Green-led Stroud District Council is to write to the Prime Minister and the three MPs covering Stroud District, calling for their support for a fair and meaningful planned phase-out of fossil fuels, writes Sue Fenton.
At the full council meeting, 43 of the 45 councillors present voted to support a motion committing the council to endorse the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. One councillor voted against the motion and one abstained.
SDC will become the latest in at least 12 British councils to endorse the Treaty, which is a global effort to accelerate a transition to renewable energy for everyone and phase out the use of coal, oil and gas.
The Treaty is promoted locally by Global Justice Now, a movement campaigning for social justice for everyone.
As a result of the motion, proposed by Cllr Carol Kambites (Green, Stonehouse) and seconded by Cllr John Callinan (Labour, Stonehouse), the council will also ask the Chair of the Local Government Association to promote the Treaty among other councils. And it will ask the relevant Secretary of State to ask how Government will deliver a planned phase out of fossil fuels.
The motion commits the council to a rapid transition to net zero through an ambitious new Council Plan and by creating a new Climate and Nature Strategy.
Stroud District Council declared a climate emergency in January 2019 and pledged to do everything in its power to make Stroud District carbon neutral by 2030. But, says Cllr Kambites’ motion: “Carbon neutrality cannot be achieved by local action alone. Action is needed at local, national and international level. The scientific consensus is clear that fossil fuels are primarily responsible for accelerating global climate change, and that the climate crisis now represents one of the pre-eminent threats to global lives and livelihoods.”
Cllr Kambites said: “The effects of climate change are already being felt in Stroud District and elsewhere. This can only get worse. Climate change will threaten our ecology, for example the Cotswold beech woods that we value so much. Farming will become increasingly harder as our climate becomes more unpredictable.
“As a Green-led Council we are committed to do all in our power to reduce harmful carbon emissions, and we will continue to make the case for a widespread phase out of fossil fuels. We have a duty in line with our declaration of a climate emergency and our 2030 strategy to do all in our power to minimise the impact on local people.”
Summing up at the meeting, Cllr Kambites said: “It’s not about whether climate breakdown will happen but how fast it will happen, so we as a council have to do what we can.”
