Emergency climate lockdown9/12/2023 ![]() Our Climate Change Officer is working to establish the carbon emissions from council operations to inform our action plan. ![]() ![]() We have put in place a cross-party Climate Change Councillor Working Group reporting to the Policy and Resources Committee. Our ambition is to reduce emissions from the facilities we operate and the services we deliver as quickly as possible towards our goal of net-zero by 2030. Direct measurements of carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere are recorded regularly by NASA.Ĭanterbury City Council is working on a clear plan to respond to the climate emergency. Net zero means, overall, no more CO2 and other greenhouse gases are generated than are absorbed by the world’s natural systems. A number of countries, including the UK, have committed to moving away from fossil fuels and have set net zero emissions targets. Research has shown to stop climate change, our overall CO2 emissions need to fall to zero. What do we need to do about climate change in our district?Ĭurrent C02 emissions in the Canterbury district and our potential path to net zero The consequences for life on the planet of increased global temperatures are likely to be severe and urgent action needs to be taken by all of us to reduce our carbon emissions. This increase warms the planet and leads to an imbalance in the systems that control the world’s climate. The causes and effects of climate change are complicated.Ī simple explanation is that burning fossil fuels like petrol, diesel, oil, gas and coal is increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. What is climate change and why is it an emergency?Ĭlimate change is the term used to describe a shift in the planet’s weather patterns and average temperatures. Canterbury City Council has declared a climate emergency and is committed to take urgent action to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. Towns and cities need to be climate friendly and able to cope with the negative effects of changing weather patterns. But it is essential we address this challenge at a local level. The Met Office currently has a heat-health alert service aimed at letting the caring professions know if hot weather is likely to pose a risk to vulnerable individuals or the wider public.Action on climate change is a global priority. We’re working on that across Government at the moment.” “So what value would add and also understanding probably most importantly of all, what we tell people to do or what we advise people to do. “What we need to do is understand how the use of an emergency alert would complement and sit on top of the existing alert service services,” said Mr Land. Heatwave warnings could be added to the Government’s new emergency alert system, which sends messages to mobile phones warning when there is a threat to life. Last month was the warmest May in the sea-surface temperature around the near-coastal waters of the UK since the late 19th century. The legacy of last year’s droughts have already triggered hosepipe bans in the south of England.Įxperts also said that record-breaking temperatures in the North Atlantic are likely to continue for some time. Hitting another 40C this year was still unlikely “but not impossible” the Met Office said, while there was a chance of thunderstorms that could be set off by the hot weather. The comments were made during a briefing on the likelihood of a heatwave this summer. “We’ll get that warm warming trend towards those kinds of continental type heat conditions, but with the variability that we get from our position sticking out in the Atlantic at the same time,” he said. Will Lang, the Met Office head of situational awareness, said climate change could also bring more extreme rain even during the summer. “But I don’t think that a Mediterranean climate is going to be a very good analogue for the future UK climate, because we’re still going to see a lot more variability in our weather.” Extreme rain “That would be like transforming the summer temperatures of London into something like historically we might have seen in Nice,” said Jeff Knight, a prediction scientist. Summer temperatures could rise 4C on average in southern England, and hit 40C (104F) with increasing regularity by 2070, meteorologists said on Wednesday.īut while the Mediterranean has “very consistent patterns of weather that last throughout the summer” the UK is more prone to fluctuations that bring wind, rain and cloud, they said. Climate change may make British summers as hot as the south of France but it will still be a lot rainer in the UK than Nice, the Met Office has said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |