Tomorrow the Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee looks at the Annual Carbon “Reduction” Plan of Manchester City Council.  The headline claim is that a 7% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions was made the last year. Reading the fine print (always advisable) reveals that this 7% “reduction” is entirely down to traffic signage no longer being on Manchester City Council’s carbon “books.”  In fact, but for this piece of accounting luck, emissions would have been UP by over 1%.  Still, increase pales into insignificance compared with this, grabbed from the 2013/4 plan –

The report states “Schools and academies are not included within the scope of the Council’s direct carbon emissions since they are increasingly independent organisations, outside of the direct control of the authority. However, schools have a significant impact on the level of carbon emissions in the city, directly from their day-to-day operations, through to the key role they have in ensuring that pupils have a clear understanding of climate change and the action they can take to address it.”

Angry yet? Scared yet? You should be.  Want to get involved, even though you can’t make daytime meetings?  Or any meetings!  mcmonthly@gmail.com is our email. Wear it out!!