This is the largest protest I have seen in the Town Hall Square - we passed a climate emergency motion in support of moments like this because we are listening, and we are fully behind the climate strike today.  

We have been taking action as a Council to tackle the climate emergency, like switching to 100% renewable electricity by April next year, divesting our pension fund and through plans to introduce water fountains and the largest tree planting programme in a generation.

In February we declared a climate emergency, and in June passed a Motion to do everything in our power to deliver net zero emissions by 2040, ten years earlier than the target set by the Government, and in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s higher confidence threshold for limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial revolution average. This Motion represents one of the most robust, realistic and science-based commitments delivered by any Council and just last week. 

As part of our work to cut our emissions by 45% against 2010 levels by 2030 and deliver net zero emissions by 2040, the Council signed-off last week on using 100% renewable electricity from 1 April 2020, and this includes the many Hackney schools that purchase their energy alongside Hackney Council.. We’re also: establishing a publicly-owned clean  energy services company that will see council-owned roof space used to generate renewable solar energy; rapidly decarbonising the Council’s fleet vehicles through electrification and low-carbon waste oil fuels, and addressing motor vehicle emissions through emissions based charging; decarbonising the built environment through changes to the planning system; investing extensively in green infrastructure to derive a wide variety of environmental benefits, from cooler streets to enhanced biodiversity; creating a model for drastically limiting the use of petrochemical plastics, including hosting the country’s largest single use plastic bottle running event, eliminating 225000 bottles in just one day; and investing heavily in our waste service to reduce resource consumption and increase recycling. In addition, we’re reviewing some of our 2018 Manifesto commitments to see how they can be enhanced and/or delivered earlier. 

We have a long history of public protest in Hackney and we were proud to welcome school climate protesters today to the Town Hall. We know that they are - more than anyone else - the generation that will face the devastating consequences of climate change if we do not take action. But, we’re here to offer the children of this borough, and beyond, more than just warm words. That’s why Hackney Council is using all the powers at its disposal to rapidly address the twin global warming and ecological crises through very practical measures today.