Salford’s Climate Emergency Declaration

The following motion was approved and adopted at the meeting of Council on 17 July 2019, having been proposed by Councillor Lewis and Seconded by Councillor August.

Salford City Council notes the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report ‘Global warming of 1.5 degrees centigrade’ published on 8 October 2018, in particular: 

• That human activities are estimated to have already caused approximately 1 degree centigrade of global warming above pre-industrial levels; 
• That if we continue at the current rate, we are likely to surpass the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees centigrade as early as 2030; 
• That at the current level of commitments, the world is on course for 3°C of warming with irreversible and catastrophic consequences for humans and the natural world. 

The council believes that: 

• That the impacts of global temperature rise above 1.5 degrees centigrade, are so severe that governments at all levels must work together and make this their top priority. 
• As well as large-scale improvements in health and wellbeing around the world, bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities. 

Therefore, Salford City Council agrees: 

• To declare a ‘climate emergency’. 
• To establish a new task and finish group, with a remit to: 
• Seek advice from experts to develop a five year carbon budget and set a challenging target date of 2038 for carbon neutrality in Salford; 
• Consider systematically the climate change impact of each area of the council’s activities; 
• Make recommendations and set an ambitious timescale for reducing these impacts; 
• To assess the feasibility of requiring all risk and procurement assessments to include Carbon Emission Appraisals, including presenting alternative approaches which reduce emissions wherever possible. 
• Report to Full Council with the actions the council needs to take to address this emergency. 
• To task a director level officer with responsibility for reducing as rapidly as possible, the carbon emissions resulting from the council’s activities. 
• To equip all our staff with an awareness of the CO² costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions through widespread Carbon Literacy
• To produce a report to the next Full Council on the level of investment in the fossil fuel industry that our pensions plan and other investments have. 
• That the City Mayor will write to the Prime Minister to inform her that Salford City Council has declared a climate emergency and ask him to provide the resources and powers necessary to deal with it.

What is the council doing?

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