Responding to the announcement that Andy Burnham has been chosen as Labour candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor, Pete Abel from Manchester Friends of the Earth said: “We need urgent action from our regional leaders to slash greenhouse gas emissions and clean up our badly polluted air. “Andy Burnham and candidates for Greater Manchester Mayor from all parties must commit to policies for a low carbon, healthy and environmentally-just region – such as a home retrofit scheme, Clean Air Zones and going frack-free. “We welcome the commitment Andy Burnham made of a presumption of opposition to fracking during the Labour candidacy contest, and call on all candidates to adopt a frack-free position and support for a thriving renewable energy industry in Greater Manchester.” The Greater Manchester Mayor will have to implement solutions to meet many social and environmental challenges. These include rising transport & energy costs, traffic congestion, ill health and rising obesity levels, poor air quality and the need to drastically reduce CO2 emissions.
Manchester FoE 9th Aug 2016 read more »
Nottingham has slashed it carbon emissions by a third since 2005, meeting a target the City Council set for 2020 four years early. Nottingham City Council reported late last week that new central government statistics have confirmed the city’s emissions were down 33 per cent last year against the 2005 baseline, comfortably beating the target of a 26 per cent reduction by 2020 that had been set by the Council. “Nottingham is at the forefront of sustainability awareness and these latest figures maintain the city’s position as the UK’s most energy self-sufficient city,” he said in a statement. “Data shows that since 2011-12 there has been a significant fall in the city’s carbon emissions due to a reduction in domestic energy use. This coincides with our programme of energy saving investments in social housing such as external wall insulation programmes which have also been open to private owners and the installation of solar panels on over 4,000 of council house roof tops.”
Business Green 9th Aug 2016 read more »