Our Demands

London Borough of Camden formally declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in October 2019.

On 10th June 2020 the executive approved the adoption of a Climate Action Plan to take urgent action to address the crisis.

CEC’s original demands still stand today. We call on Camden Council to:

Initiate a major programme of community engagement alerting all sections of the community to the seriousness of the crisis and the need for urgent action by individuals, businesses, community groups and the Council. This should seek to explain both the causes and scale of the climate and ecological crises, and what can be done to address them.

Develop an ambitious, costed plan to guide the Borough’s transition to Zero Carbon, to be informed by:

Take immediate steps to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions resulting from the Council’s direct activities, ensuring a coordinated approach across all departments, and accelerate existing programmes that already do this. Adopt a holistic approach to carbon auditing by including Scope 3 emissions, which are not currently accounted for and are 2- 5 times as large as Scope 1 and 2.

Establish a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Working Group. Expand the Council’s sustainability department to ensure that it has the remit and resources to support the work of the Working Group. Seek legal advice regards the powers that the Council could use to accelerate delivery of ambitious climate and environmental targets.

Develop a dashboard of indicators (carbon and biodiversity) and establish a baseline against which the Council should report publicly every 3 months. Regular reports on progress should be provided to full Council and to Camden residents through its website, Commonplace platform and Camden magazine.

The Leader of the Council must ensure that every department, cabinet member and executive officer has explicit objectives designed to tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, and that they and their staff are supported through adequate training. A commitment to the transition towards a zero-carbon economy should be written into all council job descriptions, performance management systems and contracts. Create new work roles in order to address the challenges, eg. retrofitting experts within Building Control department.

Convene key stakeholders, including businesses, to ensure that the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency is reflected in the development and implementation of their strategic plans.

Call on the UK Government and Mayor of London to provide Camden with the necessary funding, powers, resources and technical support to meet the 2030 target and reverse the trend towards mass extinction.

Work with neighbouring councils, and others in the UK and internationally, to determine and implement best practice methods to address climate and ecological breakdown.