As you know, the world is in the midst of a climate emergency and Brighton is stepping up to play its part in averting it.
Perched on the south coast of England, Brighton is in many ways on the front line of climate change. Coastal regions will feel the effects of sea level changes in real-time. It’s not just tropical islands thousands of miles away that are under threat, it’s also homes on our doorstep in Brighton.
So Brighton has a target to be carbon neutral by 2030.
That’s just nine years away from now, but at Greenermobiles.com, we love carbon neutrality and we also love challenging targets. The city is working with its residents to hit this ambitious target to ensure the world is still a great place to live in for our next generation.
In pursuit of our challenging target, Brighton & Hove council set up a climate assembly.
The climate assembly brings together 50 randomly selected people from diverse backgrounds to learn about environmental issues and discuss possible solutions in our city. They then present their findings on what they believe would be the best solution to the issues at hand to members of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability and Policy & Resources Committees. The ideas can then be taken forward into transport plans for 2021 and the Carbon Neutral Plan.
For example, the assembly’s recommendation for a car-free city centre is being explored as part of plans to create a ‘Liveable City Centre’. This recommendation is also being further considered by the city’s Environment, Transport & Sustainability (ETS) Committee.
As you can imagine, transport related carbon emissions have been high on the agenda for the climate assembly as they often are throughout the world. At the top of the assembly’s list is a car-free city centre. Removing cars from the centre of cities has become increasingly popular, with London style congestion charge zones set to pop up across the country.
In their final meeting, the climate assembly were encouraged to jot down a message to their future self, as one would do for a time capsule. The messages painted a picture of cleaner air and safer spaces for people without so many cars.
Here’s to that greener future.