This Friday, September 20th, three days before the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York, young people and adults will strike across the world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis. Millions of people will take to the streets, including London, to demand a right to a future. I would encourage all those employers out there to allow anyone who works for you to join a strike.

On 1st May this year, the government declared a climate emergency, yet absolutely nothing has happened since then. In fact, the current minority government has even been talking about reducing fuel duty on diesel and petrol, presumably to garner more votes at the forthcoming election. We should be holding our government to account; they have declared an emergency, please do ask your local MP what they are doing about it. Brexit may seem like the most important issue at present, but for our planet it is an irrelevance.

Several companies, including Cotswold Fayre, have also declared a Climate Emergency. And unlike the government, they, and we, are doing something about it. We announced carbon neutrality last month and are working with our food and logistics suppliers to further reduce carbon, so our offset is less of a percentage of the neutrality. If we can do it, moving nearly a million cases around the UK every year, then becoming carbon neutral is within the reach of most within the sector. 

So please look at this and make it is central part of your company policy for the coming year. Your people will be thankful, so will your children and you will be a pioneer, respected by others. What’s more, our planet nay be brought back from the brink.