Ecomotive team joins day of international climate action
Members of the Ecomotive team will join thousands of young students who will take to the streets for one of the largest ever climate strikes to take place in the city and around the world. The global day of school strikes will take place on Friday 20 September, just three days before the United Nations climate summit in New York. The gathering in Bristol will begin from 11am at the meeting point in College Green, with speakers and chants which will kick off the march through the centre of the city.
Many pupils have been taking part in protests monthly since February of 2019 to influence a reaction by the government to tackle global warming issues. The UK is not on track to meet its own climate targets of cutting emissions by 80% by 2050. Many people, including the chairman of the Climate Change Committee, John Gummer, feel the government is not doing enough to achieve this, and indeed there are now calls for this target to be brought forward.
A previous rally in Bristol.
Current carbon issues in the UK housing market
"There are more direct actions the government can take" claims Gummer, blaming poor enforcement of laws for low standards of building in the UK. This misleads homeowners about the energy efficiency of their homes and inflicts higher financial and environmental costs into the future. According to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), implementations of key policies for home insulation and installations have stalled; this includes the 'Zero Carbon Homes' scheme, which has seen many policies become diminished or withdrawn such as property-level flood protection, water efficiency devices and window shading.
According to the Association for Decentralised Energy, The UK electricity system loses £9.5 billion per year on wasted energy, mainly through heat.
Overall the CCC claims that the UK's legally binding climate change targets will not be met without significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from UK buildings. The report states that emissions reductions from the UK's 29 million homes have stalled; while energy use in homes, that already accounts for 14% of total UK emissions, escalated between 2016 and 2017. In addition to this, attempts to adapt the UK's housing stock to the impacts of changing climate risks are a growing issue. Over 4.5 million homes overheat, even in the summer; 1.8 million people live in areas at significant risk of flooding; and average UK water consumption is higher than many other European countries.