Who we are
The South East Climate Alliance (SECA) is a coalition of local environmental, community and faith groups from the South East of England uniting for urgent action on climate change and biodiversity loss. It acts as an informal umbrella group and has been set up to share ideas and coordinate action. Click on the video for a short introduction on how we were formed, and what we do.
Our focus
SECA’s initial goal was to encourage councils in the South East to declare a climate emergency. This page explains the background to the climate emergency movement and why we felt this was such an important step. With every council in the area having now declared a climate emergency, or passed a meaningful climate motion, the focus of our efforts is evolving.
We are concentrating in two main areas:
1. Keeping up pressure on councils for climate action: Having declared emergencies it is now crucial that councils turn their words into action. We think that SECA can help this process by keeping an overview of what’s happening in councils in the South East, and supporting ongoing lobbying of local councils by our member groups. Ideas raised included tracking council actions, showcasing good practice and innovative ideas, creating a lobbying toolkit for SECA member groups, organising training and workshops, and coordinating media campaigns. When engaging with councils, in some cases a trusted partner or ‘critical friend’ role will be most effective; in others, more of a watchdog role may be needed. We will play this by ear, depending on the local situation.
2. Building on the network we’ve created: The Alliance has grown from 14 members at the outset to more than 100 member groups. This strength in numbers is probably our biggest asset. Many member groups have commented how they feel emboldened by being part of a wider network with similar aims. We will be looking for ways to help SECA members link up, share ideas, and be more effective together in catalysing climate action. Groups affiliated with SECA remain autonomous, and continue to take their own decisions. Some adopt traditional community organising approaches; others may prefer a non-violent direct action approach, as is being championed by the Extinction Rebellion movement. SECA is not affiliated to any political party and takes a deliberately cross-party approach in our campaigning as we believe the issue of climate change goes way beyond party politics.
Member organisations
SECA is made up of environmental, community and faith groups from across Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, and Kent, plus some national supporters, and we’ve now passed the 100 member milestone. Current membership includes (click on the organisation names to link through to their websites or Facebook pages):
Hampshire/Isle of Wight
- Alton Climate Action Network
- Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth
- Extinction Rebellion Isle of Wight
- Extinction Rebellion Petersfield
- Friends of the Earth – Gosport and Fareham
- Friends of the Earth – Havant & East Hampshire
- Friends of the Earth – New Forest
- Greening Campaign
- Hampshire Climate Action Network
- Havant Climate Alliance
- Petersfield Climate Action Network (PeCAN)
- Southampton Climate Action Network
- Sustainability Centre East Meon
- Winchester Action on Climate Change
- Yateley Climate Action Network (YCAN)
West Sussex
- Amberley Climate Network
- Ardingly Climate Action
- Arun Countryside Trust
- Arun & Rother Rivers Trust
- Chichester Repair Café
- Christ’s Hospital Eco Rangers
- Climate Resilience cEntre Worthing (CREW)
- Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions (CAGNE)
- EcoChi
- EcoChurch – St Marks Church Holbrook
- Eco Rother Action
- Extinction Rebellion Arun Valley
- Extinction Rebellion Chichester
- Extinction Rebellion Crawley
- Extinction Rebellion Horsham
- Extinction Rebellion Mid-Sussex
- Extinction Rebellion Petersfield
- Extinction Rebellion Worthing
- Eyes of Gaia
- Fairer World Lindfield
- Fingerprints not Footprints (Chatsmore High School, Goring)
- Greener Graffham
- Greening Steyning
- Greening Westbourne
- Green Tides
- Horsham Churches Together
- Horsham District Cycle Forum
- Horsham Eco Churches
- Horsham Repair Café
- Keep Kirdford and Wisborough Green
- Kinder Living
- Meadow Blue Community Energy
- No Incinerator 4 Horsham Community Group
- Nuthurst Carbon Busters
- Refill Horsham District
- Repower Balcombe
- Scaynes Hill Sustainability Group
- Storrington & Arun Valley Regional Group (Sussex Wildlife Trust)
- Storrington Community Partnership
- Sussex Green Living
- Sussex Green Living Youth Eco Forum
- Transition Chichester
- HKD Transition (Hassocks, Hurst, Keymer, Ditchling Transition)
- Transition Horsham
- Transition Town Shoreham
- Transition Town Worthing
- The Wiggonholt Association
- West Sussex Cycle Forum
- Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC)
- Worthing Climate Action Network
- Worthing Repair Café
- Your Better Nature
East Sussex
- Brighthelm Church and Community Centre
- Brighton Energy Coop
- Brighton and Hove Energy Services Co-op
- Brighton and Hove Mothers’ Climate Action Network
- Compost Club
- Cuckmere Community Solar
- Divest East Sussex
- East Sussex Federation of Women’s Institutes
- Energise Sussex Coast
- Extinction Rebellion Eastbourne & Hailsham
- Extinction Rebellion Lewes
- Friends of the Earth – Brighton & Hove
- Friends of the Earth – Eastbourne
- Fruganomics
- Greener Cuckfield
- Greenhaven Network
- Hanover Action – Brighton
- Lewes Climate Hub
- Moving Sounds
- OVESCO
- Plastic Free Seaford
- Railway Land Wildlife Trust, Lewes
- Rother Environmental Group
- Seaford Environmental Alliance
- St Edward’s Church, Burgess Hill
- Transition Cuckmere Valley
- Transition Town Lewes
- Transition Town Hastings
Surrey
- Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) – Surrey
- Circular Dorking
- Climate Action Redhill & Reigate
- Dorking Climate Emergency
- Dorking Repair Café
- Dorking Solar Group
- Friends of the Earth – Elmbridge
- Extinction Rebellion Dorking
- Extinction Rebellion Godalming
- Extinction Rebellion Guildford
- Southwest Surrey EnRaG (Compass Environmental Research & Action Group)
- Surrey Climate Commission
- Surrey Pension Act Now
- Surrey Wildlife Trust
- Transition Bookham
- Transition Dorking
- WEAct (Woking Environment Action)
- Zero Carbon Guildford
Kent
- Canterbury Climate Action Partnership
- Divest Kent
- Eco Cops
- Extinction Rebellion Canterbury
- Friends of the Earth – Sevenoaks
- Friends of the Earth – Swale
- Friends of the Earth – Tonbridge & Malling
- Friends of the Earth – Tunbridge Wells
- Green New Deal Kent
- Sheppey is Ours
- Thanet in Transition
Regional
- Alauda Dance
- Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) – Sussex
- Community Energy South
- Greener and Cleaner
- South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment (SCATE)
- Sussex Wildlife Trust
- Weald Action Group
National
- Friends of the Earth – England, Wales & N.Ireland
- Green Spirit
- Permaculture Magazine
- Transport Action Network
- United Nations Association Climate and Oceans
How to join
We would be delighted to welcome further members to the Alliance! If you are a representative of local group that would like to join SECA, please email us at: southeastclimatealliance@gmail.com It would be helpful to have a lead contact with each group, so we can coordinate action easily. Individuals are also welcome to join our mailing list, which means you will be sent our regular newsletter with updates on SECA and the Climate Emergency Campaign. There’s a sign-up link at the bottom of the Home page. If you’d like to take a peek at previous editions, here’s a link to the newsletter archive. Please be assured that your contact details will only be used for communicating with you on matters relating to SECA and its campaigns. We will not pass on your details to any third parties without your express permission.
Origins
SECA was set up in February 2019, following a ‘SOS Climate Emergency Day’ meeting in Horsham attended by over 120 people from 14 environmental groups across Sussex and Surrey. Between the groups present, we could cite many examples of thriving green initiatives – from repair cafés to solar schools. Yet there was a widespread feeling of frustration that the current overall response to climate change just does not match the scale and urgency of the climate threat.
We decided to join forces to address this and agreed that our first focus should be a campaign to urge District and County Councils across the region to ‘Declare a Climate Emergency’. We used local government elections on May 2nd 2019 as an initial rallying point and mounted a big letter writing and lobbying campaign to encourage candidates to pledge their support for a Climate Emergency declaration if they were elected. Here’s a list of candidates who pledged their support and won seats in 2019. SECA has repeated this election pledge campaign tactic in every election since.
Steering Group
The SECA Steering Group is made up of volunteers from member organisations. You can see the minutes of previous Steering Group meetings here. If you are interested in joining the Steering Group please let us know at southeastclimatealliance@gmail.com