Building Effective Relationships with your MP

How can you build relationships with policy-makers for effective change? Are you interested in protecting forests, and learning about how you can raise the subject with your MP effectively? Sign up to find out!

This free relationship-building training from climate communications specialists, Hope for the Future, in collaboration with the Biofuelwatch and Cut Carbon Not Forests, will provide you with the tools to communicate the urgency of climate change to politicians and decision-makers.

Biofuelwatch, part of the Cut Carbon Not Forests Coalition, is asking MPs to help protect forests around the world by redirecting over £1 billion in UK renewable subsidies from biomass burning to genuinely renewable wind and solar power.

Hope for the Future is a climate charity which works to equip communities, groups and individuals across the country to communicate the urgency of climate change with their local politicians. Our vision is to see communities and their elected representatives across the UK come together to take decisive action on climate change.

Based on our 7 years experience engaging MPs, this training provides you with the skills to build strong relationships with your elected representatives on climate change, with a particular focus on diverting subsidies towards renewable energy. Whether you've never engaged your MP before or if you're a seasoned campaigner, this training is for you.

In this 1 hour online training session, we will offer you tried and tested advice to help you be most effective in engaging with your MP, including:

• A short introduction to the impacts of industrial biomass burning, Biofuelwatch's work and the Cut Carbon Not Forests campaign
• Working with MPs of different political persuasions
• Finding common ground between MPs and campaigners
• Framing your ‘ask’ for the best response
• Choosing which issues to raise with MPs
• Case Studies – previous stories of engagement
• Maintaining a thriving relationship with your MP

This training workshop is open to all. No prior knowledge needed.

You can learn more about Biofuelwatch here. You can sign up to an information webinar the week before this one, on 16th September, hosted by Biofuelwatch and Cut Carbon Not Forests. The webinar will explore the impacts of UK wood burning on forests and communities around the world, and discuss how we can all stand up for forests through the Cut Carbon Not Forests campaign.