This Council notes that Trafford was one of the first councils in the country to declare a climate emergency. This was as a result of a Green Party / Liberal Democrats motion two years ago in November 2018. This was passed with all-party support.

 

As a result of this, in September 2020 Trafford’s Carbon Neutral Framework, produced by Anthesis was published. The Council’s draft response was published at the same time.

 

The report from Anthesis states that:

 

-    We have only 7 years left at our current rate of polluting, to have used up Trafford’s entire carbon budget, as derived from the Paris Agreement.

-       We need to make massive cuts of 13.4% per year to our emissions to keep within our science-based budget.

-    “The decisive window for action is small, and rapidly closing …The Council must adopt a more proactive approach to this agenda and view the response to this agenda as a higher priority than previously.” (p.22)

 

Despite this stark situation:

 

-    There is no mechanism for considering our emissions in the decision-making process. So all our decisions are made without knowing the effects on our emissions.

-    The Council’s Covid recovery plan mentions the climate only once in passing.

-    The draft action plan in response to the Anthesis report doesn’t address the large amount of emissions created outside of Trafford, but caused by Trafford, e.g. in  food production. 

-    Very few staff have had carbon literacy training.

 

Therefore, this Council resolves:

 

1.    To provide quarterly and annual reporting on how much the Council has reduced its emissions. Trafford’s carbon budget is finite and the Council must treat it as carefully as it does its financial budget. (This can be done using proxy values such as energy used and miles travelled by various modes of transport.)

 

2.    To provide an overview of the climate impact at the start of every decision-making report. Every decision needs to be made knowing the climate implications. There will need to be extremely strong reasons for not taking the most effective decision each time. The green decisions are the ones that improve quality of life, support local businesses and help keep our residents healthier anyway, so this should be a win-win.

 

3.     To develop a chain of responsibility for our carbon budget, like the Council has with its financial budget. This would mean breaking down our annual carbon budget and ensuring that the different components all have a responsible officer.

 

4.     That the final response to the Anthesis report, in December 2020 will include ambitious timescales with real dates, starting with the quick wins.

 

5.     To make a plan that predicts the obstacles that might occur and looks ahead for solutions. Nothing can be allowed to derail this work.

 

6.    To work on reducing Trafford’s indirect emissions as well as direct emissions. Because most of the ‘stuff’ we use in Trafford is produced far away and shipped to us, we have responsibility for the emissions used in manufacturing and transporting these goods. This includes food. These emissions are harder to measure but the Council and partners can change its own behaviour and support residents, businesses and partners to do the same.

 

7.     To quickly develop an effective communications strategy to convey the importance of this work to residents, partners and businesses.

 

8.    To embed tackling the climate emergency and staying within our carbon budget as an additional key objective in the Covid recovery plan. This will mean that the Council’s responses to the two major crises we are facing are working together and not pulling in opposite direction.

 

9.     To urgently roll out carbon literacy training across a wide section of officers and Councillors.

It was moved and seconded that:

 

“This Council notes that Trafford was one of the first councils in the country to declare a climate emergency. This was as a result of a Green Party / Liberal Democrats motion two years ago in November 2018. This was passed with all-party support.

 

As a result of this, in September 2020 Trafford’s Carbon Neutral Framework, produced by Anthesis was published. The Council’s draft response was published at the same time.

 

The report from Anthesis states that:

 

-   We have only 7 years left at our current rate of polluting, to have used up Trafford’s entire carbon budget, as derived from the Paris Agreement.

-   We need to make massive cuts of 13.4% per year to our emissions to keep within our science-based budget.

-   “The decisive window for action is small, and rapidly closing …The Council must adopt a more proactive approach to this agenda and view the response to this agenda as a higher priority than previously.” (p.22)

 

Despite this stark situation:

 

-   There is no mechanism for considering our emissions in the decision-making process. So all our decisions are made without knowing the effects on our emissions.

-   The Council’s Covid recovery plan mentions the climate only once in passing.

-   The draft action plan in response to the Anthesis report doesn’t address the large amount of emissions created outside of Trafford, but caused by Trafford, e.g. in food production.

-   Very few staff have had carbon literacy training.

 

Therefore, this Council resolves:

 

1.     To provide quarterly and annual reporting on how much the Council has reduced its emissions. Trafford’s carbon budget is finite and the Council must treat it as carefully as it does its financial budget. (This can be done using proxy values such as energy used and miles travelled by various modes of transport.)

 

2.     To provide an overview of the climate impact at the start of every decision-making report. Every decision needs to be made knowing the climate implications. There will need to be extremely strong reasons for not taking the most effective decision each time. The green decisions are the ones that improve quality of life, support local businesses and help keep our residents healthier anyway, so this should be a win-win.

 

3.     To develop a chain of responsibility for our carbon budget, like the Council has with its financial budget. This would mean breaking down our annual carbon budget and ensuring that the different components all have a responsible officer.

 

4.     That the final response to the Anthesis report, in December 2020 will include ambitious timescales with real dates, starting with the quick wins.

 

5.     To make a plan that predicts the obstacles that might occur and looks ahead for solutions. Nothing can be allowed to derail this work.

 

6.     To work on reducing Trafford’s indirect emissions as well as direct emissions. Because most of the ‘stuff’ we use in Trafford is produced far away and shipped to us, we have responsibility for the emissions used in manufacturing and transporting these goods. This includes food. These emissions are harder to measure but the Council and partners can change its own behaviour and support residents, businesses and partners to do the same.

 

7.     To quickly develop an effective communications strategy to convey the importance of this work to residents, partners and businesses.

 

8.     To embed tackling the climate emergency and staying within our carbon budget as an additional key objective in the Covid recovery plan. This will mean that the Council’s responses to the two major crises we are facing are working together and not pulling in opposite direction.

 

9.     To urgently roll out carbon literacy training across a wide section of officers and Councillors.”

 

It was moved and seconded as an amendment that:

 

“This Council notes that Trafford was one of the first councils in the country to declare a climate emergency. This was as a result of a Green Party / Liberal Democrat motion two years ago in November 2018. This was, passed with all-party support.

 

As a result of this, in September 2020 Trafford’s Carbon Neutral Framework, produced by Anthesis was published. The Council’s draft response was published at the same time.

 

The report from Anthesis states that:

 

-       We have only 7 years left at our current rate of polluting, to have used up Trafford’s entire carbon budget before we have utilised Trafford’s entire carbon budget, as derived from the Paris Agreement.

-       We need to make massive cuts of 13.4% per year to our emissions to keep within our science-based budget and that the decisive window for action is small and rapidly closing.

-       “The decisive window for action is small, and rapidly closing …The Council must adopt a more proactive approach to this agenda and view the response to this agenda as a higher priority than previously.” (p.22)

 

Despite this stark situation:

 

-       There is no mechanism for considering our emissions in the decision-making process. So all our decisions are made without knowing the effects on our emissions.

-       The Council’s Covid recovery plan mentions the climate only once in passing.

-       The draft action plan in response to the Anthesis report doesn’t address the large amount of emissions created outside of Trafford, but caused by Trafford, e.g. in  food production. 

-       Very few staff have had carbon literacy training.

 

Therefore, this Council resolves welcomes the Labour administration’s work to bring forward a Carbon Neutral Action Plan, set to be considered by the Executive this month, and agrees the following actions and commitments many of which are in the Carbon Neutral Action Plan or already in place:

 

1.    To provide quarterly and annual reporting on how much the Council has reduced its emissions. Trafford’s carbon budget is finite and the Council must treat it as carefully as it does its financial budget. (This can be done using proxy values such as energy used and miles travelled by various modes of transport.)

 

        To consider carbon reduction implications alongside sustainability at the start of every decision-making report, in the same way as the Council considers Equality and Diversity, Health and Wellbeing and a range of other key factors. Every decision needs to be made knowing the climate implications alongside these existing critical considerations, and this will extend to include business case reports as well as formal Council reports. Council further supports the following actions proposed by the Executive in the Carbon Neutral Action Plan: adding Climate Change onto the Corporate Risk Register; including carbon reduction weighting in all procurement decisions through environmental social value requirements; and ensuring carbon reduction measures are included in the development briefs/business cases for all developments on council sites (for example tree cover/energy creation).

 

2.    To provide an overview of the climate impact at the start of every decision-making report. Every decision needs to be made knowing the climate implications. There will need to be extremely strong reasons for not taking the most effective decision each time. The green decisions are the ones that improve quality of life, support local businesses and help keep our residents healthier anyway, so this should be a win-win.

 

3 2.  To develop a chain of responsibility for our carbon budget, like the Council has with its financial budget. This would mean breaking down our annual carbon budget and ensuring that the different components all have a responsible officer.

 

4 3.  That the final response to the Anthesis report, in December 2020 being considered by the Executive this month will include ambitious timescales with real dates, a range of short, medium and long term actions starting with the quick wins. Short terms actions should be implemented by Spring 2022, medium term actions by Autumn 2024, and long term actions to be completed post 2024.

 

5.    To make a plan that predicts the obstacles that might occur and looks ahead for solutions. Nothing can be allowed to derail this work.

 

4.     To work with other agencies and authorities on reducing Trafford’s indirect emissions as well as direct emissions.

 

6.    To work on reducing Trafford’s indirect emissions as well as direct emissions. Because most of the ‘stuff’ we use in Trafford is produced far away and shipped to us, we have responsibility for the emissions used in manufacturing and transporting these goods. This includes food. These emissions are harder to measure but the Council and partners can change its own behaviour and support residents, businesses and partners to do the same.

 

75.   To quickly develop an effective communications strategy including a discrete section on the Council’s website to convey the importance of this work to residents, partners and businesses. Further, to establish a Resident Panel and a Business Panel to support our work and to convene a Citizen’s Assembly within 12 months to inform decision making in this area and increase resident engagement and involvement in the fight against climate change.

 

8.    To embed tackling the climate emergency and staying within our carbon budget as an additional key objective in the Covid recovery plan. This will mean that the Council’s responses to the two major crises we are facing are working together and not pulling in opposite direction.

 

96.  To urgently continue to roll out the carbon literacy training already put in place by the Labour administrationacross a wide section of officers and Councillors, recognising that because there is an element of face to face training in this programme this will be accelerated when people are safely back in the workplace.

 

Council further resolves that updates on our progress in reducing emissions against our carbon budget should be publicly available on a six-monthly basis.”

 

With the consent of the meeting the mover of the amendment altered the amendment as follows:

 

-        removal of wording in point 1 “Council further supports the following actions proposed by the Executive in the Carbon Neutral Action Plan etc.”

-        addition to point 4. “To work with other agencies and authorities on reducing Trafford’s indirect emissions as well as direct emissions,in contributing to the Government’s ambitious target of cutting emissions by 68% by 2030 based on 1990 levels.”

 

(Note: During the debate, the time being 9:15 p.m., the Mayor indicated that speeches on this matter would now be limited to a maximum of two minutes per speaker.)

 

Following a debate on the matter, the amendment, as altered was put to the vote and declared carried. The Substantive Motion was then put to the vote and declared carried.

 

RESOLVED: That this Council notes that Trafford was one of the first councils in the country to declare a climate emergency, passed with all-party support.

 

As a result of this, in September 2020 Trafford’s Carbon Neutral Framework, produced by Anthesis was published. The Council’s draft response was published at the same time.

 

The report from Anthesis states that:

 

-  We have only 7 years left before we have utilised Trafford’s entire carbon budget, as derived from the Paris Agreement.

-   We need to make cuts of 13.4% per year to our emissions to keep within our science-based budget and that the decisive window for action is small and rapidly closing.

 

Therefore, this Council welcomes the Labour administration’s work to bring forward a Carbon Neutral Action Plan, set to be considered by the Executive this month, and agrees the following actions and commitments many of which are in the Carbon Neutral Action Plan or already in place:

 

1.    To consider carbon reduction implications alongside sustainability at the start of every decision-making report, in the same way as the Council considers Equality and Diversity, Health and Wellbeing and a range of other key factors. Every decision needs to be made knowing the climate implications alongside these existing critical considerations, and this will extend to include business case reports as well as formal Council reports. Council further supports the following actions in the Carbon Neutral Action Plan: adding Climate Change onto the Corporate Risk Register; including carbon reduction weighting in all procurement decisions through environmental social value requirements; and ensuring carbon reduction measures are included in the development briefs/business cases for all developments on council sites (for example tree cover/energy creation).

 

2.    To develop a chain of responsibility for our carbon budget, like the Council has with its financial budget. This would mean breaking down our annual carbon budget and ensuring that the different components all have a responsible officer.

 

3.     That the final response to the Anthesis report being considered by the Executive this month will include a range of short, medium and long term actions starting with the quick wins. Short terms actions should be implemented by Spring 2022, medium term actions by Autumn 2024, and long term actions to be completed post 2024.

 

4.     To work with other agencies and authorities on reducing Trafford’s indirect emissions as well as direct emissions in contributing to the Government’s ambitious target of cutting emissions by 68% by 2030 based on 1990 levels.

 

5.     To quickly develop an effective communications strategy including a discrete section on the Council’s website to convey the importance of this work to residents, partners and businesses. Further, to establish a Resident Panel and a Business Panel to support our work and to convene a Citizen’s Assembly within 12 months to inform decision making in this area and increase resident engagement and involvement in the fight against climate change.

 

6.     To continue to roll out the carbon literacy training already put in place by the Labour administration across a wide section of officers and Councillors, recognising that because there is an element of face to face training in this programme this will be accelerated when people are safely back in the workplace.

 

Council further resolves that updates on our progress in reducing emissions against our carbon budget should be publicly available on a six-monthly basis.