University honours climate campaigner

A climate campaigner who has helped nearly 10,000 UK schools work towards net zero has received an honorary degree from the University of Reading.

Alex Green, Head of Let's Go Zero at climate charity Ashden, received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in a ceremony on Thursday 23 July.

Green studied Geography at the University of Leeds before working at Kent County Council and the Environment Agency. She joined Ashden in 2013, where she launched a schools programme called Less CO2, visiting schools and advising them on sustainability action.

Following the student climate strikes of 2019, Green built a new campaign called Let's Go Zero, supporting UK schools to pledge to be net zero by 2030. The campaign grew quickly, with more than a thousand schools signing up within months. Nearly 10,000 schools are now members, making it the largest schools climate campaign in the UK.

In 2023, Green launched the Climate Action Advisors programme with funding from Green Future Investments, recruiting a team of more than 30 advisors to help nurseries, schools and colleges across England build and deliver climate action plans. More than 5,500 education settings have benefited from the programme, which is now central to the Great British Energy schools initiative bringing solar power to school roofs.

She holds a Master's in Environmental Management from the University of Cape Town.

Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, Head of the School of Mathematical, Physical & Computational Sciences at the University of Reading, said: "Anyone who has worked with Alex will tell you that she is a brilliant, trusted collaborator. Bring her a wild idea, show her how it helps make a school, a nursery or a college a better, greener place to work and learn, and she will find a way to make it happen.

"More than half of schools in England are now taking climate and nature action, thanks to Alex’s tireless enthusiasm. Her example proves that hard work and dedication can lead to real, measurable change that benefits us all.”