Three years after Bristol declared a climate emergency, not enough has changed say Greens

It is three years since Bristol’s climate emergency declaration gained unanimous cross-party support, but the councillor behind the motion is frustrated at the pace of change.

Carla Denyer, who has gone on to become the Green Party co-leader, says she looks back at that historic moment with feelings of pride but also despair at the lack of concrete action since.

In November 2018, Bristol City Council became the first in the country to declare a climate emergency and pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030, sparking a flurry of similar announcements from councils and organisations across the UK.

Denyer argues that while many councillors were happy to “jump on the climate emergency bandwagon”, few have proved willing to act accordingly.

However, the Labour administration has refuted these claims and says there have been a number of achievements in recent years, from a commitment to dedicate 30 per cent of council land to nature to a £42m investment on retrofitting council-owned homes.

Reflecting on the last three years, Denyer says: “I am proud that the Green Party councillors led Bristol to make the first climate emergency declaration in Europe, and kick-started a wave of similar declarations across at least three-quarters of the UK’s local authorities, as well as many other governments and organisations.

“Many of these declarations were accompanied by ambitious new carbon reduction targets, making a substantial contribution to tackling the climate crisis.

“However, I also feel frustration, and sometimes even despair. Because three years later, not enough has changed. Bristol, the UK and other countries across the world have commissioned reports and made positive noises, but ultimately changed very little.”

Denyer added: “I do not get the sense that the politicians from the other parties – who were happy to jump aboard the Climate Emergency bandwagon, have properly grasped that acknowledging that we’re in an emergency means that we need to act like it – things need to change, urgently. We’ve seen this at both an international level, with COP, and locally here in Bristol.”

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Read more: Bristol’s first citywide climate strategy published

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A climate emergency action plan, developed by the One City environment board, was published in  February 2020, with authors calling for “fundamental and radical changes” for Bristol to achieve its carbon neutrality vision by 2030.

Among the actions proposed in the document is a significant increase in active travel, transforming freight, aviation and shipping, retrofitting buildings, heat decarbonisation, restoring and protecting wildlife and moving to a more plant-based and sustainable diet.

But Green councillors have criticised the strategy for a lack of concrete actions.

They have also hit out at the Labour administration for failing to oppose the proposed expansion of Bristol Airport and for “weakening” proposals for a workplace parking levy put forward by the Greens.

Green councillors say Bristol Airport’s proposed expansion is at odds with work to tackle climate change – image courtesy of Bristol Airport

Labour and Conservative councillors expressed reservations about the parking proposed levy, saying it could be a tax that companies pass onto employees.

In his State of the City address last month, mayor Marvin Rees expressed his administration’s commitment to the environment, saying: “On climate, we have worked with the city to agree and collectively commit to the One City climate strategy and its 2030 carbon neutral and climate resilience targets.

“We launched our Ecological Emergency Action Plan. The plan was led by Avon Wildlife Trust and developed with 36 organisations.”

Among the commitments made in the plan are:

• 30 per cent of council land being managed for nature.
• A 50 per cent reduction in the use of pesticides.
• Ensuring 100 per cent of Bristol’s waterways are fit to support healthy wildlife.
• A reduction of products that undermine the health of wildlife and ecosystems.

Rees said the council has invested £22m in renewable energy projects and pledged to double the city’s tree canopy by 2046.

He added: “As the country starts asking Government how it will fund its zero-carbon strategy, we are already working with the World Economic Forum and the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission to connect cities with the public and private finance we need to fund our de-carbonisation.

“The cost of decarbonising Bristol alone is nearly £10bn.”

Lily Fitzgibbon, who is the Green group’s shadow cabinet member for climate and ecology, alongside Denyer, said it is amazing to see the level of awareness as to the severity of the situation, but stated: “Awareness isn’t action, and we need to see concrete changes in the city to reach our net-zero target.”

Main photo courtesy of Bristol Green Party

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