The Route to Zero (R20) Taskforce, created in Autumn 2019, brings together stakeholders from Birmingham City Council, the West Midlands Combined Authority, the NHS, higher education, the business community, faith communities, young climate strikers, climate campaigners and environmental organsiations. It has met regularly to take practical action to tackle the climate crisis.
The Taskforce’s recommendations for a greener city will be going to Full Council at 2pm on Tuesday 15 September. It can be viewed live via the link here, and papers for the meeting will be available from 8 September here.
We are keen that the carbon reduction recommendations are accepted by the Full Council, but the rate of change, scale of ambition and implementation of them need to be sped up significantly in order to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon by 2030. This set of recommendation needs to become a robust plan for action by the end of 2020 in order to give us a chance of success. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a significant shift in the Council’s policy, behaviour and impact; and is key to how we build back better from COVID-19.
Unless there is an evidence base we must stick to the 2030 goal.
In the Big Green Conversation last year, residents of the city said they wanted to:
- Protect green and blue spaces
- Improve sustainable travel
- Tackle plastic and waste
We need your help to make this happen. We encourage you to write to/email your councillors to support and speed up the Council’s ambition.
You can find your local councillor’s contact information here.
A draft letter can be found here along with some suggested text to Tweet your councillor.
Thank you for your support.
Photo of Birmingham Climate Strikers by Callum Shaw on Unsplash.