The first-ever community-led climate summit was declared a success - although there was a disagreement at the end over a commitment to take action.

Dorset COP, a carbon-neutral event held at the Corn Exchange in Dorchester, hosted a variety of workshops and keynote speakers, welcoming visitors from across the county. 

Zero Carbon Dorset, Dorset Climate Action Network (Dorset CAN) and Sustainable Dorset, three of Dorset’s leading climate action groups, came together to organise the event, hoping to raise awareness of the need and desire to act locally to climate change.  

Jenny Morisetti, the Chair of Sustainable Dorset said: “The event was a huge success with over 100 businesses and organisations in attendance.

"It was gratifying to see so many people from our county coming together to support the fight against climate change and work towards a greener Dorset."

A series of talks, workshops, short talks, panel discussions and break-out workshops took place throughout the day with speakers including Laura Baldwin, environmental campaigner and former Olympian who opened the event, Founder of Future Earth, Catherine Allinson, Prof. Rick Stafford, Marine Biologist from Bournemouth University, as well as a surprise comment from Bournemouth East MP, Tobias Ellwood, the only MP from Dorset to attend the event. 

Dorset Echo: Bournemouth MP Tobias Ellwood made a surprise appearance at Dorset COPBournemouth MP Tobias Ellwood made a surprise appearance at Dorset COP (Image: Ben Tettmar)Dorset Echo: The Bournemouth MP also made an impromptu speech to the crowd at the climate summitThe Bournemouth MP also made an impromptu speech to the crowd at the climate summit (Image: Ben Tettmar)

The day closed with discussions over the powerful ‘Dorchester Declaration’ set to be a commitment to act, advocate, and lobby for action on climate change and the environment across the county.

The Declaration however was not completed on the day as not everyone agreed with the wording, most noticeably young climate activist, Louis McKechnie, who said that he would not put his name to something that did not demand immediate action.

Dorset Echo: Climate activist Louis McKechnie would not sign the declaration as it did not commit to immediate actionClimate activist Louis McKechnie would not sign the declaration as it did not commit to immediate action (Image: Ben Tettmar)

Giles Watts, a coordinator with Dorset Climate Action Network said: “COPs have traditionally found it difficult to find a wording to official texts which are universally agreed - and the Dorset COP was no exception.

"Nevertheless, there were some good suggestions as to how the text could be improved in the future and many people were still prepared to sign it."

Co-founder of Zero Carbon Dorset, Dr Neil Smith, commented: “We’ve been overwhelmed with positive feedback following Saturday’s event and are extremely pleased with how the day went. 

We now need to make sure this conference has a long-term impact for Dorset and will work hard to make sure the power of so many people and organisations remains focussed on delivering a greener and cleaner Dorset."