioned as championing (along with the other partners) the creation and development of the next generation of local leaders who will lead work to address climate change in Northern Ireland. This will support the cities ambition, articulated in the Belfast Resilience Strategy, to ‘transition to an inclusive, net zero emissions economy in a generation.’  It provides a tangible programmatic offering to engage young people, one of the areas of focus in the plan, ensuring they are active participants in co-designing a future proofed city and have every opportunity to participate in delivery.  With 35% of Belfast’s population under the age of 25, engagement of young people is considered so important in the strategy, it is one of three areas of focus, or multiple problem solvers to restructure the economy and society as climate change advances. This programme also nurtures wider collaborative efforts to create a circular economy and contributes to the green skills/green growth agenda here with scope to connect to wider BCC initiatives including Belfast’s Line Quarter ‘Sustainable District’ and other work underway with the Council’s Climate Unit. In supporting this programme, Belfast City Council will be going well beyond its own carbon footprint and direct activity, it is proactively inspiring and equipping those who have the ambition to transform industries (similar to Artemis and Responsible, both from Belfast) and create global solutions (for example Catagen, also from Belfast) to our most pressing climate and environmental challenges.

3.6       Connections with Belfast City Council are already strong following the Councils previous support of the programme. In September 20204, we took the opportunity to connect the 30Under30 alumni with the Lord Mayor of Belfast to hear how they are planning to create meaningful impact as a direct consequence of the programme.

3.7       In terms of profile, the Belfast City Council brand will be prominent on all of the initiative marketing material which will be launched to ensure mass awareness. The Council brand will also be highly visible at all of the modules (including the finale event) and a Council representative will be invited to participate in the press photos launching the event and at the finale event.

3.8       There is also an opportunity for a member of the Belfast City Council Climate team to present on how a city is playing its part in helping to avert a climate crisis. The cohort will feature some of NI’s finest future leadership talent (including those from the local government sector), so this content will be very useful and relevant to the participants together with an opportunity to host one of the modules at Belfast City Hall and secure the press coverage associated with that. This would be the ideal follow up event for the Lord Mayor to greet and listen to the incoming group of 30U30 climate change makers and the positive planet impact they plan to create.  

            Financial & Resource Implications

3.9       £8,750 plus VAT which will be allocated from existing City and Organisational Strategy budgets. 

            Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Implications

3.10     None.”

            The Committee agreed to a contribution of £8,750 plus VAT to the overall programme costs.