Local Authorities have declared climate emergencies have become an epidemic in 2019.
A city council in Darebin, Australia - having noticed the past 16 out of 17 years were the warmest on record - became the first city council in the world to announce a climate emergency. Since then, the concept has snowballed, and now 901 jurisdictions in 18 countries have declared a climate emergency that covers a total population of 206 million citizens. It is one of the fastest-growing environmental movements in the past years and has seen the UK's local authorities being large supporters of the idea. This is shown by the data compiled by Climate Emergency UK: around 207 local and public authorities with a planning function have declared climate emergencies; this, following Bristol City Council's own declaration last year.
As of the 17 September 2019, 22 of 36 Metropolitan Councils, 14 of 27 County Councils and 22 of 33 London Boroughs have declared climate emergencies. The data has shown that 89 district councils and 57 unitary authorities have also taken the pledge. This number is increased as city regions have too: the Greater London Authority, London Assembly, Liverpool, West Yorkshire are on board; the West of England is the sole combined authority at the time of writing.
The declarations are spread across the UK, seeing varying results across the country. National Governments have accepted the challenge, with the Welsh Government and Scotland's first ministers joining the declaration. Most importantly, the House of Commons took time out of Brexit talks in May to declare an emergency as a bipartisan parliament. The movement aims to plug the gap that has arose in the government's action to climate change, and has been propelled forward by the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - it warned that the planet had until 2030 for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 oC to prevent increased risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty. Extinction Rebellion protested publicly, and 60% of adults agreed that future prime ministers needed to do more work to prevent the growing issue.
The UK's local authorities are responding, with many motions passed declaring emergencies from the Green Party (unfortunately, requiring cross-party support) - this extent of cross-party support is reflected in a breakdown of the political control of the authorities making a declaration. The Co-chair of the Climate Emergency Network and Lancaster City Council deputy leader, Kevin Frea has said, "This movement is being led by every political group and is involving local people in planning the actions needed to cut carbon through working groups and citizens' assemblies." It has been seen to re-connect people to their councils, with public galleries packed when motions to declare are discussed and residents - including young people - are now speaking in the debates too.
Frea adds that "Councils have already started delivering on their declarations," and confirming, "They are switching to renewable energy suppliers on their estate, insulating existing homes and building more energy-efficient new ones, planting trees and decarbonising transport."
It gives hope that the government will take notice soon, and help to provide both the legislation and resources that are needed to put the declarations officially into place. The motions are not technically legally binding, but they do hold political clout and look to make a council more accountable for its policies and for committing their resources to look to specifically tackle carbon emissions. The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport estimates that local authorities can in fact influence around 40% of emissions, through the use of their planning, transport and waste functions powers - as well as the commissioners and purchasers of goods and services. Some councils have committed to achieving the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 (this being 20 years ahead of the government's own plan for Net-Zero emissions.)
The current generation of local plans are expected to be substantially revamped and rewritten as a result of the coming years and the absence of leadership from central government. Observers predict policies that will encourage renewable, low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies and green infrastructure, along with the mitigation and adaptation of building density.
The Town and Country Planning Association Policy Director, Hugh Ellis, has said, "This points to both the challenge and the opportunity for planning. Extinction Rebellion and climate emergencies are transforming the politics of planning. As a result, local government is trying to respond. Planning has so much to offer on this agenda and now you see so many organisations get behind planning to tackle climate change."
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