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After Greens in Bristol passed a motion calling on the council to declare a Climate Emergency and move forward the city’s ‘carbon neutral’ target to 2030, Greens on the London Assembly have passed a similar motion challenging the London Mayor Sadiq Khan to “set a precedent for other major and world cities” and commit to the same 2030 target. Green Assembly Member Caroline Russell moved the motion which passed with 12 votes in favour and zero against – it called on the London Mayor to draw up an emergency plan to make the city carbon neutral by 2030, ask central government to provide him with the powers to make this possible, and lead on this work as vice chair of the C40 Cities network.
Speaking to move her motion at the London Assembly, Caroline Russell explained the risks of catastrophic climate change, saying:
“The 1.5 degree temperature is like a guardrail between what the global scientific consensus believes we have a chance to cope with and on the other hand, unimaginable and irreversible social, environmental and economic devastation. Keeping to 1.5 degrees warming will be hard but it is possible…The Mayor’s 2050 zero carbon target now looks too little too late. It won’t stop temperatures from overshooting the 1.5 degree threshold to 2,3 or even 4 degrees of warming. The world would then be reliant for its survival on unproven carbon capture and storage technologies.”
She added:
“On the 14th November, The City of Bristol declared a climate emergency with the council unanimously backing a motion by Cllr Carla Denyer with a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030 in an effort to avoid irreversible climate breakdown. This is the scale of ambition and action that we need, if we are going to safeguard Londoners and all our futures.”
After Bristol Council’s motion at Full Council meeting November 13, similar targets have recently passed in other local authorities with Green members such as Stroud District Council and the Forest of Dean.
Reacting to the news in Bristol, Clifton Down Councillor Carla Denyer said:
“It is so exciting to see another Climate Emergency motion like my own being proposed and passed in London, following hot on the heels of Stroud District Council putting similar plans in place. I am proud of Bristol and the Southwest for continuing its tradition as the birthplace of radical movements, and hope to see more motions with ambitious carbon neutrality targets being passed by Councils in the coming months. Well done to Caroline Russell – one of the two Green London Assembly Members – whose motion passed last week in London. It just goes to show the huge value of having Greens elected in local government – without Green councillors in Bristol and London, these motions simply would not have been proposed.”
Image is of Green London Assembly Member Caroline Russell. See here for more information on her work.