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Pride in London, the capital’s third largest annual event, is releasing the findings of its first parade consultation today, including a commitment to offset all carbon emissions from vehicles in the parade.

The LGBT+ organisation’s move towards decarbonisation will see parade groups pushed to reduce their emissions wherever possible, only using vehicles where necessary for access requirements or being charged a carbon offset contribution in order to use a fossil fuel-based vehicle. Pride in London will be working with Gold Standard – as recommended by WWF UK – to contribute to a widely-recognised, auditable carbon offset scheme. It is estimated that the Pride in London parade already takes thousands of vehicles off the capital’s roads each year.

Following the consultation, Pride in London will also introduce a new parade charter around sustainability, which all partaking groups will be required to sign. As with the existing code of conduct, groups who do not meet the organisation’s values on key issues – including the environment – will not be able to take part in the parade.

Beyond sustainability, the organisation will also be conducting a pricing review to recognise the unique status of LGBT+-run events and businesses, who fall between the existing parade group categories of small businesses and non-profits. Pride in London will continue to maintain low prices for community groups, starting at as little as £1 per wristband for non-profits. Additionally, Pride in London will continue to set aside the majority of places in the parade for community groups, with any spare wristbands from this allocation being made available to others if they are not used by the community groups.

 

To further help support community organisations, Pride in London is also exploring a ‘buddy’ programme for next year’s parade, inviting corporate groups to contribute towards the entry fee of a community group who might otherwise not be able to take part.

Siobhan Linard, Director of Operations at Pride in London, said: “We’re extremely grateful to all those who took part in our parade consultation, as it’s helped us identify several key areas that we need to focus on for 2020 and beyond. Minority groups are disproportionately affected by the climate emergency and we’re therefore introducing major changes to the parade to move us towards decarbonisation. This comes alongside changes to our parade group pricing structure and ring-fencing more places for smaller organisations – both helping to keep Pride as accessible as possible for our community groups.

“We’re aware there’s still more work to be done, and this is just the beginning. We’ll be holding another consultation next year to hear from the community, our partners and our volunteers once again, helping us understand where we can make even more progress in years to come.”

Pride in London declared a climate emergency in June 2019 and constantly reviews its impact across all areas of the parade. The organisation banned plastic glitter across the parade and other events in 2017, and works to promote the Refill app to minimise the use of single-use water bottles.

Applications for groups to take part in the 2020 Pride in London parade will open in the New Year.

 

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