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Green Party Councillors Join Huge Climate Demonstration

3rd November - Several Norfolk Green Party councillors will be in London on Saturday to join a huge rally and demonstration calling for urgent action on climate change.

Among those going are Councillor Adrian Ramsay, Councillor Andrew Boswell, Councillor Claire Stephenson and Councillor Rupert Read. The Greens will be demanding:

  • A Climate Change bill with annual binding targets for deep UK emission cuts to be introduced by next year.
  • For all governments to negotiate a new international agreement at the Nairobi talks based upon 'Contraction and Convergence'. The new treaty should supersede Kyoto in 2008.
  • A complete rethink of the Government's aviation expansion plans.

Councillor Claire Stephenson said "After Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth' and this week's release of the Stern Report, people are realising that something must be done urgently. Even since Al Gore's film was made more evidence has come out about runaway climate change starting – the Arctic Ice caps have melted much faster the last two summers, and the Siberian permafrost is now melting quickly releasing vast quantities of methane. The Nairobi talks must deliver a new treaty to replace Kyoto early, around 2008. This treaty must have the rich nations making deep cuts of between 5% and 10% a year, so that we contract our emissions rapidly."

Councillor Rupert Read, Norfolk Green Party Press Officer, added "Mr Miliband's Climate Change bill must have binding annual targets for cuts and the cuts must be deep – the annual 2% proposed is just not enough to avoid more than 2°C temperature rise, which would lead to deadly global overheating and appalling climate chaos. The latest science indicates that CO2 cuts should be up to 10% annually initially, aiming for 90% UK cuts by 2030. The government must review its aviation policy – we cannot achieve the necessary cuts without cutting aviation too. In Norwich, Green Councillors have been leading the way in fighting climate change locally; for instance, by opposing root and branch the incinerator project planned by the Conservatives, and by getting the Executive of Norwich City Council to back a Green plan to increase significantly the proportion of renewable energy included in new developments. We hope that these kinds of initiatives will soon be replicated on a national and indeed international level."