Climate Change champion appointed in Liverpool

The Mayor of Liverpool is to appoint the city’s first Climate Change champion to the city council’s cabinet, with Liverpool City Council set to declare a Climate Change Emergency.

Laura Robertson-Collins will become cabinet member for Environment and Sustainability, with her first move in the job to be passing a motion that will require the city council to cut its carbon output to zero by 2030.

Robertson-Collins will oversee the leaders of all four political parties in the region pledging to commit the city council to work with individuals and partners across Liverpool to support them in reaching a net zero carbon position by 2030, primarily through reducing waste.

It is estimated Liverpool has already cut 840,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere since 2005 and has planted more half a million trees in the past 25 years, with Liverpool City Council currently on target to cut its carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2020.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “If we are to make a real difference to the threat posed by Climate Change we need to act now and lobby national Government to help cities like Liverpool achieve these carbon reduction targets.

“We’ve radically cut carbon emissions over the past decade but that is just the start. We can do so much more and the new cabinet member and select committee will have a wide remit to ensure we do. Laura has a fantastic track record as an environmental campaigner and will bring a real dynamism to this new role. She has a great awareness of the challenges the city faces and has an acute sense of how everyone has a part to play in this historic challenge.”

Robertson-Collins said: “I’m extremely honoured and excited to be asked to be the city’s first Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability. This role carries a huge responsibility to ensure the city council delivers what will be a radical programme to achieve a net zero carbon position by 2030. The decade ahead is going to shape the rest of this century in how we tackle climate change – and the only real way to achieve that is for everyone to play their part.

“We all need a complete overhaul of how we think about air quality and transport, from getting to work and to school to how we take holidays. Cities like Liverpool also need to improve bio-diversity and our natural environment – be it through more wildflower meadows to how we promote community gardening and producing more locally grown food. The key to all of this is about reducing waste especially at home,from food packaging to composting.

“Tackling Climate Change is going to be a long journey and we’re just at the beginning. The city council and its partners can achieve a lot, but we need the people of Liverpool to be with us every step of the way to avoid this emergency becoming a full blown catastrophe.”