As global leaders meet at COP27 to discuss climate global action,the leader of Manchester City Council Cllr Bev Craig, has written an open letter to the PM, Rishi Sunak to discuss the role cities can play in addressing the urgent challenge of climate change and what the Government needs to do to support it.
In the letter Craig,who briefly met the Prime Minister last week at the King’s reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the COP27 summit,said that Manchester, and Greater Manchester, have committed to an ambitious target of becoming net zero carbon by 2038 at the latest – 12 years ahead of the UK target of 2050.
“In Manchester” she writes,”guided by climate experts, we have gone further and set a science-based carbon budget for our city”
She is calling for Government to get serious and bring forward the national target to become net zero to 2038 or earlier, following Manchester’s example, and to produce a carbon budget for the UK as a whole
She also calls for more Government support to retrofit domestic properties and for more for active support to unlock public and private green finance to fund essential works that will reduce carbon emissions, tackle climate change and enable cities, and the country as a whole, to be more climate resilient.
“If your Government is in earnest about delivering on the many climate pledges made by the UK – and as a city we would be eager to play our full part in achieving this – then a step change in ambition is required. I would urge you to seize this moment.”
