"This is code red for Sheffield" - activists petition council to take concrete action on climate change

The United Nations climate conference COP26 will take place in Glasgow and Sheffield Climate Alliance want the council to use it as an opportunity to make positive climate commitments on behalf of the city.

They quote the UN Secretary-General’s description of the situation as ‘code red for humanity’ and say that cities, towns and individuals need to take action as well as nation states and international bodies.

Geoff Cox, a Labour party member who is presenting the petition this afternoon, said: “Thoughts of the world will be on climate issues, especially in Britain. Sheffield Council should make people see it as part of a global effort.

"All the bases are in place. Sheffield council has declared a climate and nature emergency. They should view COP26 as an outboard motor to propel what they want to do locally.

"There are two bases of going radical and big - you can go up from an event like COP26, or down from an event like Sheffield flooding again. It is about being preventative or reactive.

“The reality is other councils are doing more than us. But with a Labour Green cooperative executive in power there should be internal creative discussion on what they can do together.

“A code red for humanity is a code red for Sheffield. I’m really proud of the city council for declaring climate and nature emergencies, but we now need to make more concrete commitments to demonstrate how we are contributing to these global efforts as a city.”

Sheffield City Council has already declared climate and nature emergencies, and the current Labour/Green administration has said it will implement the ‘Pathways to Zero Carbon in Sheffield’ report.

This petition is calling on the council to be more explicit now by making specific commitments before COP26 begins. In a parallel initiative the South Yorkshire Climate Alliance (formerly Sheffield Climate Alliance) is also promoting its own proposals for what those public commitments should be, including financing plans, investment in house insulation and renewable energy, higher standards for new buildings, nature recovery measures and an increase in local food growing and production.

Coun. Johnson said: “I am pleased to see someone coming and asking those questions. It is the biggest challenge of our time.

"COP26 is raises expectations on climate change - it calls for attention at the global level.

“We are making small inroads. On transport we do have ambition. We are supporting public transport - walking, cycling, making the city a greener place. Everything we are doing really is there to tackle the climate crisis right across the board. It needs to be done.”