Days between July 12 and November 18 = 129
The long-awaited Action Plan to reduce Manchester's climate change emissions will be out before the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December. It will mostly be about “mitigation” (cutting emissions) rather than adaptation/preparing for the inevitable changes that Manchester will experience (For a short list of the impacts we can expect, see www.ecocitiesproject.org.uk)
Five writing groups are being formed, with chairs to be announced imminently. The writing groups are titled buildings, energy, transport and mobility, sustainable consumption and green and blue spaces. Each group will meet 4 times between late July and mid-September. The City Council intends to keep tabs on progress, provide support (such as group facilitators) and help groups co-ordinate between each other. The council is also sourcing technical experts to help in the process.
Each group has two objectives - namely “to deliver a measurable reduction of at least 1 million tonnes of Manchester’s annual CO2 emissions by 2020” and “to build awareness, understanding and capacity of climate change issues, engaging communities and organisations throughout Manchester in the behaviour change needed to transform itself into a ‘low carbon city’ by 2020.”
By early October a draft will be available for all those involved in the writing to comment upon (there'll be a one-off meeting), before the Plan is sent through the Council mincing machine to emerge at the Executive meeting of November 18. Various key Council figures have been at pains to emphasise that the Action Plan is not a “final” document, but one that will be revised and refined over the coming years, as more organisations are invited to get involved and share 'ownership' of it.
Points to ponder: Exactly how will the Plan be reviewed and re-shaped over the coming year? By whom? With what authority? How will it mesh with national and regional plans? How can turf wars and bureaucratic inertia be designed out from the beginning?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment