Declaring a Climate Emergency
Approached by Reid Pierce, I have put forward a NOM based on a Resolution adopted by Randwick Council in April 2019.
Activist Group Extinction Rebellion and School Children around the world have the urgency for action on climate change.
Declaring a climate
emergency means Inner West Council will move beyond business-as-usual and
reform-as-usual and focus our activities to end the emergency. To
resolve the emergency we will need to deliver temporary protection
and adaptation measures while prevention and restorative measures are
put in place and while they achieve their full effect.
By voting now to
declare a Climate Emergency we will join 17 other councils in
Australia including Bellingen, the Bluemountains, Byron, Clarence
Valley, Hawkesbury, Randwick and the Upper Hunter in New South Wales.
World Wide 520
councils covering 50 million residents have declared an Emergency.
The German City of Konstanz, Scotland, Wales and the UK have all
declared a climate emergency and pledged to cut GreenHouse emissions.
More at:
INNER WEST CouncIL MEETING
6.30pm, TUESDAY 14 MAY 2019
Subject: Notice of Motion: Declaration of Climate
Emergency
From: Councillor
Marghanita Da Cruz
Motion:
THAT Council:
1. Publicly acknowledges that we are in a state of
climate emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government;
that human induced climate change represents one of the greatest threats to
humanity, civilisation, and other species; and that it is still possible to
prevent the most catastrophic outcomes if societies take emergency action,
including local councils;
2. Include references to this emergency in the
CEO’s performance agreement and Council adjust his key performance
indicators accordingly; and
3. Review the annual budget key performance indicators
and policies over the course of the next twelve months to focus Council
expenditure and revenue on this issue.
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Background
In the absence of policies global warming
is expected, to reach 4.1°C – 4.8°C above pre-industrial by the
end of the century. The emissions that drive this warming are often called
Baseline scenarios and are taken from the IPCC AR5 Working Group III. Current
policies presently in place around the world are projected to reduce baseline
emissions and result in about 3.3°C 1 warming above pre-industrial
levels. https://climateactiontracker.orgThere remains a substantial gap between what governments have promised to do and the total level of actions they have undertaken to date. Furthermore, both the current policy and pledge trajectories lie well above emissions pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal.
In 2010, Beyond Zero Emissions calculated the cost of changing from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy would be approximately $8 per household per week, and the cost of solar and wind has fallen significantly since then. In contrast, the economic, human and environmental cost of ignoring climate change is incalculable. The cost of 1.1 metre of sea level rise will be $20 billion in destroyed property in NSW alone.
In 2018, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world must take action in the next two years to avert the disastrous consequences of runaway climate change. "Climate change is the defining issue of our time…if we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us”
Source: Agenda Papers Inner West Council Meeting 14 May 2019
https://innerwest.infocouncil.biz/Open/2019/05/C_14052019_AGN_3696_AT_WEB.htm
Register to Speak at Council Meeting at:
https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/about/forms/forms-by-category/other-general-forms-inner-west-council/register-to-speak-at-a-council-meeting
Thanky ou!!!
ReplyDeleteIrish declare a Climate Emergency on 9 May 2019: 'An amendment to a parliamentary report declaring a climate emergency and calling on the parliament “to examine how [the Irish government] can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss” was accepted without a vote late on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish Green party leader, Eamon Ryan, who moved the amendment, called the decision “historic”'... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/10/irish-parliament-declares-climate-emergency
Climate change failure could cost Australia $4 trillion:"Detailed new modelling, based on the federal government's current approach to climate change, finds that the economic damage to Australia's property and agricultural sectors will be very significant," https://www.sbs.com.au/news/climate-change-failure-could-cost-australia-4-trillion-experts-say?
ReplyDeleteFollowing presentations from Reid Pierce of Extinction Rebellion, Dominic Case from Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle and Gillian Reffell from Stop Adani, the Inner West Council tonight declared a climate emergency and resolved to reflect this in the KPIs for the CEO and Council's Expenditure over the next 12 months.
ReplyDeleteMaking that 529 councils covering 52 million citizens. https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/