The North Tyneside Borough Green Party has long campaigned for the declaration of a Climate Emergency.
We were delighted that the Council had listened to us when we heard of the intention to declare a Climate Emergency following the June Council Meeting.
But we remained cautious, knowing that the Emergency requires action, not just words.
This rally was called to let our voices be heard. We cannot continue with business as usual, we need to treat this Emergency with urgent and significant action.
We note that the Council has done great work in reducing carbon emissions to date.
Indeed, they have already reduced emissions by 45% according to their own reports.
This is why we are disappointed to learn that the Council plans to reduce emissions by just 5% over the next four years.
Why scale back progress? Why not be ambitious? North Tyneside could continue this rate and achieve a 50% reduction by 2020.
We are even more disheartened to learn that the carbon neutral deadline is 2050.
Although this is in line with the Conservative Government policy, it is well behind our neighbours.
South Tyneside, for example, have acted on a Green Party campaign for carbon neutral by 2030.
In Scotland, Edinburgh has also committed to this deadline.
Elsewhere, Norway has put 2030 into law and Costa Rica has pledged to reach carbon neutral by 2021.
North Tyneside Council can do more than the current plan suggests.
You may ask, why 2030? Why not 2050?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC) produced a Special Report in 2018 included a Summary for Policymakers (such as the Council) setting out the need to take urgent action, or Climate Change could have a catastrophic impact on health, livelihoods and security by 2030.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) produced a follow up to the Netflix series ‘Our Planet’. This highlights that a child born today may not reach their twenties before the soils of the frozen North thaw.
If we look at the News this week, the current heatwave has already started fires in the Arctic circle.
What more of a wake up call do we need?
As Sir David Attenborough has said “What we do in the next ten years will profoundly impact the next few thousand.”
With the science showing the need for urgent action – and the public calling for this – we ask why does North Tyneside Council believe that we can continue with business as usual?
The facts demand urgent action. We are in an Emergency.
We need the Council to heed the actions of others and commit to a real plan – so that our Borough is not meekly following in the footsteps of others, but instead takes a lead.
We believe in the people and businesses of North Tyneside.
We believe that they are resilient, adaptable and able to meet the challenges raised by this Emergency.
We believe that carbon neutrality by 2030 is achievable in North Tyneside.
We urge the Council to agree to this target – and for the proposed carbon reporting to be audited and delivered to the Council meeting for scrutiny – not merely published to a forgotten corner of the Council website.
We urge the Council to ensure the environmental impact – both macro and micro – is considered in all aspects of Council business.
We can do, we should do more – in fact, we must do more.
2050 is too late.
We need Climate Action Now.