Joining the GMCA Green Summit

In its fifth year, Greater Manchester’s Green Summit 2022 was held at the Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays on Monday 17 October, hosted by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.

This year, the summit sought input from businesses, policymakers, local communities and industry on how the city-region should accelerate action on its five-year environment plan, rising to the key environmental challenges facing it from implementing new policy and future innovations to industry adaptation and individual lifestyle changes.

With a focus on engaging young people around climate chang, a youth-specific event was also run in parallel.

The Green Summit offers a great opportunity to meet and network with people who are determined to drive change and help the city-region meet its ambitious goals for the environment, with networking and exhibition stands open throughout the event.

Hannah Baron, Adam Peirce, Michaela Kiernan and Michelle Ledward manned the SMI Hub exhibition stand, available to engage with Greater Manchester business, and talking about It’s Not Easy Being Green, our newest Sustainability Workshop

SMI Hub Director, Professor Michael Shaver, joined the Circular Economy & Waste panel session, chaired by Dr Adam Read, External Affairs Director, Suez Recycling and Recovery UK. The audience heard about the latest progress against the five main themes of Greater Manchester’s Five-Year Environment Plan, including where we are now, where we need to be, the barriers to accelerating change, and the emerging solutions that can help us reach our goals. Michael was joined on the panel byby Rhiannon Hunt, Project Manager for Circular Economy, Manchester Metropolitan University, Corin Bell, Director, Open Kitchen MCR, and John Wrigley, Regional Director, Suez recycling and recovery UK.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said:

“The Green Summit has grown and developed year-on-year and this leadership and collective responsibility is a big reason why Manchester is quickly becoming the UK’s leading green city.

“This year, people are worried about how they will afford to heat and power their homes or pay for basics such as food or travel. Our focus at this year’s summit was on delivering the right solutions – such as retrofitting homes so they are more energy efficient and making public transport more affordable – which not only make Greater Manchester a greener place, but will make life fairer and more affordable for our people too.”