Ealing Climate Emergency

By Nic Ferriday

Climate change is – at long last – really on the agenda. Not just on BBC4 Radio or in the specialist press, but mentioned in all the serious media and recognised in the policies of government, business and trade unions.

This is not the place for a treatise on climate change. Suffice it to say that there will be more floods, forest fires, deaths, losses of livelihoods, crop failures, losses to the economy and mass migration. These impacts cannot be prevented entirely, but we can most certainly limit their severity by acting now. Compared with climate change, Coronavirus is a picnic in the park.

Until quite recently the number of sceptics, better called climate deniers, was large enough for them to be a significant impediment to action on climate change. But not any more. There remain more insidious forces opposing action on climate change, such as Donald Trump, libertarians and free market fundamentalists, but there is a real momentum now that the great majority of the public, politicians, journalists and businesses do not dispute the reality of climate change. The real impediment now is the majority in the ‘middle ground’, who know climate change is real and dangerous, but don’t want to do anything much about it.

Climate Emergency April 2019

As part of the collective response to climate change, Ealing Council, along with many other Councils, passed a ‘Climate Emergency’ motion back in April 2019. A ‘Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy’ (CEES) proposal was agreed by the Council Cabinet. in May 2020 and is now out for a first consultation. This is not a normal public consultation but is confined to stakeholders and interested groups. A ‘Citizens’ Review Panel’ has been appointed by Ealing Council but, at the time of writing, the composition of the board and criteria for inclusion are not known.

So what does the draft strategy look like? Will it really address the huge issue of climate change?

It is too early to say. Ealing Council are to be congratulated on taking the issue forward. It would have been only too easy to say there are there are more immediate issues, namely Coronavirus, to worry about. Acting on climate is a huge ask for a Council. With competing demands for staff time and savage cuts in funding, it will be hard to find resources to develop an effective strategy. But perhaps more important is that a complete change in mindset is needed. No longer will tedious and labyrinthine Council processes be enough. They will get us nowhere on the path to ‘zero carbon’ by 2030, the target of the Council’s motion.

Public Buy-In?

There are some major omissions in the draft strategy. The fact that the Council has no control over the great majority of emissions in the borough is not really addressed. Nor is the big increase in emissions due to the Council’s energy-inefficient tower block building policies. The fact that strategy does not really relate to the Council motion is also worrying. is perhaps public buy-in. If the vehement blanket opposition to ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ schemes is anything to go by, the omens are not good. If every proposal to address climate change faces the same level of opposition as this, local, regional and national government could be paralysed into inaction.

On the other hand, the response to Coronavirus gives hope. The populace has readily accepted drastic restrictions and impositions on daily life. If they can accept this for Coronavirus, perhaps they will accept the measures needed, which are less drastic, to head off the much greater threat that is climate change.