From A to B: Carbon Free

Councillor Waseem Zaffar was for many years a local magistrate, as well as the CEO of a local not-for-profit organisation and has had his community work recognised by a number of awards including an MBE for services to the voluntary sector.

In May 2018, Councillor Zaffar was appointed Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Birmingham City Council. This brings together the responsibilities for: sustainable transport policy and strategy to improve connectivity and safety across all modes of travel; while working with partners to develop liveability and environmental improvement for Birmingham.

Always a proud Brummie, Waseem developed the successful Birmingham Heritage Week which has just completed its third year. The project promotes the Birmingham Story over many years and the learning, achievements and contributions of the communities that have come, gone and stayed in diverse Birmingham.

Adam is the Bicycle Mayor for Coventry, an independent, voluntary role which helps coordinate between existing cyclists, the community, government, and nonprofits to make cycling better in Coventry. He is the first Bicycle Mayor in a UK city - the programme founded in Amsterdam where it is supported by the city government.

Adam Tranter is the CEO of communications agency Fusion Media, specialising in comms around cycling and active travel. He also co-hosts the Streets Ahead podcast on active travel and liveable streets.

Dr Ian Philips’ research interests focus on place-based approaches to equitable transport carbon reduction.

He has expertise in the use of spatial data analysis to inform sustainable transport planning and is currently engaged in an ESRC research fellowship funded under the National Productivity Innovation Fund. Recent work on this project includes building quick and easy to use tools to identify potential impacts of all-inclusive MaaS taxis in Mobility as a Service schemes on other modes and mapping the capability of e-bikes to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions.

He is also currently contributing to work on shared mobility and the use of car clubs. Ian has worked on projects mapping where people are most economically vulnerable to car dependence, the social impacts of transport schemes and estimating who could get to work by walking or cycling in a major crisis. He is a member of the Transport Social and Political Sciences and Energy and Climate Change research groups at the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.

Jools is an expert in, and passionate about, sustainability, community engagement, and achieving positive change from the grassroots. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in third sector communications, campaigns and engagement, especially supporting community-led action on sustainable travel and mobility.

Jools is chief executive of the Community Rail Network, a national organisation that supports and champions the community rail movement: 1,000+ community-based partnerships and groups that engage local people in connection with their railways. These groups promote sustainable and healthy travel, enable communities to have a voice in rail and transport development, and create more inclusive, connected communities – working alongside industry, local authorities and other partners.

Jools worked for 10 years at Brake, the road safety charity, leading influential campaigns and events, and headed up communications and policy at regional charities Better Start Bradford and East Thames Group.

She has also held various voluntary roles promoting sustainability, including chairing Streatham Common Community Garden, and is a village councilor, serving one of Yorkshire’s first rural communities to declare a climate emergency.

Jools has a Master’s in Political Communication, in which she studied how the community and voluntary sector can affect change on sustainability, and Bachelor’s in English. Jools loves being outdoors, walking, trail running and gardening.

Dan Raven-Ellison is a Guerrilla Geographer and National Geographic Explorer. Dan's work focuses on using creative exploration to communicate challenging ideas. He's the founder of the successful campaign to make London a National Park City, director of the film The UK in 100 Seconds and kick started the Slow Ways project to create a new network of walking routes for Great Britain - which he will be sharing with us on Wednesday.

Ric Casale is one of the founding trustees of Carbon Copy – a solutions hub that helps bring together the initiatives needed to accelerate climate action, connecting local communities, councils and companies who share the goal of a carbon zero future. He is an entrepreneur with a track record in taking ventures from concept to market. Ric has studied renewable energy with the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) and urbanism at London School of Economics. He is the author of "Civic Revolution. A Citizen's Guide" about the power of place-based civic action in leading transformative environmental change.

As the host of this event series on accelerating local climate action collectively, Ric would like us to be inspired by the variety of practical projects and the different ways people collaborate to get things done.