Sheffield opposition councillors call for stricter targets on climate change
It comes after Sheffield City Council declared a “climate emergency”, becoming the largest city in the UK to do so.
They also said they were working on ways to bring their carbon neutral target forwards, but did not provide details on how this would happen or by how much.
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Hide AdNow, the Green Party are calling on a detailed plan within the next six months and for the council to reduce their target by 20 years.
Councillor Alison Teal, representative for Nether Edge and Sharrow, said: “There is no issue of greater importance at present than climate change. Governments and industry have tried to ignore and deny the science that has alerted us to the dangers for decades. We have 12 short years, if we are lucky, to adapt our way of life.”
The council’s current Green City strategy states that by 2050, Sheffield will be a zero carbon city. The Green Party are calling for this to be changed to 2030.
To achieve this, Coun Douglas Johnson, representative for City ward, said the council will need to look to renewable energy sources, such as swapping to wind, solar and tidal power for electricity.
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Hide AdCoun Martin Phipps added: “Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet and species. The recent IPCC special report on climate change warns us that we only have 12 years to avoid the worst of it. In line with this, we're calling upon the council to make a definite commitment to become a carbon neutral city ASAP by bringing forward the council's current target of 2050 to at latest 2030.
“We need to act urgently, now, and I hope the council supports our motion which calls for a timetable to be drawn up on actions we need to take to achieve our target, and as a first step swapping to a 100% renewable electricity supply.”
The Green Party councillors have also submitted this call in a motion which will be presented at a full council meeting on Wednesday, February 6. They also stated they would be sending the motion to the Secretary of State for the Environment and all Sheffield MPs.