LAST week I had the privilege of representing St Helens at the historic climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow.

As the Liverpool City Region lead for Climate Emergency and Renewable Energy I had meetings with regional, national and international partners and stakeholders to discuss a range of common issues, and I spoke at an event to highlight Glass Futures – the world-leading transformational project being built right here and now in St Helens next to Saints’ stadium.

In fact, an information stand about the Glass Futures project and featuring our proud name of St Helens is among the first thing visitors see when entering the Green Zone exhibition area at COP26.

It is fantastic for St Helens to be in this position, showing the world how we’re leading the way and working in partnership with industry to deliver this important project and tackle climate change.

I also hosted an event to promote the exciting Mersey Tidal project which is being developed by the City Region and which has the potential to completely transform the way our energy is provided here on Merseyside.

Guests at our event included representatives from Korean company K-Water which has successfully delivered the world’s largest tidal energy project in Sihwa Lake, Korea. It’s our intention to continue discussions with these and others as work continues to bring the project to fruition.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram is attending the conference this week to continue the discussions.

I left COP26 feeling confident that St Helens and our region are in an excellent position to seize the opportunities to create new green jobs, new sustainable homes, and new cleaner transport – all to help us not just reach net zero, but to create a more equal and sustainable economy to benefit the many not the few.

We’re taking further steps locally too. Last week my colleagues Cllr Mancyia Uddin (our council’s first Climate Change Champion) and Cllr Robyn Hattersley brought a motion to full council committing us to further action, and this week Cabinet will be asked to agree our new Climate Change response plan and to approve the purchase of the UK’s first custom built hydrogen-fuelled waste vehicle.

There’s a huge amount still to do and the road ahead isn’t easy, but there’s no question we’re leading the way and should be proud.

Best wishes to all Star readers.