St Helens Council Leader David Baines has this week been at COP26, the landmark climate change conference taking place in Glasgow.

David says: “It was a privilege to represent St Helens and the City Region at COP26.

As the City Region portfolio holder for Climate Emergency and Renewable Energy I had meetings with regional, national and international partners and stakeholders to discuss a range of common issues and challenges. I also spoke at an event to highlight Glass Futures with attendees from regional and national partners: https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/st-helens-ground-breaking-glass-futures-takes-the-stage-at-cop26/ and at an event to promote the Mersey Tidal project with guests including representative from K-Water who have successfully built a tidal energy project in Korea: https://www.facebook.com/lpoolcityregion/photos/a.746515595531808/1758224971027527. It’s the intention of the CA to continue discussions with these and others as work continues to bring the project to fruition.

The Glass Futures project and St Helens is the first thing visitors see when entering the Green Zone exhibition zone at COP26:

It is fantastic for St Helens and our region to be in this position, showing the world how we’re leading the way and working in partnership with industry to deliver this transformational project and tackle climate change.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram will be attending the conference next week to continue the discussions.

I left the conference feeling confident that St Helens and our region are in an excellent position to seize the opportunities to create new green jobs, new sustainable homes, and new cleaner transport – all to help us not just reach net zero, but to create a more equal and sustainable economy to benefit the many not the few.”

Find out more about our work to tackle climate change: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/climatechange/