Agenda item

The following Motion will be proposed by Councillor Cody and seconded by Councillor Jordan:

Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt in the UK and around the world. Global temperatures have increased by over 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO₂ levels are above 400 parts per million (ppm) and continue to rise—this far exceeds the 350 ppm deemed to be a safe level for humanity.

Without more significant and sustained action, the world is set to exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit between 2030 and 2040. Therefore, the current UK target of net zero by 2050 is not sufficient. It is too little too late.

The increase in harm caused by a rise of 2°C rather than 1.5°C is significant. This is described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C published in October 2018. According to the IPCC, limiting heating to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector and local communities. The costs of failing to address this crisis will far outstrip the investments required to prevent it. Investing now will bring many benefits in the form of good jobs, breathable cities and thriving communities.

Council notes that:

1. Many local authorities are playing an important role in the UK taking action to achieve net zero.

2. There is a Bill before Parliament — the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill (published as the Climate and Ecology Bill)— according to which the UK Government must develop an emergency strategy that: 

i.   requires that the UK plays its fair and proper role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with at least a 66% chance of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures; this corresponds to the most ambitious global mitigation pathway available according to the 2018 IPCC 1.5C Report.

ii. ensures that all the UK’s consumption emissions are accounted for, including international aviation and passenger shipping; 

iii. ensures that steps to mitigate emissions do not damage ecosystems, food and water availability, and human health;

iv. ensures that steps taken to increase the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations and ecosystems follow the mitigation and conservation hierarchy – avoid, minimise, restore and offset;

v. restores and expands natural ecosystems and enhances the management of cultivated ecosystems to protect and enhance biodiversity, ecological processes and ecosystem service provision, including optimising the state of resilient carbon sinks;

vi. includes measures to protect, restore and enhance ecosystems in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, where activity is generated from within the United Kingdom that is harmful to ecosystems;

vii. ensures an end to exploration, extraction, export and import of fossil fuels by the United Kingdom as rapidly as possible; and

viii. sets up an independent citizens’ assembly, representative of the UK’s population, to engage with the UK Parliament and UK Government and help develop the emergency strategy. 

Council therefore resolves to: 

1. Support the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill;

2. Inform the local media of this decision; and

3. Write to local Members of Parliament, asking them to support or thanking them for supporting the CEE Bill; and

4. Write to the CEE Bill Alliance, the organisers of the campaign for the Bill, expressing its support (campaign@ceebill.uk).

25.1          Members were advised that the proposer of the Motion had withdrawn it.