On Regions and Cities day of COP26, Sefton Council has called on the government to provide more support to local government to tackle the issue of climate change at a local level, empower community led action and address crucial adaptation concerns.

Sefton Council has declared a climate emergency and has pledged to be net zero carbon by 2030 for all council activities.

The Council has now urged the government to revise it’s 2050 target for net zero to reflect the emergency we currently face and to provide more support to local authorities to be net zero carbon much sooner.

Cllr Paulette Lappin, Cabinet Member for Regulatory and Corporate Services said:

“COP26 has been a big moment for the UK and the international community and we have seen political will across the world to tackle one of the biggest issues facing humanity. Now that COP26 is drawing to a close, we call on the government to tackle this problem together, across all levels of government, right down to our local authorities.

“We want the Government to see the opportunities for bottom-up, locally led climate action to be of equal importance as the Levelling Up agenda and to invest in our regions to enable us to truly lead on this work.

“We need to see greater investment in adaptation measures, particularly for coastal areas and areas at risk of flooding. The carbon we emit will stay in the atmosphere for around 100 years and therefore the effects of climate change will have an impact on us. As a coastal borough, Sefton will be affected more than most by extreme weather events to come and we must be prepared.  

“There is no one thing that the Government alone can do to end this climate emergency and we must approach this problem as a problem for all, to be solved by all. Everything we do has a cumulative positive effect and the Government must provide more support to local authorities to ensure that we can protect our communities from climate change and invest in net zero ambitions.”