Climate emergency declared in Worcestershire

A climate emergency has been declared in the county.

Worcestershire County Council has agreed to declare a climate emergency following an urgent call by a number of Labour and Lib Dem councillors.

By declaring a climate emergency, the county council has now recognised the need to act on the causes and impacts of climate change, and commits to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

Some councillors had called for a 2035 target but it was rejected by the council’s Conservative administration who said 2050 was in line with the government’s target.

After the meeting, Cllr Dan Boatright, who was one of the councillors that made the call, said he was proud to see the proposals accepted but was disappointed by the carbon neutral target being pushed back.

“The climate change emergency motion will ensure that we will have real focus in tackling the change we will see in the coming years,” he said.

“It is good that Worcestershire has finally caught up with the majority of other councils in the country, but I am disappointed that the Conservatives amended the motion to push back the target to be carbon neutral by 2050 instead of the 2035 date that we proposed.

“I will continue to be an advocate for an earlier date so that we can truly take the climate change emergency seriously and ensure our economic and environmental security for generations to come.”

Cllr Tony Miller, cabinet member for the environment, called for the carbon neutral target to be pushed back to 2050 and said the council was doing a “tremendous” amount of work already.

A previous attempt by Green councillor Matthew Jenkins to declare a climate change emergency was rejected by the Conservatives in 2019.

Cllr Marc Bayliss, cabinet member for economy and skills, said declaring a climate emergency was important and action needed to be taken but took a swipe at opposition councillors saying that declaring an emergency would deprive them of the opportunity to “inaccurately” say the council was in denial about climate change.

“It has not been the case, it has never been the case,” he said during a full meeting of Worcestershire County Council at County Hall on Thursday (July 15).

“In fact, the reverse is true. This council has been leading the way.”