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Council notes:
 that the impacts of climate breakdown are already causing serious damage
around the world;
 that the ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C’, published by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in October 2018, (a)
describes the enormous harm that a 2°C average rise in global
temperatures is likely to cause compared with a 1.5°C rise, and (b)
confirms that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with
ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society
and the private sector;
 that all governments (national, regional and local) have a duty to act, and
local governments that recognise this should not wait for their national
governments to change their policies;
 that strong policies to cut emissions also have associated health, wellbeing
and economic benefits;
 and that, recognising this, a growing number of UK local authorities have
already passed ‘Climate Emergency’ motions
In Greenwich:
 The consequences of inaction to address this emergency will include:
– Increased risk of flooding, subsidence, and damage to buildings and
infrastructure
– Health problems, particularly for children, the disabled and older
people
– Higher energy and food costs
– Increases in social injustice and inequality
Council resolves to:
 Join other local authorities and declare a ‘climate emergency’.
 Pledge to make Royal Borough of Greenwich carbon neutral by 2030 – or
earlier if possible – and to make sure that in meeting this pledge the
Council takes steps to avoid any adverse impacts on vulnerable residents.
Pledge to develop a Greenwich Carbon Neutral Plan, detailing how the
Council’s pledge to become carbon neutral by 2030 will be achieved – and
requests that this Greenwich Carbon Neutral Plan is brought to Full
Council for approval by January 2020 at the latest.
 Pledge to produce, in January of each year between now and 2030,
a Greenwich Climate Emergency Annual Report, detailing the Council’s
progress against the Greenwich Carbon Neutral Plan – which will enable
members, residents and other local stakeholders to hold the Council to
account for delivery of this pledge.
 Pledge to review and update the Action Plan of the Greener Greenwich
Strategy. We aim to have this completed by December 2019. We will
publish an Annual Report outlining the progress we have made against
these actions.
 Pledge to create the first Greenwich Partnership to focus on climate
change and ask our partner organisations across Greenwich to make clear
commitments to dealing with this crisis.
 Use our lobbying power as a local authority to campaign at the local,
London-wide and national level to draw attention to issue and bring about
changes at all levels of government
 Pledge that the Core Strategy will be reviewed to help ensure we deliver
our Carbon Neutral target.
 Pledge to explore all opportunities to divest our pension fund investments,
while discharging the relevant fiduciary responsibilities to members of the
pension fund, and work to ensure that wherever possible any future
investments are assessed against these principles.
 Pledge to ensure that sustainability is central to our Procurement strategy.
 Pledge to make this council free of single-use plastics by 2020 and work
towards reducing the use of single-use plastics across all council buildings.