Local and Global: Manchester Climate Meeting Update

Manchester Climate Forum organised a meeting last night at the Friends Meeting House and Dr. Victoria Johnson of the New Economics Foundation and Cllr Richard Cowell, the Executive member for the Environment were the invited speakers. On the agenda was the climate change issues facing us locally and globally. This is a brief summary of some of the questions that were asked, responses and issues that were brought up. Please feel free to add your comments, further questions or anything that has been missed out.

Global and Copenhagen

Dr. Johnson was at the Poznan meeting which is the run-up to the Copenhagen agreement and talked about the real possibility of international agreement amongst the major players such as the US, Europe, India and China.

“There is the possibility of international agreement but we will probably end up with a weaker agreement at Copenhagen. With the US's New Green Deal and other process there have been some good proposals for greening the economy. All that government's care about is jobs and the economy and if you can show that you can effectively green your way out of recession, then that will gather more support.”

Questions from the audience to Victoria also included why carbon emission trading schemes were still being used when they were clearly fail to reduce CO2. She replied that:

“Well , I don't think that carbon trading doesn't work rather the cap has been set too high and the prices too low. You have to get those right and I don't think they are and so they aren't actually having any effect.”

Local and Call to Action

Cllr Richard Cowell who attracted most of the questions, was eager to highlight the 'Call to Action'- Manchester council's latest climate strategy report.

“In terms of the Call to Action, I would say that it is very much a target driven report for a one million tonnes of CO2 reduction by 2020.

“In terms of the council's response I feel that the work that they do has to be absolutely embedded with the principles and the aims of what we want to do as a council, not as a sort of an add-on, not a bolt-on but something we could value across the different parts of the council.” [Emphasis added]

In response to questions of whether the Principles Document released in February 2008 is still binding -especially Principle 2 which states that the council will go above and beyond the government targets if the science dictates so and that it can be done without harming the poorest in Manchester- Cowell states:

“In terms of the government's increase to 80% reduction, I am hopeful that that will mean our targets will stand. But of course we will keep things under review.

“The concepts of the principle two were under the old target, so targets could essentially have increased and we will keep that under review.”

'Engagement' without Consultation

“Now, I can't continue to have consultation consultation of these bodies and issues, as I do think that really we have to start implementing. We have million's of reductions to make and we have to implement to reach them.

“I feel that the call to action is a way we can bring together and bring along a big variety of businesses, community groups, residents etc.”

“If there are ideas that can be achieved that we think are really good, that will work and bring about reductions and are in line with our strategy, then we will seek to implement those. It's not going to be a closed engagement but it's very much an open engagement.” [Emphasis added]

See previous blog posts on the analysis of the council's consultation and targets within the Call to Action.

MCFly 015: City Council's "Call to Action"

On Wednesday 14 January Manchester City Council will discuss its next steps in dealing with Climate Change. A report entitled “A Call to Action” is expected to be approved by the Executive (the 10 member group that is in effect the 'Cabinet'). The report was prepared by the environmental consultancy “Beyond Green”. Council officers would not disclose how much Beyond Green has been paid to produce the document.
The report, the Executive Summary of which can be seen here aims to “set out a new way of thinking” by focussing on “the advantages Manchester could realise through early, decisive action to tackle and adapt to climate change and shift to a low carbon economy.” It proposes "a programme of immediate action to demonstrate across different facets of city life” on “how we can cut our carbon footprint and at the same time sustain and increase prosperity and quality of life for Manchester residents.”

Background: In February 2008, Manchester City Council approved its "Climate Change Principles" With a headline of "a million tonnes a year less carbon dioxide by 2020", it laid out 17 principles under which it would act and three areas in which savings would be made. The Principles Document also promised a Climate Strategy would be released in 2008, and there would be six months of consultation on it.
This, as even casual observers will be aware, simply did not happen. No announcement was made, but following questioning, the Council did admit this, as reported in MCFly 3. July 21 2008. Since that document's release, AGMA has released the Mini-Stern (MCFly 2 and 3). Central Government has passed the Climate Change Act and created the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Internationally, climate negotiations towards a “new Kyoto” have moved at the pace of a particularly arthritic snail.

Analysis: Until the complete report is released, we must “wait and see.” Making snap judgements on the basis of an Executive Summary would be foolish. But, rushing in where angels fear to tread, MCFly notes that; the Principles Document was heavy on numbers and targets while the Call to Action is light, there is no mention of cycling, or food production. Crucially, the Principles Document promised 6 months of consultation, whereas this envisages “awareness raising and engagement,” a very different beast....
Ultimately, the Council will be judged not on its words, but its actions, in driving down Manchester's carbon emissions and preparing sensibly for the dramatic changes that will unfold over the coming decades.

Timetable of Council plans
Jan 2009: Call to Action published
Jan-Mar 2009: Detailed action planning
Spring-Summer 2009:

• Community awareness raising and engagement through the “Proud Of” campaign.
• Engagement through implementation of the proposed ‘catalytic’ actions

Late 2009: Final Manchester climate change action plan published

More information: MCFly will blog about this on Wednesday 14th, after the Executive Meeting. We will link through to the main report, and get opinions and analysis from groups and individuals.
Cllr Richard Cowell will be speaking at the “Climate Change: Global and Local” event on Tuesday 10 February at the Friends Meeting House .

The City Council's "Call to Action" on Climate Change

Context
In February 2008, Manchester City Council approved its "Climate Change Principles." With a headline of "a million tonnes a year less carbon dioxide by 2020", it laid out 17 principles under which it would act and three areas in which savings would be made.

The Principles Document also promised a Climate Strategy would be released in 2008, and there would be six months of consultation on it.

This, as even casual observers will be aware, simply did not happen. No announcement was made, but following questioning, the Council did admit this, as reported in Manchester Climate Fortnightly no 3, July 21st 2008

Now, the Council Executive, made up of 10 members (all Labour Party) out of the full council of 96 councillors, will meet on Wednesday January 14th. There are other items on the agenda, of course, but it is being asked to approve a "Call to Action." on climate change. The 13 page executive summary of the report has been released, and can be downloaded here.

MCFly will release a more detailed report of this document tomorrow, but for now the following snippets from the document will suffice.
They are, in order of appearance (drum roll please)
1) the recommendations to the council,
2) the aims of the full report,
3) the proposed timetable for action in 2009
and- put last to keep you reading through to the end-
4)the Inevitable Controversial Bit About The Airport.

1) Members of the Executive are being asked to

1. Approve the Climate Change Call to Action and the implementation of the ‘catalytic actions’ set out in this report.

2. Support the engagement of residents, businesses and stakeholder organisations in wide ranging debates and actions to create a framework and level of support for the Climate Change Action Plan.

3. Ask Officers to report on this Action Plan later in 2009, which will incorporate a full route-map to achieving a reduction in Manchester’s carbon emissions of over one million tonnes a year by 2020.

4. Approve the establishment of an Environmental Strategy Programme Board chaired by the Chief Executive to oversee the work programmes and the development of a clear funding strategy.

2) It is claimed that the full report, (which will be available on Wednesday January 14th),

Sets out a new way of thinking, grounded in Manchester’s Community Strategy, which focuses on the advantages Manchester could realise through early, decisive action to tackle and adapt to climate change and shift to a low carbon economy;

Describes the role of the City of Manchester in a global, national and city- regional context in leading the response to climate change and the specific areas of work Manchester needs to focus on to make early, telling inroads into the city’s carbon footprint; and

Proposes a programme of immediate action to demonstrate across different facets of city life how we can cut our carbon footprint and at the same time sustain and increase prosperity and quality of life for Manchester residents.

3) The timetable envisaged is as follows-

Jan 2009: This Call to Action published
Jan-Mar 2009: Detailed action planning
Spring-Summer 2009:

• Community awareness raising and engagement through the “Proud Of” campaign
• Engagement through implementation of the proposed ‘catalytic’ actions

Late 2009: Final Manchester climate change action plan published

4) And finally for now, that Bit About the Airport

(page 11)
9. A green Airport.
Manchester Airport is one of the principal components of economic growth in Manchester. The City Council’s agrees that global rates of air traffic growth are unsustainable in the long term, but believes that it is not a realistic option for individual airports or cities to suppress their growth unilaterally ahead of international agreements that lead to orderly reductions in overall emissions. Manchester Airport has produced an Environment Plan as part of its Master Plan to 2030 and committed to becoming carbon neutral in its site energy use and ground vehicle operations. The City Council will fully support the Airport to achieve its aims.


Watch this space