The Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill is supported by 100 cross-party MP’s. This would be a great year to make such a Bill law – ensuring the UK demonstrates credible leadership as it hosts the crucial COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow in December. The CEE Bill aims to update the Climate Change Act 2008. It seeks to ensure that UK greenhouse gas emissions are reduced in a fair way internationally. It also requires better measures to protect and restore UK ecosystems. Crucially, it calls for democratic participation in policy making around protecting climate and ecology.
For further information on the CEE Bill please see this short video
Key Action
We are urging all those who are concerned about the Climate & Ecological Emergency to write to local councillors and ask them to put forward a motion of support for the CEE Bill, or if they are a Devon County councillor, to support a motion being put forward to County Council councillors in April.
We are making this easy for you! Just click on the template letters below (opens in Google docs). From here you can copy and paste into your choice of word processing programme. Remember, individualised letters are always best!
Template letter to District councillor
Template letter to Devon County Council councillor
Please do share any responses you receive, either with us or on social media.
UPDATE: We are delighted that Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, has recently signed up to support the CEE Bill. This shows that campaigning and persuasion work!
Dear Cllr John Clatworthy
Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill
You may have heard of the Climate and Ecological Emergencies Bill, which has been drafted by a coalition of scientists, academics and lawyers with the precise aim of bringing the UK’s climate policy into line with evolving scientific advice, updating the Climate Change Act of 2008.
Over 100 MP’s now support the Bill, but some who say that they are sympathetic, are reluctant to support the bill because it is being presented as an Early Day Motion (EDM). However, the 2008 Climate Change Act, a hugely important piece of legislation, was originally presented as an EDM. To raise the profile of this proposed legislation, and hence persuade more MPs to back it, Local Authorities are being encouraged to pass a motion supporting the bill.
It would be very significant if ….. Council were to pass a motion supporting the Climate & Ecological Emergency bill as have, for example, Teignbridge DC and Oxfordshire CC. I am hoping you will feel able to draft and present a motion of this kind. An example motion is included in the attachment.
The severity of the situation we are in regarding the Climate & Ecological Emergency, and the Government’s poor record in dealing with it, is a situation of extreme concern. The government’s Green New Deal and Labour’s Green Recovery Plan have much to be welcomed and applauded. However, these plans have no chance of dealing with the emergency in the timescale required.
The Climate Action Tracker shows the UK is currently 3°C compatible (i.e., is on track for 3°C of global heating). All the legislation currently enacted and proposed won’t turn that round. Analysis has shown that, for example, were the Green Recovery Plan to be implemented tomorrow, that would not be enough to get us 1.5°C Paris Agreement compatible.
COP26 is a critical point in time. If countries from all round the world have not submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that are more ambitious than at present, then untold climate and ecological damage, with potentially uncontrollable heating potential, could be unleashed. It is especially important therefore that the UK implement policies to back up its rhetoric. And as host for COP26, the UK has more need than any to deliver.
The CEE Bill will commit us to the emissions reductions necessary to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C. It will ensure that we fairly account for the UK’s entire carbon footprint, bringing in shipping, aviation and embodied emissions from imported products, all currently excluded. It also commits us to the protection and active restoration of degraded ecosystems, the active management of carbon sinks, and a comprehensive set of metrics to assess progress.