Five years since Sheffield declared a Climate Emergency, they still need to act like it.

Wednesday, February 7th will mark the 5th Anniversary of Sheffield declaring a Climate Emergency. Activists from many groups will be gathering for a rally outside at 1 pm and some will be going inside to urge the Council to do more to address the climate and nature emergencies. 

I have been working with a group of activists from various organisations to make sure the Council is accountable for its actions (or lack of them). We have sent the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Committee a long list of questions for which we are seeking answers as soon as possible. You can see these, along with the answers when they are available, at tellthetruthsheffield.org.

The first thing the Council needs to do is to tell the truth. This is Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) first demand and it is clear the Council are still failing to do this. In 2019 when the Council declared a Climate Emergency XR asked the Council to prioritise Climate Information and Action in Council Communications. For instance, we wanted Climate Action to be clearly visible to any visitor to the Council Website. We wanted the Council Leader to use the annual Council Tax letter as an opportunity to educate the public about the extreme dangers of climate and nature emergencies and what the Council is doing to mitigate them. There still needs to be a link from the front page of the website to information about climate change, and the Council Tax letter usually contains just half a sentence referring to Climate Change. This is not acting as if there is an emergency. When will the Council start to do this and help the public understand the need for emergency action? 

There is a mass of documentation on the website that only climate nerds like me are likely to read, but there is no clear simple message to the people of Sheffield. The truth is that, as António Guterres the secretary general of the United Nations warned us, Humanity has “opened the gates to hell” by allowing the climate crisis to worsen. Sheffield and the rest of the world can expect far more extreme weather, including floods, heatwaves and wildfires. This is likely to lead to food shortages and civil unrest. The Council, Environment Agency, Mayoral Authority and Emergency Services don’t have the resources to deal with this. They all need far more help from the Government. But the Government, instead of helping, are actively making things worse by promoting more drilling for oil and gas. 

Economic Growth drives the problems of both the climate and nature emergencies. In 1972, the Club of Rome published Limits to Growth, which showed the earth’s interlocking resources – the global system of nature in which we all live –cannot indefinitely support economic growth. What our economic system does is plunder the world’s resources. Its minerals, forests, animals and soils are turned into products which soon become waste and pollution. We can’t continue living like this because we only have one planet. Today writers like Jason Hickel and Tim Jackson are advocating “Degrowth” and “Post Growth” economies. There will be more on this in a future article. Sheffield Council should explore these ideas with a local conference, inviting business leaders, councillors, trade unionists, academics and the public.   

The most shocking statistic is the Council’s lack of progress in reducing emissions. Sheffield Council recently announced it has reduced its emissions by 3% since 2019. The Tyndall report recommendations are for the whole city rather than just the Council. Had these been followed by the Council we should have reduced emissions by between 40- 50% by now. We are way off track. 

There are many things cash-strapped councils could do to start to address the climate emergency. Last week I highlighted the Workplace Parking Levy and Climate Bonds that could raise funds for the Council. These could then be invested in improving public transport, retrofitting homes and installing renewable energy. 

Climate Emergency UK has done some excellent work comparing Councils on their response to the Climate Emergency. They have compiled Score Cards in 7 different sections, showing Councils strengths and weaknesses in progress towards Net Zero. Sheffield is 49th out of 180 so some good progress has been made. Sheffield Council scored an average of 42% compared to the national average of 36%. In some areas though Sheffield lags behind other Councils. Our other local councils were well below average. Rotherham scored 29%, Doncaster 27% and Barnsley was in the relegation zone with 26%.

Sheffield Council promised to publish Decarbonisation Routemaps for 2023-2025. “The Council” and “Travel” have been published but we await the other 5 chapters on Our Businesses and Economy, Our Homes, Energy Generation and Storage, The Way We Use Our Land and What We Eat, Buy and Throw Away. We have asked when they will be published. The route maps are supposed to outline the vision and objectives for achieving net zero by 2030, and the actions and activities which will be carried out between 2023 and 2025. We are already in 2024. Is the lack of these documents delaying action? 

Please join us outside the Town Hall, at 1 pm Wednesday, 7th February.