The Climate Crisis is already affecting large parts of the world, including upland and mountain areas that we love and which form the basis of our outdoor activities. As climbers, walkers and mountaineers, we all have a responsibility to try and reduce our impact.

Today is Earth Day and now more than ever we mustn't forget the deeper environmental emergency facing the planet, even during this ongoing pandemic.

READ: Our BMC climate emergency declaration

Why is the BMC tackling the Climate Crisis?

We only have 10 years to limit global heating and avoid a climate breakdown; ultimately the outdoor experience is set to change. Already we are seeing the loss of Alpine climbing, European ski touring, and even the deterioration of limestone crags. Changes in rainfall, melting permafrost and the increasing number of extreme weather events is evidence of what’s to continue. We are the last generation that can stop the devastating effects of the climate crisis.

Spring 2020 Issue of BMC Summit Magazine. Photo by Jethro Kiernan. 

BMC Climate Crisis Declaration

The BMC has declared a climate emergency and sets out our commitment to tackle the issue now and in the coming years. 

We're also working with government and partner organisations to bring forward policies to reduce UK emissions in line with national targets.

READ: Our BMC climate emergency declaration

How the BMC and its members are tackling the climate crisis

The BMC in 2020 and beyond is launching a range of ways to highlight and act against the climate crisis and reduce our impact on the environment under the banner, The Climate Project. This will be an ongoing campaign of changing mindsets and embedding good decisions and choices into everyday activities.

Support peatland restoration in the UK 

One of the key things we have recently launched is to offer our members the opportunity to support a climate crisis project in the UK at the point of purchasing travel insurance and when they take our BMC membership – you can choose to donate from £5 to £10,000.

Working in partnership with Moors for the Future, we are teaming up for an innovative way to support a carbon capture project. Your money will go back into helping restore our peatlands in the Peak District which are amongst the most important in capturing and storing carbon. They in fact store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.

READ: The BMC launched The Climate Project

The money raised through our Climate Project will be used specifically to help purchase and transplant peat-forming Sphagnum mosses onto bare ground to help fight erosion.

By conserving, protecting and restoring peatlands globally, we can reduce emissions and revive an essential ecosystem that provides many services, for people, the planet and the climate.

What else?

• We’re offsetting all our HQ operations and will be carbon neutral by the end of 2020
• We are also working with Montane who have launched a new range of Montane X BMC clothing, with 5% of profits from UK sales funding The Climate Project
• The BMC HQ are already single-use plastic free – we have just applied for an industry commitment mark
• The BMC shop is 100% ethical
• We will be hosting a lift share site to crags and events…coming soon
• We offer our members a £50 incentive to transfer to the Green Energy Provider Octopus
• We will be hosting a recycling centre where you will be able to find out where to recycle all of your old gear and in some instances, get it repaired.
• We’re running a series of articles in Summit and online about the best of British venues (we’re calling it Climb Britain). 
• We will be producing a series of articles on low carbon travel plans and being environmentally conscious
• We’re encouraging all members to opt out of printed Summit magazines.
• We are continuing with our Hills 2 Oceans campaign to encourage as many people as possible to reduce the amount of litter that ends up in our oceans. 
• We will be working in partnership with other organisations on a number of other initiatives throughout 2020 and 2021 including collecting together photographic evidence of receding glaciers and changing landscapes.

It is our hope that by raising the issue and by leading the way, we will inspire others to want to make changes. Ten years from now the world will look a very different place and ‘we’ will likely have very different priorities. The BMC is very much at the start of this journey but we hope it will gain momentum throughout the year and more and more of us will be thinking about our own personal choices that might be contributing to the climate crisis.

The Climate Project: It costs £25 to plant one square metre of sphagnum and create a healthy moor

Make a real difference: www.theclimateproject.co.uk

The Climate Project is a campaign by the Access and Conservation Trust (ACT) of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC).

Thanks to Montane, Cotswold Outdoor and Snow + Rock 

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