Full Council focussed on climate change, with a conference at which 158 people attended to review the resolution and reports agreed; the speech used to move the resolution follows.
Key to the event was the adoption of a new Climate Change Strategy.
Astonishingly, the Lib Dems and Tories moved an amendment that asked the strategy to be noted rather than adopted as policy. It appears the Lib Dems were incompetent, not realising it was what their amendment meant. Just not good enough.
And it emphasises a key point made at the conference convened beforehand - we have to be effective in chasing the sustainable development policy; and up to the scale of the challenge we face.
October 9th, 2006
A covering report, with a resolution adopting a new climate change strategy was passed;
The climate change strategy was agreed;
A list of high level actions from the strategy and the response to scrutiny for explicit adoption was agreed;
My portfolio holder response to the scrutiny exercise for agreement was agreed;
A list of all the events from recent months that the Council’s been involved in and the ideas from those events, was noted, as well as feedback from a conference in the morning;
There is a new City Council “Respect for the Climate” web-site;
Speech -
A. Climate Change is happening
This year, we’ve had the warmest July and September on record. Not proof of climatechange. But significant.
The proof of climate change is in the Al Gore movie - “An Inconvenient Truth”. The movieshows the link between the Earth’s average surface temperature in the air and the levels ofcarbon dioxide, which remember forms less than 0.1% of the air we breathe. Analysis of600,000 years of ice samples shows the link.
Of course, the earth has undergone huge change over time. Britain was once connected toEurope (perhaps another kind of inconvenient truth). The Dogger Bank was once a range ofhills.
The difference of the new changes we face is the cost if we allow temperatures to rise and sea levels to rise. The loss of huge cities across the world, the loss of towns such as Boston andScunthorpe, if parts of the ice shelves break up in Greenland and the Antarctic. Or the hugecosts of providing the defences if we are expected to sustain London.
Our general balance of life will change. Hotter summers, milder winters - which might soundlike an upside - but with it more stormy weather. And already we see the demands for us todo more about storms and the floods they bring.
(But there’s also a concern that the loss of the Greenland ice shelf may switch off the Gulf Stream for a period - so whilst the earth warms, Britain gets colder.)
And things we value, like bluebells in May, no longer being part of the gardens of theMidlands.
And things we value - because we know they’re there - becoming extinct - at least in thewild. King Penguin population down by 50%. The Polar Bear becoming extinct in the wild.
B. Climate Change is difficult to tackle
Climate Change matters. But it’s difficult to address.
Tony Blair said in September, 2004 - “The problem ... is that the challenge is complicatedpolitically by two factors.
“First, [climate change’s] likely effect will not be felt to its full extent until after the time forthe political decisions that need to be taken, has passed. In other words, there is a mismatchin timing between the environmental and electoral impact.
“[Second], no one nation alone can resolve it. It has no definable boundaries. Short ofinternational action commonly agreed and commonly followed through, it is hard even for alarge country to make a difference on its own.”
I’d state the electoral impact problem far more starkly. I have no record from extensivecanvassing in Mapperley ward in 2003, of any member of the public raising the issue ofclimate change. If we’ve promoted it, there may be a degree of agreement that somethingmust be done.
But the most emphatic feedback we had in the local elections was crime & grime. Thenschools. Sometimes the level of tax.
The number of times when local groups have come to lobby me on sustainable developmentcan probably be counted on one hand.
This hasn’t stopped me from reaching out. I continue to hold a stall at the Green Festival,unlike others who have come and gone; and others still who’ve simply never been.
This isn’t to say people don’t care. And indeed, the strong attendance at today’s conferencemay well be yet another sign that this issue now matters. But for a long time, the activeinterest has not been there.
And another problem is a lack of awareness of how change will be delivered. Even the AlGore movie doesn’t always help on this one - at one point saying that this is a moral issue -beyond politics.
And the challenge that brings was evident in the discussion held after the showing of the AlGore movie.
Adopting a Merton standard in 2 years was too slow and a sign of lack of will - when actuallythere is a legal procedure to go through.
Anything a politician was to say was not to be valued unless they were proving it by cycling towork.
If we meant it we had to ban all lifts of children to school, placing a car parking ban withinone-quarter mile of a school.
Economic growth was bad thing - when actually the countries that many would cite as makingthe most progress are combining the values of economic growth, social justice and care forthe environment.
C. Politics can deliver change; it’s right for the parties to compete for support
The existence of politics, and of party politics, is the sign of a free society. And the mandateis a significant tool for delivering change. It’s much faster that quangoes’ consultation.
The tools that have been used to deliver change in creating more jobs, eradicating massyouth unemployment, improving educational attainment and reducing operation waiting timesneed to be applied to climate change.
Yes, the task has been made easier by a move by the Tories such that all main parties nowacknowledge climate change is a legitimate concern.
But I also think it’s right that the main parties should compete on this issue. There isn’t a onetruth on this that leads to a position whereby the parties can simply agree the way forward.
There is a value in expecting the market to deliver a degree of change. One in 3 householdsin Britain have taken some kind of energy saving measure in the last year. Larger firms inNottingham are adopting green measures.
There is a value in taxing consumption, in green taxes. Take climate change levy, or thelandfill tax or London’s Congestion Charge. Mind, you need some steel to see such measures through.
There is a value in raising minimum standards - such as the range of environmentalprotection measures - such as the Clean Air Acts [of 1956, 1968 and 1993], a huge range ofmeasures from the European Union and the performance targets such as increasing thecollection of separated waste for recycling. And incidentally, what a pleasure it’s been to seethe support for the three wheelie bin system where we’ve been able to apply it.
I understand there’s some concern about the party political nature of the motion today. Letme say, this is not drawn from an attempt to insult the other parties today. It’s comes fromboth a steer that the opposition parties wanted a genuine debate and my belief that actuallyto make progress, our ideas must compete for public support.
We intend for all proposals raised to be considered through the scrutiny process and for themore credible new proposals to be considered by the budget and policy making processes ofthe Council.
D. Nottingham’s approach - begins with social reform
And there’s a further problem for Nottingham City - that is we have our own priorities interms of what will make our city more sustainable. And this often leads us to focus on socialpolicies at a time when many will want more explicit action on the environment.
But the rationale of our corporate plan is clear. We want a city where people not only chooseto work, or to have a good time, but also be a place that more people choose to live andchoose to learn.
Hence our commitment to tackling crime, providing clear streets, better schools - particularlyat secondary level where families most often opt out - and more jobs for local people.
Hence our resolve to frame our proposals for change in terms of our corporate themes -Choose, Respect, Transform, People and Serve.
E. Re-stating the challenges that Climate Change poses
So to re-state the challenges of climate change -
There is a mismatch in timing between the environmental and electoral impact.
No one nation, never mind city, alone can resolve it.
Those impatient for change can be unreasoned-able.
The use of the political system for change is not well understood.
But there’s a fifth challenge on climate change - are we being ambitious enough?
Alan Simpson MP said at the launch to the movie in Nottingham - set small targets, get smallresults.
So I’ve stated the Govt’s ambition in the final part of the resolution - to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050;
make sure every new home is at least 40% more energy efficient;
create at least 100,000 new jobs for British people from energy saving, innovation andgreen technologies;
call on the World Bank and international governments to create, for alternative energyfor poorer countries, a $20 billion global fund;
A key part to the next stage is to work with local organisations and business to see how suchambition can be translated into action plans. How we can test the progress of new policies. How we can ensure we have the capability, capacity and culture to deliver such change. Andto seek new agreements from across the city to give progress another push.
F. We have made progress
Nottingham City Council has made progress on environmental policies.
We adopted a Green Charter as early as 1990.
We have a strong track record on transport planning and providing better public transport services.
We are very proud of the tram.
The incinerator and the London Road power station has provided combined heat and power from waste that would have otherwise gone to landfill.
We are the 8th largest purchaser of green electricity in the country.
We are catching up with others on collection of separated waste for recycling and our rates are now the highest of the English Core Cities outside of London.
And we significantly convened the most concerned local authorities to sign up to the Nottingham Declaration - signed by 100 authorities and re-launched last year as a national partnership which hopes to have 200 authorities signed up by the winter.
We have a national and international reputation on tackling climate change.
However, we felt the need to review our progress and renew our commitment.
Hence the scrutiny review.
Hence the range of activities since June including the tour of best practice in the East Midlands and the South-East.
Hence this full Council, and the conference to review our work and proposals.
G. Our proposals
I am happy to propose this motion which includes a range of actions.
On ambition,
• We will seek to become a carbon neutral organisation within ten years
On Choosing Nottingham, we will exploit and demonstrate the economic benefits of climateprotection by:
• Utilising Science City status and developing the links with Nottingham’s universities
• Working with the largest 20 local organisations to extend the impact of environmentalmanagement, especially with the small and medium sized enterprises that currently suplly these organisations;
On Respect for Nottingham,
• we have launched the new Respect for the Climate pledge web-pages, and will expand them as part of the new Climate Heroes project across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire
We will also work at a local level on climate mitigation and adaptation at neighbourhood levelby:
• Building more sustainable buildings ourselves (through a new policy) and influencingothers through the planning system (through a new requirement for embedded renewableenergy)
• Developing the first ever Zero Carbon Zone in an established community (fundingpermitted) – The O Zone in the Meadows
• Further extending kerbside recycling and looking into the possibility of large scale bio-mechanical treatment of household waste
On Nottingham People, we will
• Inform local people about the importance of thermal comfort and air quality (in thehome) in both cold and hot weather
• Continue to tackle fuel poverty through energy efficiency measures and (wherefeasible) renewable energy installations
We will turn our commitment into action using our mainstream planning processes:
• Saving money on utility bills through environmental management and
• Developing an environmental management system and gaining accreditation by2009/10
H. Our proposals
And we’ve been very active on this issue. Thanks to scrutiny. And we’ve visited a lot ofplaces. Including the USA.
And I am happy too today to celebrate the success of today’s conference.
We face an inconvenient truth. Now we must show the will to act. And the capability to makea difference.
I move.
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Post script - as at 17th October 2006, best estimate of number of local authorities who have signed the Nottingham Declaration, or a local equivalent, is 183.
[Last updated 2006-10-17]
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