This includes commitments to reduce emissions, improve environmental sustainability and support Nottingham’s aims to be a net zero carbon city, but we need your help.

COP26 starts in Glasgow on Monday 1 November. Global leaders will come together to act on climate change and commit to new carbon reduction targets to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees. The message of the United Nations conference is clear: We must act now, and act together.

Find out more about the goals of COP26

What this means for the university, and for you

We’re committed to our university being truly sustainable. We want to slash our carbon emissions by more than half by 2030, and we need everyone to join us in getting there. Even the smallest actions add up to big impacts. Whether that be taking responsibility to reduce energy, or choosing to travel to the university in a more sustainable way. Every change we make takes us closer to our goal.

Throughout COP26 we are highlighting how our staff and students can get involved and make a difference. There are events, activities and opportunities to take part in, starting this Friday, 29 October with an online Low-waste Living Workshop.

See the full list of events.

There are a few things everyone can do:

1. Calculate your environmental footprint
   Have you ever calculated your carbon footprint? You may be surprised which areas of your life have the biggest environmental impact and there may be small changes you can easily make to make a difference today.
   
   Calculate your footprint.
   
   
2. Sustainable living guide
   To help, we’ve pulled together a guide to get you started with what you can do to take action to live more sustainably every day.
   
   View the guide
   
   
3. Green Rewards
   Log the changes you make on the Green Rewards app and you could earn prizes and donations to charity. Throughout November you’ll also be able to find out more about COP26 and make your own sustainable pledge.
   
   Sign up now
   
   
4. go! Switch Off
   Join in with our energy saving campaign go! Switch Off. Wherever you live, take part in activities to help you save energy, water and recycle better. For students in university catered halls there will be a competition and a prize for the hall that performs the best over a two-week period. We’re currently recruiting halls residents to become go! switch off champions.
   
   Find out more
   
   
5. Talk about it
   Most importantly, whatever you are doing and whatever positive changes you make, talk about it. You may feel your individual actions don’t amount to much and real system change is what’s needed. But sharing with and learning from others means our collective changes will have increasing circles of influence and can eventually affect larger systems and policies.

Head to our webpages to find out more about sustainability at Nottingham, watch our go! animation and see how else you can get involved.

Researchers from UoN will be attending COP26 and are sharing blogs, podcasts and insights into their climate change work. You can find these on our COP26 web pages, and can follow the campaign on social media, including Twitter (@UoNresearch and @UoN_Institute).