Edinburgh urges other councils to join Civic Charter on Climate

Edinburgh urges other cities to join the Civic Charter on Climate. 

Edinburgh was the first – and is so far still the only – council in Scotland to put its name on the document, which emerged following deliberations at the national Climate Assembly. 

Scotland’s Climate Assembly was set up to find common ground on how Scotland can tackle the climate emergency in a fair and effective way.

From this members identified 16 goals for reducing climate impacts that make up the Civic Charter. These covered a broad range of issues, including household heating, emissions, land use, taxation and the economy. The Climate Assembly was also the first to include young Scots, through a partnership with the Children’s Parliament.

Elected members in the Capital voted to sign up to the charter following a motion to Full Council by Environment Convener and Vice Convener Cllrs Lesley Macinnes and Karen Doan in September, which also highlighted that councils will require additional resources if the Scottish government adopts all the charter’s recommendations. 

Cllr Macinnes said: ‘Climate change is a real and urgent issue that we simply cannot ignore. Last month we were very proud to become the first – and so far only – Scottish local authority to put our name to this hugely important document. Doing so sends a clear signal to those who look to us as a Capital city that we and our partners are prepared to take bold action and find the right solutions in the face of the climate change emergency.

‘We sincerely hope other Councils and organisations right across the country will now follow suit and add their voices to the national call for action and change to tackle the climate crisis in an effective and fair way.

‘As Scotland’s Capital and economic centre, we want to make sure that a cleaner, greener and fairer future for everyone is at the heart of our plans to rebuild a strong economy after Covid-19. We have set an ambitious target for Edinburgh to become a net-zero city by 2030 and we’re already investing in a number of substantive actions to support the city’s target and secure a greener future for our citizens.

‘Achieving net-zero will take a concerted, citywide effort to cut emissions and as a country, we need a similar collective mindset and approach. This Civic Charter will help lay the foundations for a national strategy for Scotland to deliver on its climate change commitments.’