Climate and Ecological Emergency Working Group

The whole world was given stark warning of the dangers which climate change presents and the urgent actions which need to take place to address them by the report of the IPCC in October 2018 and again in July 2021. This has been embedded in Scottish and UK policy through the work of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

Glasgow City Council's declaration of a climate and ecological emergency was a key local response to the IPCC report and our local progress towards a safer planet will now incorporate the recommendations of the CCC.

The Climate Emergency Working Group, which included representation from all political groups of the Council as well as a range of representation from key sectors, was established at the meeting of the Environment, Sustainability and Carbon Reduction City Policy Committee on 5 February 2019. The Council declared a climate and ecological emergency at its meeting of 16 May 2019.

The working group produced a report, with the input of many expert stakeholders, which made 61 recommendations, with a target for the city to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2030 at its heart.

• Link to the report 
• News article

When the Council declared a climate and ecological emergency, it also agreed that, following presentation of the Climate Emergency Working group's report, a short life process should be put in place in order to establish whether additional recommendations are required to address the ecological aspects of the emergency specifically.

The Ecological Emergency Working Group, which included representation from all political groups of the council as well as representatives from key sectors and conservation organisations, produced a report, with input from expert and independent stakeholders, which made 25 recommendations, with the ambition to halt and reverse biodiversity and habitat decline in the city.

• Link to the report