Assembly calls on Mayor to prioritise ‘climate emergency’

The London Assembly today urged the Mayor to get serious about climate change.

Assembly Members agreed a motion which calls on the Mayor to protect climate change programmes in his 2016-17 budget; urge fellow city leaders at the C40 meetings in Paris to adopt measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and make the ‘climate emergency’ a top priority for his remaining time in office.

Jenny Jones AM, who proposed the motion said:

“With a strong climate deal in Paris, and much more action at home, London could face a bright future with green energy, jobs and transport. But to get there the Mayor needs to realise that we face a climate emergency and make this his top priority. The damage to our economy and society if he fails will make the recent financial and refugee crises look like a tea party in comparison.”

The full text of the Motion is:

“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]

• 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], 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]

• 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]

• 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], 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].

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.”