Global Action Plan host parliamentary event in partnership with NGO CLASP
Global Action Plan hosted a Parliamentary event on Tuesday 20 May to talk to stakeholders across the domestic cooking space including policymakers, industry, academia, local government, health and NGOs. The core theme was the challenges and solutions in transitioning gas to electric cooking in the UK.
In addition, Global Action Plan welcomed several MPs and Lords to the reception in partnership with international NGO CLASP and sponsored by Afzal Khan MP.
Global Action Plan and CLASP have collaborated on a groundbreaking policy pathway paper, assessing the steps needed to accelerate the transition for health, energy efficiency and carbon savings.
With around half of all homes in the UK still cooking on gas and significant health impacts associated with this cooking method, it is imperative that policy makers act to tackle this largely unaddressed issue.
The paper is supported by a retrofit project, transitioning 10 houses on the Arrowfield Estate in Manchester from their gas cookers to electric freestanding cookers with induction hobs.
Basic air quality monitoring took place before and after, and the stories of transition were captured in a series of short films.
All residents preferred their new cookers and it was a quick, easy transition. It is hoped that local authorities across the country will be able to adopt and expand similar projects.
Attendees at the parliamentary event heard first from an academic panel on the problems of gas cooking, chaired by Larissa Lockwood, Global Action Plan’s Director of Policy and Campaigns. It comprised of Dr Juana Maria Delgado Saborit of Juame Universitat I (Spain), Eric Lebel PhD and Yannai Kashtan PhD of PSE Healthy Energy, (USA) and Nicole Kearney, Director of CLASP Europe.
Secondly, Dr Malcolm White and Natalie Johnson of Global Action Plan detailed the policy pathways to transition gas to electric cooking in the UK and reflected on our recent gas to electric cooking project in Manchester. The audience then enjoyed one of the videos, detailing reflections from residents on their transition from gas to electric cooking.
A second panel, chaired by Cristina Pricop from CLASP, explored the wider housing sector’s reflections on the policy pathways to clean cooking. The panellists were Ed Green, Director of Sustainability for Grosvenor Properties UK, Rory Mathews, Senior Policy and Partnerships Officer (Low Carbon) for Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Steve Guppy, Senior Sustainability Manager for B&Q and Paul Hide, CEO of AMDEA.
Afzal Khan MP for Manchester Rusholme and Clean Air Champion closed the event and spoke about how air pollution affects people in his local area.