Even Margaret Thatcher did better on climate change than Manchester City Council.
In a 9 March 1989 editorial, the New York Times noted that
“Last month Prime Minister Thatcher made her Cabinet sit through a day-long briefing on the greenhouse effect from climatologists”
Well, a Manchester Climate Monthly investigation * has revealed that only 4 members of the 9 member Executive have completed their carbon literacy training. Â The leader and his two deputies have not, and neither has the current Executive Member for Culture and Leisure. This is kind of ironic, given that the creation of a ‘low carbon culture’ should at least in part come under the remit of the “Culture” Exec, no?
 So, we now know that not one of the three organisations that you’d expect to be leading on climate change and “carbon literacy” has actually led by example.
- The Manchester “Stakeholder” “Steering” Group has only 4 of its 12 members carbon literate.
- The all-white Greater Manchester Low Carbon Hub has maybe as many as two of its 16 members carbon literate (it turns out that Louise Blythe of the BBC has in fact completed the training, but didn’t respond to a twitter message asking her about this
- And now the Executive of Manchester City Council – 4 out of 9.
The 2009 Climate Change Action Plan called for everyone who lives works and studies in Manchester (about 1 million people) to have had a day’s “carbon literacy” training by the end of 2013. Â The number as of March 2016 is – well, is anyone keeping count? Â What is it? 5,500? Â I think this tells you everything you need to know about a number of things.
Footnote
* i.e. we had to complain to the Information Commissioner about the City Council’s flagrant breach of the Freedom of Information Act)
manchester climate monthly 