Last chance to sign before the Declare a Climate Emergency petition is submitted to Newcastle Council!
We call on Newcastle City Council to declare a climate emergency, and:
- Publicly report on progress regarding the 2010 ‘Declaration on Climate Change’, ‘Climate Action Plan’ and 2014 ‘Mayors Adapt’ commitments, within 6 months.
- Update the Climate Action Plan within 6 months, to make Newcastle climate neutral before 2030.
- Set specific targets to reduce carbon in housing, transport, domestic waste and council buildings and report on progress annually. Include carbon reduction implications in all policy decision-making.
- To end Council investment in fossil fuels within 3 years, and call for staff pension fund divestment.
Why is this important?
There is a Climate Emergency and Newcastle City Council’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan is dangerously outdated, having been last published in 2010. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report this autumn warned that humanity has just 11 years left to take emergency action in order to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown due to global warming greater than 1.5°C. Above this, the risks to humanity from floods, droughts, extreme heat and growing poverty become much greater, with far worse impacts in the UK and on hundreds of millions more people across the globe. At present, the world is on course for 3°C of warming – this will be catastrophic for humanity, risking the collapse of civilisation.
The Climate Change Act committed the UK to 80% cuts in greenhouse gases by 2050, but to meet this target and the UK’s obligations under the Paris Agreement requires far stronger action from local as well as national government.
Newcastle Council have not updated nor publicly reported on progress with their 2010 Climate Change Action Plan nor Declaration on Climate Change. In 2014, Newcastle Council became a signatory of Mayors Adapt, the European Commission’s initiative on preparing for climate change, under which they are obligated to report on progress every two years but have not done so. Since then, the urgency of the situation has redoubled. Our council must do more to protect the population of Newcastle from catastrophic climate breakdown and to report on progress to this end.
As a leader in the North and one of the UK’s Core Cities, Newcastle City Council must follow the examples of Bristol, London, Manchester and other local authorities and lead the way to a fossil-free Northern Powerhouse and UK.
How it will be delivered
With more than 2,500 signatures from people who live, work, study, own businesses or use services in the city, this petition will trigger a debate in Newcastle City Council Chamber. The petition will be delivered at a full Council meeting by a Newcastle Green Party campaigner; with the requisite supporting signatures it can be presented along with a 5 minute presentation. With fewer signatures, the petition will be read out in Council Chamber.
Please join us on Wednesday 5pm at Civic Centre to show support for this urgent issue.
