Lib Dems celebrate leading cross party agreement for Cambridgeshire to declare a climate emergency

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats are delighted to have successfully persuaded a cross-party agreement to get Cambridgeshire County Council to declare a Climate Emergency as a packed public gallery looked on.

An amendment from Lib Dem Cllr Susan van de Ven to a Conservative Group motion was initially rejected, but she sought compromise by removing elements that had been objected to.

Cllr van de Ven:  “School children, Extinction Rebellion and the public are all desperate for politicians to seek compromise and work together on the climate emergency facing our planet.  We must not fail them - and I’m so pleased that the Conservative group accepted our push to declare an emergency on climate change”

After Cllr van de Ven proposed her adjustment, the majority group accepted the suggestion to declare a climate emergency and the motion was passed unanimously.

Notes

[1]  Cllr van de Ven’s amendment added the the following action point:

"Accept, in line with the recent declaration by Parliament, that the world is facing a climate emergency and must reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or sooner."

[2] Cllr van de Ven’s original amendment also proposed a Zero Carbon target and a cross-party working group, rather than delegation to officers, to lead on new ideas and action.  These were not supported by the majority group.