Citizens Assembly will help Sheffield tackle climate change

The city declared a climate emergency at a meeting back in February and Labour says it wants the full council meeting in July to be dedicated to discussing this issue.

Sheffield has a date of 2050 to become zero carbon but it’s hoped this will be brought forward to 2030.

A Citizens Assembly, which will include young people, will be commissioned to look at how to do this.

Coun Lewis Dagnall, cabinet member for environment and climate change, said: “As a city we came together in February to declare a climate emergency and we have been working with the Green City Partnership to work out our next steps.

“We will be committing the city to a minimum of 2030 as our carbon neutral target.

“We are confident that the research we are currently undertaking will be ready next month, so we start a full and frank debate about the actions we need to take as soon as possible.

“If we are to seriously address some of the big decisions and debates we will need to have the fullest participation from all parts of our city, including the next generation. A Citizens’ Assembly provides a bold way of engaging people in responding to the climate emergency.”

The Green Party believes more needs to be done. Coun Alison Teal said: “Despite declaring a climate emergency, Labour continued with unsustainable plans to widen the ring road and renegotiated the Veolia contract, which we believe fails to enable residents and businesses to recycle waste effectively.”

The Liberal Democrats said they had a number of proposals, including giving communities pots of money to invest in their environment with trees, recycling or cycle routes.