Worthing councillors unanimously back motion on Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill

The bill was discussed during a full council meeting on Tuesday (October 19) after Helen Silman (Lab, Heene) put forward a motion asking her fellow members to note it.

Neighbouring local authority Adur District Council backed a declaratory motion on the bill in July following a motion from Green councillor Gabe Crisp (St Nicolas).

Ms Silman drew attention to a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which was published in August.

It said that global temperature rise could exceed 1.5 to 2 degrees centigrade ‘unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in green house gas emissions’.

Ms Silman called on the council to use its influence to ‘lead others to change and respond to climate change’ by ‘setting the best possible example’.

What is the bill?

The CEE Bill is currently awaiting a second reading in Parliament.

It was proposed by Brighton Pavilion Green MP Caroline Lucas and has the support of 115 MPs and around 30 peers.

If passed, the bill would require the Prime Minister to declare a climate and ecological emergency to conserve and restore nature.

This could include reducing emissions; restoring and protecting biodiverse habitats; making legally binding targets such as limiting warming to 1.5 degrees; and establishing and consulting a citizens’ assembly.

Why was this put to the council?

Ms Silman said she would ‘make no apologies’ for presenting the bill at length, saying: “We face two interrelated crises: the threat of climate change and the threat of biodiversity collapse.

“We have to remember the fearful weather events which resulted in the loss of human and animal life.

“Images of animals burned to death are etched in our minds and the minds of our children.

“Fires, floods, extreme heat, prolonged drought, ferocious destructive winds and even plague in the form of covid, have assailed animal, plant and human existence throughout the world in the last year or two.

“We human beings are the only species with agency, we know what we have to do: we need to stop emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere where they don’t disperse, they accumulate.”

Ms Silman acknowledged that it is ‘very tempting’ to turn away from ‘an unbearable painful reality’ but said that ‘we mustn’t give up’ with the COP26 conference in Glasgow in just ten days.

“We need a legally enforceable nature target in the UK and the Climate and Ecology Bill is designed to do just that,” she said.

“There is so much in the world we cannot prevent, but by supporting this motion we may influence what we do locally and in the wider UK to protect and enhance the natural world.”

She told councillors that it had ‘become a platitude’ to talk about the ‘horrific legacy’ older generations may leave to children and grandchildren.

“It may be a platitude, but it’s also true,” she said, “We’re not only taking away from children (now and in future generations) the natural conditions essential for them to thrive -we’re taking away so much joy that comes from simple experiences such as hearing birds sing and discovering lifeforms on our coast and the Downs.”

Emma Taylor (Lab, Heene) seconded the motion and said this ‘urgent matter is beyond party politics’.

She said: “The climate and ecological emergency is humanity’s greatest challenge.

“We’ve been waiting 30 or more years for successive governments to catch up with the science and put systems and plans in place to avoid this catastrophe.