Local Climate Academy / Summer 2026 / Council Officers Cohort

Inspire and support your council to take better climate action by joining the LCA.

INSPIRE AND SUPPORT YOUR COUNCIL TO TAKE BETTER CLIMATE ACTION

Climate Emergency UK's next online Local Climate Academy (LCA) will run weekly between 2nd June - 7th July 2026. The LCA has been designed to be informative and thought-provoking for council officers new to climate action as well as a refresher for more experienced officers.

While officers new to their role will benefit from our introduction to council powers and spheres of influence, more experienced officers will particularly benefit from the networking aspect and the action planning part of the training.

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What is the Local Climate Academy?

The Local Climate Academy runs online over six weeks. As an overview, sessions 1-3 focus on understanding how councils work, and the tools we have available to influence and create action, which you can apply to your setting. This will include getting familiar with the Scorecards website. Sessions 4-6 bring this knowledge all together by exploring examples and seeing how these may apply to your context.

Each week includes a 90-minute online interactive session with additional resources and reflection prompts shared between each week. We will be using google documents to support some of the activities, so having a set up where you can be on the call and see another website will be useful!

The time commitment for this course is 2 - 3 hours a week over a six-week period (including the live sessions). By applying for a place you are committing to attend all six 90-minute live sessions and to actively engage in the course.

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Some extras we include to support your journey...

Over the six weeks we will also offer 2 open sessions. These are optional spaces for you to ask any questions, have deeper conversations and to steer the course to what you need. The timings of these will be organised with the cohort, with the sessions running at different times to accommodate everyone who wants to take part.

You can also choose to be part of a buddy group during the course - connecting you to 2 or 3 others on the course to further discuss what you are learning and to share experiences.

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Who is the Local Climate Academy for?

This course has been specifically developed to support officers new to climate work in the council. However, it can also be useful for newly-elected and early career councillors as well. If you’re uncertain if this course is what you’re looking for, please get in touch with us at declare@climateemergency.uk

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How does the Local Climate Academy help?

We understand that councils can be held back from taking climate action by a lack of resources, staff not having the necessary skills and, often, a lack of political will. We recognise, too, that the lack of guidance and finance from the national government is challenging. The LCA course gives participants the tools to navigate this uncertainty and find ways for their council to take meaningful action despite these barriers.

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What previous participants have said:

"It's been a really interesting training. It's shown I can learn more to understand other council services and building relationships with them to find out what work is happening." - Sarah, Council Officer

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"Due to the LCA I've made connections with other local councils. I saw one of our neighbours had scored well on the green space factor question, so I ended up meeting the guys there to talk about it." - Stuart Baldwin, Bridgend County Borough Council

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“I enjoyed meeting new people and speaking with new others working in a similar field/people that share similar aspirations to supporting climate action. The content was really educational for me as someone new in my role.” - Laila, Council Officer
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Using Climate Action Scorecards

Climate Emergency UK created the Council Climate Action Scorecards which assess every UK council on its environmental performance. The Scorecards are used in the Academy’s courses to understand current council climate action. We will have a chance to explore the scorecards and see some examples of action from some of the seven Scorecard sections: Buildings and Heating, Transport, Planning, Biodiversity, Collaboration and Engagement, Governance and Finance and Waste Reduction and Food.

Session dates

Live sessions will take place on:

• Tuesday 2nd June | 09:00 - 10:30 | Getting Started
• Tuesday 9th June | 09:00 - 10:30 | Working and Communicating Within Councils
• Tuesday 16th June | 09:00 - 10:30 | The Scorecards
• Tuesday 23rd June | 09:00 - 10:30 | Scorecards in Action: Deep Dive p.1
• Tuesday 30th June | 09:00 - 10:30 | Scorecards in Action: Deep Dive p.2
• Tuesday 7th July | 09:00 - 10:30 | Going Forwards

As an overview, sessions 1-3 focus on understanding how councils work, and the tools we have available to influence and create action. This will include getting familiar with the Scorecards website. Sessions 4-6 bring this knowledge all together by exploring examples and seeing how these may apply to your context.
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Tickets

We are able to offer a heavily subsidised ticket cost of £75 per person*. This includes:

• 6 x 90-minute live and interactive sessions, with follow up resources and recordings.
• 2 x 1-hour open sessions where you can bring your questions, concerns and thoughts for deeper discussion and network with your cohort. The times of these will be chosen with the cohort.
• Support from the Climate Emergency UK team on your learning journey.
• A completion certificate if you attend at least four live sessions and submit your completed action plan that you will work on through the course.

If you have more than one person signing up from your team we offer further discounts. If two people are signing up it is £120 (£60pp) and for larger groups, get in touch at declare@climateemergency.uk

*The commercial rate for attending the LCA is £300 per person. As a CIC, we do everything we can to keep our training accessible and take into account the difficult financial context local governments operate in.
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Please get in touch!

If you have any questions about the Local Climate Academy or are wondering whether it might be right for you, contact us at declare@climateemergency.uk