Lancaster Greens Call For Climate Emergency Declaration by Councils

Up and down the country Green Councillors have been leading on calls for action by their local councils and for a Declaration of a Climate Emergency by the local authorities in order for swift and urgent action to be taken to reduce carbon emissions by those activities undertaken by councils.

On 30th January, Green councillors Tim-Hamilton Cox and Caroline Jackson co-proposed a motion and after some wrangling over the text, Lancaster City Council at its Full Council agreed a declaration - final text copied below. The effort to get all councillors from all parties on board was enhanced by the petition with 1500 names of nearly all young people living in the district which was organised by young green Rosie Mills with support from LYFE.

County Councillor Gina Dowding has submitted a similar motion to Lancashire County Council which will be debated at its full council meeting on 28th February. 

From minutes of 30th Jan meeting:

Lancaster City Council Full Council Notes:

Lancaster City Council has already committed to reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050, but the recent IPCC Report shows it is imperative that this target is reached much sooner. Lancaster City Council can play its role in preventing and adapting to dangerous and extreme weather events.

Extreme weather events over the last few years have presented severe challenges to property, transport, agriculture and other services in the Lancaster & Morecambe area and have led to the deaths and displacement of thousands/millions of people worldwide. Many organisations have been working tirelessly for years to try to limit climate change, but action must happen faster. Business as usual is clearly no longer an option. We need local wisdom to increase our resilience and to prepare for the climate changes already in the system.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1.5C report, published in October 2018, humanity has 12 years for “ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities” to deliver the “rapid and far-reaching transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities” needed to turn this around, so we can avoid reaching tipping points where we no longer have the ability to avoid extreme weather events. It is vital that rural communities play their part in reducing carbon emissions, especially as there are potential benefits for land-use.

We recognise the current financial constraints that the council faces and expect both development and implementation of a carbon budget to need significant amounts of additional external funding. Some of the potential actions however may have a positive or neutral financial impact. Bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities, as well as improved well-being for people locally and worldwide.

A number of City & District Councils, together with the Mayor of London, have passed motions declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’.

The City Council therefore:

Declares a ‘Climate Emergency’, which involves taking action outlined in the following clauses;

1) Supports the setting up of a Climate Change Cabinet Liaison group immediately, involving Councillors, residents, young citizens and experts from the two Universities and other relevant parties. Over the following 12 months, the Group will review the 2010 Lancaster City Council Climate Change Strategy and help the Council develop a new carbon budget taking into account both production and consumption of emissions;

•   Calls on the UK Government to provide the powers, resources and help with funding to make this possible;

•   Draws upon the observations, insights and reports of the Citizens’ Assembly;

•   Reviews the Council’s Investment Strategy to give due weight to Climate Change

  targets in the Investment portfolio;

COUNCIL 30TH JANUARY 2019

 Reports to Full Council prior to the next budget cycle with a fully costed action plan to address this emergency to feed into the 2020 budget;

2. 2)  Requests that the Cabinet member with responsibility for Climate Change, working with the Climate Change Cabinet Liaison group, convenes a Citizens’ Assembly in 2019 in order to help identify how the Council’s activities might be made net-zero carbon by 2030;

   •   To consider systematically the climate change impact of each area of the Council’s activities;

   •   To increase local resilience to climate impacts already in the system;

   •   To maximise local benefits of these actions in other sectors such as health,

     agriculture, transport and the economy;

   •   To support and with all other relevant agencies towards making the Lancaster

     District Zero Carbon within the same timescale;

   •   Other actions that could be recommended include (but are not restricted to):

     increasing the efficiency of buildings; prioritizing these measures for council housing and private sector housing to address fuel poverty; building solar and other renewable energy generating and storage plant; requiring all new housing and commercial developments to be low carbon; replacing the vehicle fleet with electric and/or hydrogen powered vehicles; switching to 100% fossil-fuel-free energy; setting up a council run energy company (i.e. Robin Hood Energy) and adapting the council’s purchasing policy; commissioning consultations with the district’s young citizens, who will be most affected by the effects of climate change;

3. 3)  Requests that the Cabinet member with responsibility for climate change should take steps to proactively include young citizens in the process, being attentive of the fact that young citizens are frequently not on the electoral roll, due to being under 18, due to under-registration or due to living in Student/other temporary Accommodation;

4. 4)  Where necessary officer reports to Cabinet and Full Council contain impact assessments on Climate Change that include Carbon Emission Appraisals, including presenting alternative approaches which reduce carbon emissions where possible;

5. 5)  Works with partners across the district, county and region to help deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies, plans and shared resources;

6. 6)  Supports Lancashire’s public health group on air quality in Lancashire the “Air Quality Champions Network” and requests that a City Councillor be put forward to attend meetings.

7. 7)  Requests a report from our pension funds and investment managers on the levels of investment in the fossil fuel industry that our pensions plan and other investments have, to be delivered within 3 months;

8. 8)  In recognition of the seriousness of the financial constraints that the Council faces, and the expectation that both the development and implementation of many measures above are likely to be contingent on securing significant additional extra funding, that the District’s local MPs be called upon to ensure that Central government provides the powers, resources and funding to make this possible, and that Council writes to them to seek their commitments.