DCS Ben Hargreaves, Don Gobbett, Cllr Felicity Rice and Imogen Davenport led this Monday’s discussion on ‘‘What I do makes no difference’ – all around the very topical topic of climate change and the environment post the 50th World Economic Forum in January and the Trump position v Europe and also Greta Thunberg, who after her ‘How Dare you” speech at the UN Climate Summit, inspired the global climate strike movement.
The CDP Cities ‘A List’, published on Tues 18th Feb, named 105 cities as leaders in the fields of climate adaptation and mitigation, and on transparent climate disclosure. More than 850 cities reported climate data to CDP last year and, based on analysis of their emissions, climate-related vulnerabilities, mitigation and adaptation plans, they were given an overall grade from ‘A’ to ‘D’. CDP assesses cities because, despite covering just 2% of the world’s ice-free land surface, they account for 70% of humanity’s annual carbon emissions. Cities to have secured an ‘A’ grade range from global destinations like Sydney, Cape Town and Paris. In the UK, five cities scored an A – Manchester, Coventry, Leicester, London and Bournemouth. In 2015, Bournemouth Borough Council set an ambition of reducing area-wide emissions by 30% by 2020. The town exceeded this aim in 2017, prompting it to set a new 2020 target of a 42% reduction. This updated aim for BCP is due to be exceeded by the end of the year.
Cllr Dr Felicity Rice, is BCP Councillor for Oakdale and Portfolio holder for Environment and Climate Change in BCP.
Before his retirement, Don Gobbett was a senior civil servant with Dorset County Council and is now part of BU’s ethics committee.
These weekly forums each Monday at 1pm are a great opportunity to hear more on what is happening today, and get your views heard, so please come along. Coffee/refreshments will be available at the back of church throughout.