Poynton students help shape solutions for net-zero

Two students from Poynton High School have taken part in a national summit to explore ways engineers can help the UK meet net zero carbon goals.

A Year 9 and a Year 13 pupil from the school took part in the Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Schools COP Summit, which brought together over 50 young people from across the UK to learn how the engineering sector is at the heart of addressing the climate crisis.

At the summit, students heard from inspirational engineers reducing the impact of climate change, before taking part in discussions mirroring those taking place next week at the global COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. Participants brainstormed ideas for how engineering can reduce the carbon footprint of the UK and how they can make an impact on reaching net zero themselves.

Mrs Burdett, Teacher in Product Design, at Poynton High School said: 

“This was such an incredible experience for the students to be part of, to be able to put forward their opinions and discuss these with others was both confidence building and helped them progress in their thinking about climate change and engineering.”

Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, which organises Tomorrow’s Engineers Week said: 

“We really appreciated students from Poynton High School sharing their thoughts with us at the Schools COP Summit as part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week.  

“Achieving net zero is so important for the next generation and hearing directly from young people about how they see engineering behind the solutions was heartening.  

“Engineers will be central to finding solutions to the climate emergency we are all facing. We need more engineers to bring their perspectives and skills together to help us work out how to generate affordable and sustainable energy, predict and address extreme weather events and prepare our cities for the future.”

The Schools COP Summit is part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, which highlights to young people that engineering is a creative, problem solving, exciting career that improves the world around us and is playing an active part in achieving net zero.  

The Summit will be available for all schools to watch from Monday 8 November and help them to host their own discussions with students. A nationwide poll of schools will then reveal the most popular recommendations on how to achieve net zero.