The Earth is warming up, causing extreme weather: Climate change is the
biggest threat to our future. 2006 was the hottest year on record and in
Yorkshire we saw some of our worst ever storms. The main cause is
greenhouse gases such as CO2, produced by burning fossil fuels in
manufacture, transport and heating, which are trapping too much of the sun’s heat. The Stern Report in 2006 said that emissions of these gases need to be cut drastically, or the environment, the people and the economy will suffer. This is not just a problem for future generations; it is happening now, with the poorest people suffering most. This is why tackling climate change influences all our policies in this manifesto.

In Sheffield

Half of CO2 emissions come from personal use, so we can all help by changing our lifestyles. 40% of these emissions comes from our homes, 35% from air flights and 20% from car travel. Our Council needs to play its part too, to transform Sheffield into a “low-carbon” city with affordable regulated public transport, grants for insulation, small-scale solar and wind power and priority for local shops, schools and workplaces. We must change the way we plan and organise our cities.

The Green Party has:

• Run public awareness workshops on climate change and greener lifestyles.
• Been involved in wider campaigns such as the Campaign against Climate Change, which organised a conference to complement Sheffield’s “Cooling the Planet” event attended by Al Gore.

Our local Green Party members will:

• Continue to campaign for city wide cuts in green house gas emissions.

Our Green Councillors have:

• Pushed the Council to include weather-proofing and insulation in the
  Decent Homes programme and not just new kitchens and bathrooms.
• Put forward a motion to the Council calling for it to draw up a carbon footprint and set annual reduction targets for the city as a whole.
• Called for a Climate Change champion at the highest level.
• Contributed to scrutiny of the city's climate change strategy

Our Green Councillors will:

• Push for carbon costing of the city (that is, calculating energy production’s true cost to the city’s environment, social welfare and industrial productivity) and for regional targets on C02 emissions and renewable energy generation to be met.
• Call for new council policies to minimise environmental damage.
• Campaign for a Cabinet post for Sustainable Energy and Climate Change.
• Encourage neighbourhood climate change groups to share best practice.
• Push the Council to plan for worse floods and storms as a result of climate change, to ensure that there is efficient
  co-ordination between services and fully inform the
  public of all emergency plans.
• Call for Sheffield to sign up to Cities for Climate Protection and the Yorkshire and Humberside Climate Change Action Plan.

Make a Difference Click on the 4 Steps to tackling Climate Change or download our full spread pdf file 1 Understand 2 Reduce energy consumption 3 Reduce personal consumption 4 Campaign We need global and local solutions. World leaders accept that climate change is real, but promote economic policies that make it worse. We are part of a growing international movement pushing governments to set reduction targets for greenhouse gases. Climate change is a great opportunity to use energy-efficient greener technologies to create a future based on a more stable economy with a higher quality of life. Even big businesses now realise that “going green” attracts more customers.