In a dramatic admission at Tuesday’s Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee, the elected member for responsibility for climate change action admitted that the Council’s emissions have increased.   Responding to a question based around Friends of the Earth’s submission to the committee, Councillor Nigel Murphy conceded that – contrary to a press release released by Manchester City Council – like-for-like carbon dioxide emissions from the City Council’s operations have gone up by 1.8%  in the past year, and that the actual amount saved over the last three years is 5.2%, not the 14% initially claimed.

Executive Member Nigel Murphy responded to a question by Cllr James Hennigan by telling  the assembled councillors and members of the public that he was willing to agree with Manchester Friends of the Earth’s analysis as long as it was noted that the Council has been sourcing its energy from “decarbonised sources.”

The Friends of the Earth submission, sent the previous night to the chair of the Committee included the immortal lines

“Achieving the operational and cultural changes to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions is clearly not a simple task and will require dedicated and continuous action. it will also require a commitment to transparent and meaningful progress reporting.”

It continued

We therefore call on the Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee to request that the Annual Carbon Reduction Plan be amended to clearly state that there was a 1.8% increase in like-for-like emissions between 2011/2 and 2012/13, and that there has only been a 5.2% reduction in like-for-like emissions against the 2009/10 baseline.

In the past week Manchester Climate Monthly has pointed out, repeatedly, that if traffic signalling had not been taken off the City Council’s hands, then the claim of a 7% reduction in the last year would collapse.  The Council itself admitted that there was no overall reduction in emissions.

This makes the publicly-stated desire by several members of the Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee to have quarterly progress reports on the 2013/4 carbon “reduction” plan all the more important. watch this space.