Staying at home more will help with climate fight, West Midlands Authority says
By Paul Homewood
You have been warned!
The WMCA’s first five-year decarbonisation plan, prepared by consultant WSP, sets targets for reductions in commuting, shopping and personal trips.
The plan aims to set the conurbation on the pathway to achieving net zero emissions by 2041 (six per cent of emissions would be offset).
WMCA officers were this week recommending that the combined authority board endorses WSP’s recommendation of an “accelerated pathway” that will cut carbon dioxide emissions to 8.1 million tonnes by 2026, 33 per cent below a 2016 baseline.
Describing the pathway as “highly ambitious”, the plan nonetheless says:
“‘accelerated’ scenario is recommended to be used as the standard to set the delivery goal ambitions.
“The change in delivery pace required is huge and unprecedented. It requires collaboration and delivery across all sectors well beyond current efforts.
“People will need to make significant changes to their lifestyles, which will positively impact on their health and wellbeing.”
Transport actions are listed under three headings: “avoid”, “shift” and “improve”.
On “avoid”, the plan says that by 2026:
* personal and retail trips should be cut six per cent against pre-pandemic levels
* nine per cent of people should telecommute 50 per cent of the time. The WMCA estimates that 5-10 per cent of people worked from home before Covid-19
More dramatic trip reductions will be needed in the longer-term. By 2041, the plan says:
* personal and retail trips should be cut 25 per cent
* 35 per cent of people should work from home or at local ‘hubs’ 50 per cent of time
The reduction in trips will mean job losses in some industries. “Reduced demand for city services such as food and beverage stores,” says the plan. […]
Paris target ‘impractical’
The WMCA’s target to cut CO2 emissions to 8.1 million tonnes by 2026 is still far above the 4.9mtCO2 that the Tyndall Centre said should be the target for the area to stay within the emission limits of the Paris Commitment.
“This [the Tyndall target] would require radical actions, some of which are not thought feasible in the timescale due to legal, social and financial requirements,” says the WMCA.
Among other things, the WMCA says the Tyndall target would require car’s mode share to be cut from 63 per cent to 35 per cent by 2026, and all buses and taxis to be electrified by the same date.
And what, I wonder, will the WMCA do when the public refuse to be cowed in this way? Enforced lockdowns? Rationed travel?
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
“Staying at home more will help with climate fight, West Midlands Authority says”
Has globe-trotter & AirMiles collector Alok Sharma been notified?
So far this year he’s flown to Africa twice (Nigeria & Egypt), and India + Nepal.
The climate insanity marches on.
Neither west midlands nor the UK nor the EU is in a position to put together and enforce a global contract to reduce global emissions and so these climate heroisms are simply heroisms and have no implication in the climate change context.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/05/22/climate-catch22/
Our (UK) government speaks of showing “moral authority” on climate action. But us having “moral authority” is going to be cold comfort for citizens suffering under these schemes.
As you imply, developing countries will ignore our “moral authority” and do what is best for their people. Which is what they should do.
Thank you. And congratulations on your promotion from skeptic to cynic.
And to think, that area was once known as ‘The Workshop of the World’!
… now the wokeshop.
This has the potential to cut temperature rises by as much as one trillionth of one percent of one degree
Or nothing at all to be correct, since CO2 is irrelevant to global climate.
Big Brother lives!
Utter, utter insanity by people who can’t add up.
Scary!
Does anyone remember “Logan’s Run”?
Seriously though, hasn’t our delusional and gullible PM already started this with his endless lockdown?
Or Soylent Green. That would solve the food crisis.
From an old Unix fortune file:
“/earth is 97% full. Please delete anyone you can.”
It is only fair to allow climate catastrophists to act against climate changes on a voluntary personal basis, using such powerful weapons as vegetarianism, staying at home and even avoiding G&T, so as to reduce their own CO2 output.
What is not fair, however, is for them to insist that sceptics follow their example, however moral even useful the climate change activists believe their cause to be.
They should be encouraged to minimise their carbon footprint, permanently.
It would surely help the national finances if the climate catastrophists all pledged to stop exhaling.
Their martyrdom could perhaps shame the leaders of the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitters into
following their heroic, selfless example.
Sounds suspicialy like a massive pie in the sky, done by those of an illiterate green idiot.
Do these nonentities model themselves on the NKVD or Smerch? Rapidly the true nature of the intention of these dangerous Zeros gets clearer and clearer. Marxist to a man/woman/thing.
Roger’s got a new bone.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56503588
Will he and his eco-bullies force another Boris u-turn? I can’t think of a single MSM manufactured ‘public backlash’ that hasn’t cowed Boris in any policy area.
Hopefully in this one case the economic reality is just too great.
GWPF predicts……
https://www.thegwpf.com/british-news-media-campaign-against-oil-and-gas-exploration/
TRIPE!!!
More inane sophistry this time from the lefty idiots of the WMCA.
Has all the ‘moral authority’ of a pile of dogs $hit!
The action being taken to achieve zero emissions by industry and businesses will mean no jobs, so no need to travel to work. With no income people will have no need to travel to shops. Of course zero people would achieve zero emissions. Is the objective to make life in the UK so miserable that no one will want to live here? Normally such nonsense would result in the promoters being slung out at the next elections but with all parties spouting the same Green rubbish even that avenue is closed off.
Well, Brighton council will not be beaten in the zero carbon stakes. They are proposing to ban barbeques on the beach and other public places and it’s not because of the smoke.
It never amazes me that people that complain so much about undetectable traffic pollution want to inhale 1000 years of main road living equivalent in one afternoon!
There’s a dozen good reasons to ban/restrict BBQs but carbon emissions is the weakest.
…… oh you get the gist, even if I can’t write sense.
There is some sense to banning single use barbecues as they just get dumped on the beach along with all the other rubbish that people leave. They probably anticipate an increase in people heading down to the beach this spring and into summer.
A high proportion of the UK countryside fires (that get blamed on climate change) in the last couple of years have been started by these – recently made-popular by greedy retailer – portable BBQs.
At least they admit to job losses. That thread runs all through the climate lunacy in either restricting or making financially impossible to live life as normal. If travel is restricted what will happen to tourist attractions? How will people get there? Day tripping and holidays took off with the spread of the railways but with the Beeching cuts those links have gone so if people can’t drive there they will wither and die. There must come a point where people’s lives will become so miserable they won’t be worth living and they might just do something about it.
I already avoid the shops as much as possible, but NOT to save the climate, simply because I DETEST being surrounded by muzzle wearing zombies…
The way some people are talking, will there be any point in being on the planet at all?