Manchester adopts a climate plan for 41% cuts

Manchester Friends of the Earth have had serious success with their council.

The council has adopted a climate change action plan. The plan, called Manchester: A certain future, contains a target of cutting CO2 by 41% by 2020.

The target was set following a report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change.

The plan also aims to truly engage the community in climate change by involving:

Individuals
Neighbourhoods
Local Organisations

in rolling out 'low carbon thinking' across the city.

A serious summer

This follows a summer of dedicated camapaigning by the group.

Manchester Friends of the Earth:

Ran 10 stalls
Collected almost 1500 postcards

They also highlighted the campaign by getting a letter published in the Manchester Evening News.

Getting councillors on board

The group has spent the past few weeks travelling around the city lobbying all of their targeted councillors by handing over postcards.

See pictures on Manchester Friends of the Earth website.

Present at the top

Council Leader Richard Leese was convinced to come on board when the group gave him over 800 gift-wrapped postcards.

I think the council will Get Serious about CO2, and we'll be agreeing this week to a 41% reduction in emissions by 2020.

Sir Richard Leese, Leader, Manchester City Council

Councillor Leese also thought the campaign was a great way to drive local action on climate change.

We recognise to achieve that we need to get lots and lots of Manchester people engaged with the process and I think campaigns of this sort are a good way to get people first of all engaged and then going on to get them involved because without that we won't succeed.

Sir Richard Leese, Leader, Manchester City Council

Getting down to the detail

The group also used the good relationship they'd built with the council during their campaign for a congestion charge to influence the plan as it was being written.

They commented on the detail and made some key amendments to the plan.

It's great news that Manchester City Council has committed to a 41% cut in emissions by 2020, but now comes the real challenge - turning the action plan into reality.

We'll be keeping an eye on their progress, and pressing the other nine local authorities in Greater Manchester to show they're serious about climate change too.

Ali Abbas, Manchester Friends of the Earth

Find out more about Manchester Friends of the Earth