Young People are our future – tackling the climate emergency

Today Izzy spent the afternoon at the 2023 Schools Climate Assembly talking to students from KEVI Camp Hill Girls & Boys schools about local democracy, what Birmingham City Council is doing to tackle the climate emergency & how they as young people can make their voices heard in politics.

Izzy spoke about the progress of the council since declaring a climate emergency in 2019, specifically mentioning the Transport Policy, our dependence on cars and the need for more connected safe bike lanes; the Veolia incinerator at Tyseley and its effect on our re-use and re-cycling rates and her efforts to support Bee Friendly Brum in their campaign to stop the council using harmful pesticides in our streets and parks.

As part of the speech she referred to climate change scorecards which were released this week. These are a national online resource, comparing council performance across seven key categories. Birmingham City Council achieved an average score of 39%. Although 4 percentage points above the average, it’s a reflection of how poor the situation is across the country.

Cllr Roger Harmer the Birmingham Lib Dem leader commented on the scorecards: “there are several areas where Birmingham needs to up its game.

“Transport management is key to reducing pollutants and reducing carbon emissions is a key priority area. We need to make more progress on improving the electric car charging network and the council should be more proactive in developing car clubs to reduce the number of cars on our streets whilst increasing the number of people with access to cars”.

“The council currently scores poorly in terms of waste management and recycling. We have long argued for the introduction of kerbside food waste recycling, as part of a plan to end the need of incineration of waste”.

Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for increasing the installation of solar panel on the Council’s rooves to save costs as well as carbon emissions.

Governance and finance is a particularly low scoring area, with the Council achieving just 6%. Cllr Harmer said “There’s a new team in place working on this at the council. I hope they are being listened to by decision makers”.

Recently, Izzy and Councillor Jon Hunt have encouraged the council to reduce use of glyphosate; a weedkiller that damages wildlife – notably vital bee populations. To date, the weedkiller is still being used by the council and partner organisations.

The Government also needs to do more, particular in terms of helping to radically improve the insulation of our homes and other buildings.

The scorecards can be accessed here:

Izzy finished her speech by urging young people to take an interest in politics and to campaign for things that are important to them. She talked about the recent elections in Poland and how young people turned out in their thousands to vote for a change in government.

The students have all been asked to write letters to people who can influence policy, including national and local politicians and business leaders. Izzy has agreed to deliver any letters addressed to Birmingham Councillors and to ensure they get a reply.