People driving, walking and cycling are being encouraged to give space and be considerate to other road users in the Government’s latest THINK! road safety campaign launched today (12 July 2022).

Travel Like You Know Them

The ‘Travel Like You Know Them’ campaign will promote the recent changes to the Highway Code, which help improve road safety for people walking, cycling and horse riding.

The campaign offers a snapshot into the lives of people who use the roads, aiming to help people see beyond the mode of transport and improve understanding of how others see and use the road.

‘Travel Like You Know Them’ speaks to everyone who uses the road, with an emphasis on motorists and those who have a greater responsibility to reduce the risk they may pose to others, as per Highway Code’s new hierarchy of road users.

The campaign follows the first phase of the THINK! campaign launched in February to highlight the changes to the Highway Code, with 87% of people surveyed being aware of the changes.

Roads Minister Baroness Vere said:

People tend to see cycles, lorries and cars on the roads rather than thinking of the person using them – but it could be your family member, your friend or your colleague.

We have some of the safest roads in the world but I am determined to make them even safer, particularly as more people choose to walk, cycle and ride for their journeys.

This campaign encourages everyone to see the person behind the wheel or handlebars, to build more understanding of others on the road, and help keep everyone safe.

‘Travel Like You Know Them’ aims to foster mutual respect to embed the new Highway Code rules in the day-to-day behaviour of people driving, walking and cycling alike.

The changes include clarifying cycle positioning, emphasising the priority at junctions for pedestrians and cyclists, guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking, and on opening car doors, the ‘Dutch reach’.

Mary Williams OBE, chief executive of Brake said:

On behalf of road victims and everyone who uses roads, Brake is a passionate supporter of the government’s THINK! campaign, and its focus on driver behaviour and protection of those most at risk, particularly people on bicycles and walking.

The Highway Code’s new hierarchy of road users is a vital step forwards that everyone can help promote, particularly to drivers, to prevent tragedies on roads.

As the country works towards a net zero future, safer roads will encourage more and more people to travel by foot, bike or public transport, helping reduce congestion and emissions.

The campaign builds on our £20 million investment in Bikeability, the government’s national cycle training programme, to ensure everyone can access the fantastic mobility opportunities of cycling and sustainable active travel.

Improvements to road safety measures will also lead to fewer road traffic collisions, not only saving lives but also the billions of pounds spent every year on dealing with such collisions and ensuing road repairs.

Travel Like You Know Them, 15 second clip

Sixty-one schools across the country are set to receive state of the art rebuilds or refurbishments that will transform education for their pupils.

In his first announcement as Education Secretary, James Cleverly confirmed the investment to provide thousands of children access to new, modern classrooms as part of the Prime Minister’s flagship School Rebuilding Programme.

The projects will be backed by over £1bn of funding.

Work to deliver the projects will start immediately. It will include updating and modernising buildings, and creating state of the art facilities such as new sports halls, music rooms, science labs and dining areas.

The new school buildings will be net-zero carbon in operation, helping meet the Government’s net-zero target.

The schools in this round include primary, secondary and special schools, with 11in the North West, ten in the North East and six in Yorkshire and the Humber, helping level up education for children of all ages and right across the country.

Since 2010, around 500 schools have been refurbished or rebuilt under government programmes.

Education Secretary James Cleverly said:

Our School Rebuilding Programme is already making a difference to the lives of pupils and their teachers. It is creating greener school sites that are fit for the future and that local communities can be proud of.

We know how important it is to have high-quality school facilities. That is why we continue to invest billions in our rebuilding programme.

Headteacher of Framwellgate School Durham, Andy Byers said:

I’m absolutely delighted that Framwellgate School Durham has been chosen to be part of the School Rebuilding Programme.

Our school was designed and built in the 1960s and is old and tired and very poorly designed. With a new building we will be able to give our students facilities and a learning environment which will inspire them, and our staff, in the working environment they deserve.

Schools selected in round one of the programme, such as West Coventry Academy and St John Fisher Catholic High School in Wigan, are benefitting from a full replacement of all their buildings. The work will transform the environment children learn in, including brand new sports facilities enabling more children to take part in physical activity.

The commitment to rebuild and refurbish the schools most in need is part of Government’s wider Schools White Paper commitments, to ensure that by 2030 every child will be taught a broad and ambitious curriculum, with access to high-quality extra-curricular provision, in a school with high expectations and strong standards of behaviour.

To achieve this, staff and pupils need access to top facilities.

Alongside the new rebuilding programme, the Government has committed £1.8 billion in financial year 2022-23 for maintaining and improving the school estate, as part of £13.1 billion allocated since 2015.

The full list of schools can be found here.

ENDS

Government takes action to support seafarers

• New report on seafarers’ mental health launched to identify best ways to support those who work at sea 
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency launches new digital tool aimed at seafarers dealing with mental health issues  
• Part of Government’s nine-point plan to improve seafarers’ long-term working conditions. 

Poor mental health at sea is still taboo, and better support for seafarers must be embedded into the maritime industry, according to a new report funded jointly by the Department for Transport and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).  

The report comes alongside the launch of MCA’s new digital tool designed to support seafarers’ health and wellbeing. Called the Wellbeing at Sea Tool, the new website provides practical advice for seafarers and helps organisations monitor wellbeing and support their employees.  

Its launch is supported by the findings of the research which was carried out to gather the views of chaplains, charities, unions and the maritime industry as a whole.  

Despite ongoing work, many of those questioned said they still felt mental health issues were poorly understood not just by employers but among seafarers themselves. Many of those questioned said that there needed to be better reporting to understand and act upon the level of suicide rates at sea, but added there were difficulties knowing for certain what the cause of death was in some cases.  

Many also claimed that the subject of mental health and suicide was also off-limits for some people who are unwilling to discuss it because of cultural or religious reasons.

Maritime Minister Robert Courts said:  

I want the maritime sector to be an inviting one, and for it to move with the times and recognise that, while offering incredibly rewarding careers, life at sea can be incredibly lonely and stressful.  

This new report will help us to address this important issue, and with support from the MCA with its new online service, we will continue to challenge the sector to take action to ensure all seafarers are properly supported on land and at sea.”  

Katy Ware, Director of UK Maritime Services said:  

There is – sadly – still a stigma around mental health. The fact seafarers still don’t feel able to talk about it or access services says a lot about how far we still have to go in terms of reducing that taboo.  

This is exactly why we have launched our Wellbeing at Sea Tool. By identifying stressors and issues at an early stage, we hope that the tool will help to reduce stress among seafarers which is a contributory factor to mental health problems.” 

As part of the Government’s nine-point plan to improve seafarers’ long term working conditions, all measures have been considered to improve lives at sea – including the mental health of workers.

The MCA Human Element team developed the Wellbeing at Sea Tool with partners to form part of a range of guidance to improve seafarer wellbeing.  

When a seafarer uses it, they are asked to take a digital survey. Once completed, the seafarer is given personalised advice on how to improve their wellbeing at sea. Data captured is anonymised and sent to managers within the company to help them better understand what the priorities are for improvement.

Website: https://www.wellbeingseatool.com/

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you very much to the panel for the very interesting interventions.

Today we strive to build a more secure and sustainable future for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

There is no doubting the challenges we face.

Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine is damaging the global economy and compounding food insecurity.

The impacts of COVID-19 remain with us.

And the climate crisis continues to threaten lives and livelihoods.

Small Island Developing States have, of course, been disproportionately affected.

Yet you also have very powerful voices.

You have played a vital role in pushing for climate action. Thanks to the promises made in Glasgow, the 1.5 degree warming limit remains within reach.

You are also vital partners in the achievement of SDG 14, as you steward nearly a third of our global ocean.

The United Kingdom is committed to supporting SIDS to become more resilient to climate and economic shocks.

We stand with you in your determination to achieve your development and economic goals.

Our new International Development Strategy sets out this vision.

We know that reforms are needed. It is crucial to place issues of vulnerability and resilience at the heart of planning and decisions about finance.

We launched a Call to Action on Access to Finance last year with Belize, Fiji and the Alliance of Small Island States, and we are now working to deliver its recommendations.

We are determined to address challenges around debt, eligibility criteria and bureaucracy.

This includes the potential use of Multi-dimensional Vulnerability Indices, and we are really looking forward to considering the conclusions of the High-Level Panel.

We urge financial institutions to consider how they can best factor vulnerability into their systems.

We know that too many SIDS face a cliff edge when they are no longer eligible for Official Development Assistance.

The Glasgow Climate Pact challenged us all to take this seriously.

The ODA criteria must reflect our discussions in Glasgow and take into account the unique challenges of vulnerable small states.

We must also improve the quality of finance and ensure that aid has the greatest possible impact.

This is why the UK, Canada, and the Alliance of Small Island States will launch a set of joint principles this year.

We will ask donors to tailor their approaches, and ensure they are backed by time, expertise and resources.

Meanwhile, the UK will continue to support SIDS through our £40 million programme, launched at COP26, to support your development goals.

And through our £36 million Sustainable Blue Economies programme launched by our Prime Minister at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

In these times of challenge, let us take the opportunity to turn ambition into action, supporting economies, protecting nature and boosting climate resilience.

Together we can forge a more prosperous and sustainable future.

Thank you.

July 11, 2022 – BCarbon, a Houston-based carbon credit registry, has issued its first international soil carbon credits in the United Kingdom.  These credits are the first in a major initiative to reverse climate change by using farmland to pull harmful carbon from the atmosphere.

Future Food Solutions has created the Futures Carbon Bank to sell credits on the voluntary carbon market. Working with the British Consulate in Houston, Future Foods also partnered with BCarbon, an independent verification body,  which was formed by a stakeholder group out of the Baker Institute at Rice University.

Under the carbon bank program, farmers are encouraged to grow cover crops that pull carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil while employing no-till practices. Increasingly popular in the UK, cover crops are planted between the regular food crop rotation so they don’t impact the amount of food UK farmers produce.

Unlike many carbon-credit programs, the credits awarded by BCarbon are for soil carbon management practices that actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the soil as organic carbon.  In this way, farmers can combat climate change while continuing to feed the world.

Carbon credit trading is expected to hit $50 billion by 2030, and the Future Food Solutions approach could unlock millions of tons of sequestered carbon credits by utilizing farmland around the world. Multinational information and analytics giant RELX bought the first tons of verified carbon credits, which were generated by a single farm on the Yorkshire Wolds in northeast England.

“This partnership with Future Food Solutions has been particularly exciting for BCarbon,” said Jim Blackburn, CEO of BCarbon. “We are today announcing our first international carbon credits in what we intend to be the first steps toward removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is, after all, the goal here.”

How This Partnership Occurred

The Science and Innovation Team at the British Consulate facilitated the relationship between Future Foods and BCarbon following a carbon credit stakeholder group at the Baker Institute at Rice University. The stakeholder group spawned the creation of BCarbon in 2021.

With the assistance of Richard Hyde, Her Majesty’s Consul General in Houston, Future Foods and BCarbon began a collaboration that led to the issuance of these carbon storage credits.

“Addressing the challenges of climate change requires an international approach,” said Consul General Hyde. “The Consulate in Houston has been proud to catalyse this collaboration between BCarbon and Future Food Solutions which models the innovative approach necessary to tackle our shared challenges.”

Steve Cann, a partner with Future Foods agreed, stating “Working with the team at BCarbon is a real trans-Atlantic technical partnership, resulting in farmers receiving credit for their positive actions in removing CO2 from the atmosphere and ultimately being part of the solution to climate change.”

How does it work?

Under the BCarbon program, Future Food Solutions conducts soil analysis before the cover crop is sown and then uses a series of rigorous tests to determine exactly how many tons of carbon have been removed from the atmosphere. Much of this field data has been acquired in conjunction with Yorkshire Water and Proagrica, who have partnered with Future Food Solutions on catchment scale farmer engagement programs in the UK.

Although sequestration will vary because of weather, cover crop and soil type, on average in the Yorkshire region, a hectare of cover crop and no-till farming will deliver 2-3 tons of carbon to trade. Upon measurement under the BCarbon system, project developers such as Future Foods and their farmers then receive money through the sale of their carbon credits.

Who buys the carbon?

The stored carbon is sold to major organizations looking to offset their carbon footprint. More than a third of the world’s largest publicly traded companies have already made net zero pledges and demand for quality carbon removal credits is increasing.

Steve Cann from Future Food Solutions says: “This is a step change in carbon removal providing a real opportunity for major organizations to reduce their carbon footprint. This approach also offers global reach as soil stock in all farming environments around the world could provide significant capacity to become a huge carbon sink.

“Farming has traditionally received bad press on carbon emissions, but this could change that. It means farmers in the UK and beyond can provide a solution to one of the biggest climate change issues, highlighted at COP26 in Glasgow.

“Plus, if we do it right, food gets better. Water and flood management improve because the cover crops transform below-ground soil structure, which in turn helps to reduce leaching and water run-off. Because CO2 is actually being sequestered back into the soil from the atmosphere, the planet starts to heal as well”.

“Everyone can contribute by eating smarter and actively choosing to buy food products sourced from land where this remedial process is being undertaken by farmers.”

First credits from Yorkshire

The first verified carbon credits have come from Tom Mellor’s farm high above Bridlington, in the North Yorkshire Wolds. Mellor says: “Farming is about achieving a balance, similar to the challenge the planet is facing, with regard to climate change. If we take out more than we put back in, future generations will pay the price.”

Tom also commented “Knowing now that farming can be the solution, not the problem, is encouraging us to rethink both our practices and mindset.”

The Sustainable Futures Carbon Bank aims initially to bring 10,000 carbon credits to the voluntary market in the coming months from other farms involved in the plan across the UK and EU but has big ambitions to tap into agricultural land across the world, freeing up millions of carbon credits to be traded with global brands.

BCarbon is a 501(c)(3) non-profit carbon credit registry formed from a stakeholder group at the Baker Institute at Rice University that is engaged in issuing carbon credits associated with soil sequestration, forest sequestration and coastal blue carbon protection and storage. https://bcarbon.org/.