Friends of the Earth have created an amazing resource called “How climate friendly is your area?” and all you have to do is enter your postcode to see the results for your community.   

They have also published a climate action plan template for Local Councils, please publicise, hopefully you’ll all find it useful, see https://takeclimateaction.uk/climate-action/get-your-council-adopt-our-climate-action-plan

Derbyshire Climate Coalition campaigners would like to give you an update on what has been happening. The following councils have declared a Climate Emergency (the dates with embedded links to council papers are shown in brackets).

Derby City (22/05/2019); passed unanimously but no date, little follow up action but it has agreed to appoint a paid climate change coordinator.

Amber Valley Borough (24/07/2019); Motion passed for net zero by 2030.

Chesterfield Borough (17/07/2019); failed to include date of 2030 or accept amendment to do so.

Derbyshire Dales District (30/05/2019); Motion strengthened and unanimous.

High Peak Borough (15/10/2019); Motion passed unanimously – 2030 date.

NE Derbyshire District (08/07/2019); Motion amended (80% reduction by 2030 with aim of 100%).

South Derbyshire District (27/06/2019); Unanimous but watered down.

THREE COUNCILS HAVE DEBATED THE EMERGENCY BUT REFUSED TO DECLARE IT FORMALLY, namely :

Derbyshire County Council (15/05/2019); the Council issued an alternative climate manifesto and, despite issues with the Leader of the Council, some good work is being done in partnership.

Bolsover District Council (17/07/2019);the motion amended to debate need for motion at future date.

Erewash Borough (10/10/2019); Motion passed for net zero by 2050; wholly complacent response. Note that lawyers from ClientEarth have warned this council that they will violate their legal obligations and risk legal challenge if they do not introduce proper climate change plans. See https://www.clientearth.org/press/lawyers-put-local-authorities-on-notice-over-climate-inaction/ .

It is great that all the councils have made some moves and some actions are being taken. But there is a lot more planning and lobbying to be done. We need councils to turn their political promises in to concrete action – leading the way where the national government continues to fail.

 

The global climate school strike on 24 May was reportedly the biggest yet, even bigger than the 1.4m-strong actions on 15 March. Young people in 1,664 cities across 125 countries registered strike actions with the co-ordinating group set up by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. The 24 May school strikes followed mass climate action in London by Extinction Rebellion (XR), which led to over 1,100 arrests over 11 days.

The group, #FridaysForFuture, has called on adults to join the ‘mass resistance’ and to walk out of work on Friday 20 September. Continue reading CLIMATE STRIKE ON SEPTEMBER 20 →

This lively forum brings together people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including councillors and council officers.
The forum will be given an update by representatives of the Council on what progress has been made in implementing the Climate emergency resolution that was passed overwhelmingly by the Council in May of this year. We expect to hear more details about appointing a paid Climate Coordinator.

There will also be a presentation by Envelop homes, which was set up to build high quality homes built to low-energy Passivhaus standards, and are smart and promote clean, sustainable living.

There will no doubt be discussions about the Sinfin incinerator, updates from Extinction Rebellion, the Derby trees group and also on the forthcoming climate strikes on September 20 (See UK Student Climate Network)

Please send us items for the agenda.
Please reserve a place by booking on this link.