Agenda and minutes

Report of the Monitoring Officer

Report of the Group Director of Services

Report of the Group Director of Operations

Report of the Group Director of Operations

Report of the Group Director of Services

Climate Emergency

In light of the increased need for comprehensive and urgent action to avert the worst consequences of the global heating, I propose that this council updates the terms of its Climate Emergency Declaration, agreed by Council at its meeting held on 18 July 2019, by renaming paragraphs g) and h) to h) and i) and inserting the following additional paragraph g) as follows :-

g) Acknowledge the impact of decisions made by Darlington Borough Council on the emissions across the whole Borough of Darlington, measure the carbon impact of decisions taken by the Council on the emissions across the whole Borough, monitor and declare the carbon emissions of the whole Borough of Darlington.

For clarity, if carried, the Council Motion will therefore read

a) Declare a 'Climate Emergency';

b) Sign up to a science-based carbon reduction target that is consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement of no more than 1.5°C global temperature increase;

c) Work with nurseries, schools and colleges to include age appropriate learning about climate change while calling for the national curriculum to be reformed to include "the ecological crisis as an educational priority";

d) Work to make Darlington Borough Council carbon neutral by 2050 and call on central government to provide funding and powers to make this possible;

e) Work with other organisations and governments within the UK and internationally to determine and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than1.5°C;

f) Work with partners to run a conversation with residents, Trade Unions, public sector organisations, businesses and the third sector on developing a plan with the actions and milestones required to reach this target;

g) Acknowledge the impact of decisions made by Darlington Borough Council on the emissions across the whole Borough of Darlington, measure the carbon impact of decisions taken by the Council on the emissions across the whole Borough, monitor and declare the carbon emissions of the whole Borough;

h) Set up a cross-party working group to develop an action plan and milestones to achieve carbon neutral status;

i) Report the progress to Full Council every 6 months.

Climate Emergency

This Council recalls the Climate Emergency resolution that was agreed by Council at its meeting held on 18 July 2019.  

This Council resolves to make the following change to that resolution: 

delete paragraph d) and replace it with the following :-

d) Work to make Darlington Borough Council carbon neutral by 2030 and call on central government to provide funding and powers to make this possible.

Note – Should the 2019 Motion be amended by Agenda Item 10 (a) above, the above Motion will refer to the 2019 Motion, as subsequently amended.