Businesses across Oxfordshire are being offered carbon reduction workshops and practical net zero advice until the end of COP26 in November.

The workshops will be provided by Planet Mark – a leading sustainability and net zero certification group that usually works with companies like Centrica and Charles Tyrwhitt – and forms part of the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign.

In the UK, the Race to Zero effort is being coordinated by Kwasi Kwarteng’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department working with Local Authorities, Planet Mark, the Institute of Directors, and others.

It is the Government’s flagship campaign to raise awareness among the business community about the urgent need for firms to cut their carbon emissions.

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This phase of the campaign will see Planet Mark’s fully electric powered battle bus – which also made the trip to Cornwall for the G7 conference – visit 30 towns and cities across the UK.

The tour will visit Rose Hill Community Centre in Oxford on Tuesday, September 7 and finish in Glasgow for COP26.

At each bus tour location Planet Mark’s team will demonstrate how businesses can set their own credible carbon reduction targets and implement plans to achieve them in line with the

Race to Zero’s rigorous minimum criteria. The tour will empower British firms and their employees to become part of a greater national effort to protect our environment by demystifying what is needed to achieve net zero. It will also highlight the good work many companies are already doing to address their carbon output.

UK Net Zero Business Champion Andrew Griffith said: “The UK-hosted COP26 Climate Summit is the tip of a pyramid of activity that involves us all. World leaders getting together

and finding agreement is crucial but equally important are the small changes made by each of us.

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“What I find businesses need more than anything is practical advice. They want to change and many are already doing so. They also recognise there are big opportunities for themselves and for the UK in moving to a low carbon economy. That’s why the Zero Carbon electric bus tour is a great initiative.”

Steve Malkin, founder and CEO of Planet Mark, said: “Action must be taken now by all businesses, from the very largest to the very smallest, to support the UK’s net zero transition. COP26 puts the UK at the heart of the battle to reduce global emissions and our electric bus tour will provide thousands of British firms with the practical tools and resources they need to tackle the climate emergency.”