Leader of the Council Cllr Danny Thorpe and Cabinet Member for Environment, Sustainability and Transport Cllr Sarah Merrill are calling on world leaders to make new commitments to reduce global climate emissions at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow from 31 October in a new film.  

Cllr Danny Thorpe, Leader of the Council, said:  

“The climate crisis is an emergency, but the right responses create opportunity. In Royal Greenwich we have set an ambitious target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030 but we can only do more with support from the government. Through COP26, we need powerful leadership at a global level. At the same time, we all need to lead by example and engage communities in addressing the challenge: developing the businesses and technologies, and adopting the lifestyles, which will sustain and improve our quality of life, now and in the future.” 

Cabinet Member for Environment, Sustainability and Transport, said:  

“Two years ago, Greenwich declared a climate emergency, which commits us to developing a carbon neutral plan. We’re replacing all the street lighting in the borough with LED lighting, we are retrofitting as many public buildings as we can with solar panels and better insulation, we are replacing our petrol fleet vehicles with electric vehicles and we are developing a number of district heat networks across the borough.”  

The film also features Dan Acher’s #WeAreWatching flag that was flown over the Old Royal Naval College this summer as part of Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF). It is made up of thousands of digital portraits contributed from 190 countries and is designed to send a clear message to world leaders with the power to affect decisions about climate change: that the eyes of the world are upon them. 

Following public consultation, the Royal Borough of Greenwich will be publishing its Carbon Neutral Plan later this year. To find out more about local climate change activity or to join our climate emergency network.