We ask that Redbridge Council declares a Climate Emergency, and addresses how individuals, families, communities, organisations and businesses may navigate the local and global crisis we are facing.

The (IPCC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report showed how the world is on track for a 3-4⁰C average global temperature rise. We have just twelve years to stay within a safer 1.5⁰C limit to avoid irreversible damage and catastrophic disasters around the world.

• Humans have caused irreversible climate change to Planet Earth; the impact of this is already being felt around the world
• Our current plans and actions are not enough. We must act now, decisively and radically, to reduce our carbon footprint.
• Individuals cannot be expected to make this reduction on their own. Society needs to change its laws, taxation and infrastructure, to make low-carbon living easier and the new norm.

Whilst the UN climate agreement is a positive step, it's not enough and it's not legally binding in any way. This global problem needs a collective response.
City Councils around the world are responding by declaring a Climate Emergency and committing resources to address this emergency. The Mayor of London declared a climate emergency in December 2018 and the London borough of Lambeth in January, joining twenty-four other UK city councils (see https://climateemergency.uk/blog/category/climate-emergency/)

The more councils declare a climate emergency and take action the stronger the pressure on the UK government will be to do the same and support our councils. Then we shall see the essential systemic changes required begin to happen. We call on Redbridge Council to be the next council to make this declaration.

Therefore, we the undersigned petition Redbridge Council to:

1. declare a Climate Emergency and review the council’s current carbon reduction plans, taking active steps to inform the local community of the risks presented by climate change
2. begin a 6-month consultative process whereby the Local Resilience Forum reaches out to individuals, families, communities, organisations, businesses and other relevant stakeholders and engage in an honest conversation on actions to take
3. set out and communicate a public action plan to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030.
4. Further, we ask the council to call on government and the Mayor of London to give Redbridge Council the powers and funding to enable it to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Please show your support for this call to action of Redbridge council by signing and sharing this petition with everyone who cares about a future on this planet.