Climate Change

“This Assembly notes:

• recent research suggesting that “profound and immediate changes” are now required to keep average global warming below the guardrail of 2°C and that global greenhouse gas emissions must peak as soon as possible and be falling by 10 per cent a year within the next decade^[1][1].
• analysis of the draft Paris agreement by the European Commission which suggests that, with the pledges from nations so far, global emissions won’t peak until 2030^[2][2], and further analysis suggesting that on the basis of these pledges we will still experience global average warming of 2.7°C of warming by 2100, compared to warming of 3.7°C based on the full implementation of existing government policies^[3][3].
• reporting by the Government’s Committee on Climate Change that UK emissions were only falling by an underlying rate of 1 per cent per year, when at least 3 per cent annual reductions are required to meet the its current policy commitments^[4][4].
• the £9.6 billion of UK government subsidies given annually to fossil fuel extraction in the UK and overseas, equivalent to £350 per household, which the March 2015 budget further increased while reducing support for renewable energy^[5][5], while the Energy Secretary has admitted the UK government will miss its legally binding renewable energy target for 2020 due to “the absence of a credible plan”^[6][6].

This Assembly calls on the Mayor of London to:

• protect climate change programmes in his 2016-17 budget, including the safeguarding of the London Climate Change Partnership following funding cuts from the Environment Agency;
• urge fellow city leaders at the C40 meetings in Paris to adopt the strongest possible measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and
• make this climate emergency a top priority for his remaining time in office, particularly when lobbying the government.”

[1][1] Anderson, K in Nature Geoscience (12 October 2015), Duality in climate science

[2][2] https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/current-climate-commitments-would-increase-global-temperature-around-3-degrees

[3][3] Carbon Tracker initiative, http://climateactiontracker.org/global.html

[4][4] https://www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/reducing-carbon-emissions/how-the-uk-is-progressing/

[5][5] Overseas Development Institute (November 2015), Empty promises: G20 subsidies to oil, gas and coal production, http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9957.pdf

[6][6] The Ecologist (9 November 2015), Leaked letter: Rudd admits 25% green energy undershoot, misled Parliament, http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2986190/leaked_letter_rudd_admits_25_green_energy_undershoot_misled_parliament.html