Glenn Goodall

The 10:10 campaign has involved several scientists, campaigners, celebrities, organisations and councils who have pledged to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 10 % during 2010.

Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have supported this campaign from its very beginnings. At conference, our party set out to put climate change at the “heart” of all its councils policies.

Commenting, Simon Hughes said:

We are staring into the abyss – the tipping point for climate change catastrophe is dangerously close.

Copenhagen is the best chance for governments to secure a tough deal which prevents global temperatures from rising by more than two degrees.

Support for Heathrow expansion and a new generation of dirty coal exposes a Labour Government that gives a nudge and a wink to countries wanting to obstruct a serious global climate deal.

We have the opportunity to show real leadership on how an advanced economy can follow a path towards sustainable growth. Liberal Democrat plans would put Britain at the forefront of a low carbon revolution, create thousands of new green jobs, save people money and secure the UK’s energy future.

To preserve our economic and environmental future, we need to make serious cuts now. That means a 10% reduction in UK emissions in 2010.”

Two motions were put forward before the meeting, from both the Lib Dem and Labour groups – so after discussions a combined motion was tabled. Clearly, both our groups care greatly about climate change, and our shared environment. This motion also included the last minute addition of using NI185 to set a baseline to measure progress (Thanks to the 10:10 people for helping me with this).

One group, however, clearly felt no need to propose a motion or amendment (I’m reminded of this article).

In fact, one group seemed to be backing away from environmentalism altogether. I was accused of:

“bleeting about climate change”(tweeting more like)

from one Tory Councillor, who went on to call our original 10:10 motion:

“a silly little motion”.

He had clearly not read either motion, as the combined version was heavily based on our original one… hmmm

However, the most telling quote from the night came from the Tory Environment spokesperson:

“In polls, the importance of [climate change] in going down”

So expect the Tories to lose interest once in power! But in the interest of our shared environment, a combination of both our motions was passed tonight, in the end.

Reading will be looking to achieve this target through its on-going range of efficiency projects to several of its buildings. We will also be using national indicators (NI185) to track our progress, compare to the previous baseline year.

I believe we need to lead by example and convince other major business’ within Reading to also join this campaign and reduce their impact on our shared environment.

Although much of the ‘low hanging fruit’ has already been picked, there are still many projects which could be implemented to help us achieve this reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

For instance, we could invest in anaerobic digestor technology which would not only take our food waste out of landfill but also provides us with natural gas. In addition, as an authority we could start collection spent fat from retailers and turn it into FAME to run streetcare vehicles. Reading Lib Dems are committed to working towards bringing these technologies to Reading Borough Council.

In addition, at South Central Regional conference I proposed a motion, which passed, asking gov’t to:

• Ensure that retailers only sell packaging that can be reused, or recycled or will decompose
• Work with local Councils to  extend their range of recycling options, so that consumers are able to  conveniently recycle their supermarket waste
• Bring about financial disincentives for excess packaging by manufacturers

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Anyone can join the campaign here.

Contact the Energy saving trust here: 0800 512 012