Cherwell District Council laid out plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2030 after becoming the latest council to declare a climate emergency.

On Monday (July 22) councillors unanimously backed the motion, proposed by Labour Councillor Mark Cherry at a full council meeting.

Introducing the motion, Cllr Cherry said:

“I don’t think we can argue the facts, we need to declare a climate emergency.

“Together we can do more. We must do more, for our children’s children’s sake”

Many members of the public watching in the chamber, of which there was a higher number than usual, showed their support by applauding the motion.

An amendment submitted by Conservative Councillor Andrew McHugh was accepted and the motion was voted for unanimously by councillors.

The motion requires the Leader of the Council to report back within six months with actions the Cherwell District Council will take to address this emergency and work towards becoming carbon neutral.

1. The motion reads: 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their October report stated that if the planet wants to avert dangerous climate breakdown, we need to cut emissions in half by 2030, and hit zero by the middle of the century.

Oxfordshire is already doing its bit: we are committed to reducing emissions from our own estate and activities by 3% a year. Unfortunately, our current plans are not enough. The IPCC’s report suggests that the world has just a dozen years left to restrict global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Should they increase by 2C, humanity’s capacity to prevent catastrophic food shortages, floods, droughts, extreme heat and poverty will be severely impaired. Limiting Global Warming to 1.5C may still be possible, but only with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities. Furthermore, bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities.

Cherwell District Council calls on the Leader to:

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;
2. Pledge to make Cherwell District Council carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions;
3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;
4. Continue to work with partners across the Cherwell and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies;
5. Report to Council within six months with the actions the Council will take to address this emergency.
6. Endorse the cross-party position taken by the LGA, in particular, a call on HMG to explore supporting domestic implementation of Sustainable Development Goals through funded partnership roles within each local authority area.