Green Party Present Climate Crisis Petition To Hounslow Council
Want review of their carbon reduction plans
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Hounslow Green Party presented the Hounslow Climate Change petition at the Borough Council meeting on the evening of 18 June, accompanied by Extinction Rebellion (XR) representatives, Friends of the Earth and other concerned citizens.
Tony Firkins, Hounslow Green Party co-ordinator and Secretary of the Green Party Energy Policy Working Group, made a four minute speech in which he explained why it is so important for Hounslow Council to play its part in addressing climate change. Tony called for immediate and radical action rather than warm words to address the Climate Change Emergency. He asked that the council follows Parliament, the London Assembly, Haringey, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark and neighbouring Ealing, and set a target to be carbon neutral by 2030
He asked the council for a plan setting out targeted reductions in CO2 emissions in tonnes and to identify the expenditure to make the rapid reductions needed. Housing, workplaces, transport and energy should all be addressed in detail. He demanded that this plan is available to the public by the end of the year.
Later in the evening, Labour Councillor Katherine Dunne presented a motion which proposed to “join with other local authorities, the Mayor of London and the UK Parliament in declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ that requires urgent action”. The motion also agreed to “commit to reviewing the existing arrangements in place to reduce the council’s carbon footprint and will identify measures towards a goal of making the council’s activities carbon neutral and ultimately zero-carbon within the shortest achievable timeframe”. The motion was passed unanimously, to the considerable satisfaction of the Greens and others present.
Tony Firkins said “I welcome that the council have started taking Climate Change seriously. Katherine indicated in the meeting that she aims to publish a detailed plan by the end of the year, and we are very happy to help draw up the plan. This is a hugely important decision for the Borough, for London and for the Country. At last we are taking the crisis seriously.”
The Green petition, which originally sparked the discussion, called on the Council “to review their current carbon reduction plans to establish the actions needed to be compatible with 1.5 degrees warming, given the national and world concerns about the climate emergency. Further we ask the council to call on government and the Mayor of London to give Hounslow Council the powers and funding to enable Hounslow Council to become carbon neutral by 2030."
The Climate Change petition received 450 signatures. 287 signatures were collected on the streets and 163 were collected online.
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June 23, 2019
