Manchester City Council is set to declare a climate emergency in an upcoming debate this week.
The motion, to be considered at the meeting of the full council on Wednesday, has asked members to embed the issue of climate change into all future key decisions.
This with the aim to ensure Manchester becomes a zero-carbon city a full 10 years before the European Commission’s own target.
The scheme also aims to close in on the 2038 target by reducing emissions from aviation and decarbonising the national grid.
The motion can be found here.
But concern was raised over the scope of the aim with some believing that it fell short of the zero-carbon aim
Speaking on the matter, a spokesman for Greenpeace Manchester said that “politicians declaring climate emergencies is that they also need to act like it’s an emergency”.
“The response to date from national government has been poor,” he added.
“Manchester City Council is a long way ahead of national government, but their plans still fall short of the complete decarbonisation of the economy that is needed.”
The meeting will host a presentation form Manchester Youth Council to represent young people on the matter.
Ishaa Asim, a member of the Youth Council, supports the motion believing that it represented how “young people are leading the pollution solution revolution”
She said: “Young people can influence changes and develop strategies to help Manchester citizens learn more about how they can play their part in helping our city play a leading role in tackling climate change.”
Jonny Sadler, Programme Director of the Manchester Climate Change Agency echoed the positivity stating that it will be an important reconfirmation of the mainstreaming of zero-carbon into all of its key decisions.’
