Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill

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Climate and Ecology Bill
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title
  • A Bill to require the United Kingdom to achieve climate and nature targets; to give the Secretary of State a duty to implement a strategy to achieve those targets; to establish a Climate and Nature Assembly to advise the Secretary of State in creating that strategy; to give duties to the Committee on Climate Change and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee regarding the strategy and targets; and for connected purposes.
Considered byParliament of the United Kingdom
Legislative history
Bill citationBill 61
Bill published on21 June 2021
Introduced byCaroline Lucas
First reading21 June 2021
Second reading10 September 2021
Summary
A Bill to require the United Kingdom to achieve climate and nature targets; to give the Secretary of State a duty to implement a strategy to achieve those targets; to establish a Climate Assembly to advise the Secretary of State in creating that strategy; to give duties to the Committee on Climate Change and to the Joint Nature Conservancy Committee regarding the strategy and targets; and for connected purposes.
Status: Pending

The Climate and Ecology Bill, promoted under the name Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill (CEE Bill), is a private member's bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed at tackling the climate crisis and environmental disaster.

First introduced in the 2019-21 session, the CEE Bill seeks to ensure that the UK Government urgently:

  • fulfils its Paris Agreement obligations to limit global temperatures to 1.5 °C
  • conserves the natural world by protecting and restoring ecosystems
  • establishes a citizens’ assembly to recommend measures for inclusion in a climate-nature strategy.

It received its first reading in the 2021-22 session on 21 June 2021.

Details[]

The Climate and Ecology Bill is a private member's bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that "would significantly assign new duties to government, parliament and to the Committee on Climate Change and Joint Nature Conservation Committee to propose and enact a strategy that meets ambitious targets for both climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as stronger criteria of justice, responsibility and fairness."[1][2][3][4]

The bill would also establish a representative climate and nature assembly to propose recommendations in line with the legislation's fundamental aim on the climate and ecological emergency.[5][6]

John Harris wrote in The Guardian that:

The bill is a neat means of doing two things. It highlights how much our politicians are defying the urgency of the moment and—by presenting clear and precise proposals to drastically reduce carbon emissions and restore biodiversity in the same typefaces and official vocabulary as the laws that define whole swathes of our lives—it makes the prospect of radical action eminently imaginable.[5]

History[]

In the 2019-21 session, Caroline Lucas tabled the bill (and a corresponding early day motion 832) on 2 September 2020. It received its first reading the same day[7] but its scheduled second reading date of 26 March 2021 was postponed.

Twelve MPs are sponsoring the bill—Alan Brown (SNP), Claire Hanna (Social Democratic and Labour Party), Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat), Clive Lewis (Labour), Caroline Lucas (Green), Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru), Stephen Farry (Alliance), Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru), Tommy Sheppard (SNP), Alex Sobel (Labour/Co-op), Zarah Sultana (Labour), and Nadia Whittome (Labour).[8]

In the 2021-22 session, Caroline Lucas tabled the bill on 21 June 2021 with the support of eleven co-sponsors—Alan Brown (SNP), Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat), Stephen Farry (Alliance), Barry Gardiner (Labour), Claire Hanna (Social Democratic and Labour Party), Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru), Clive Lewis (Labour), Brendan O'Hara (SNP), Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat), Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru) and Alex Sobel (Labour/Co-op).

Campaign[]

The CEE Bill Alliance is a 10,000-strong grassroots organisation working to build support for the enactment of the bill by persuading MPs, Peers, local councillors, local authorities, election candidates and political parties—as well as with businesses, NGOs, charities and the media—to endorse the bill.

Allied organisations include the Women's Institutes of Northern Ireland, Ecotricity, Surfers Against Sewage, UK Youth Climate Coalition, National Education Union, Greenpeace, The Co-operative Bank, Oxfam, The Body Shop, Triodos Bank, Women's Environment Network and Extinction Rebellion.[9][10]

At the time of the bill's introduction in the 2021-22 session, 110 MPs (from 10 political parties)—including Westminster (deputy) leaders, Kisten Oswald, Ed Davey, Liz Saville Roberts, Colum Eastwood and Caroline Lucas—plus 30 Peers and 58 local authorities were backing the CEE Bill.

The Alliance Party, Green Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and SDLP officially support the proposed legislation—and MPs from Labour, SNP and DUP are also listed as supporters.

On Thursday 2nd December 2021 the London Assembly passed a motion to back the CEE bill as proposed by Zack Polanski AM (Green.)[11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Vogel, Jefim. "The new UK Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill is exactly what we need – here's why". The Conversation.
  2. ^ Ball, Tom. "Extinction Rebellion activists glue themselves to pavement outside parliament". The Times.
  3. ^ "Climate emergency bill offers real hope | Letter". The Guardian. 2 September 2020.
  4. ^ "We owe it to young people to take action on climate change - it's their future we're stealing". inews.co.uk. 19 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b Harris, John (30 August 2020). "If democracy looks doomed, Extinction Rebellion may have an answer". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  6. ^ Browne, Anthony (29 August 2020). "Extinction Rebellion's plan for eco-oligarchy". The Spectator.
  7. ^ Lock, Helen (4 September 2020). "The New UK Climate Bill: Everything You Need to Know". Global Citizen.
  8. ^ "Ministers 'out of sync' with public, say new climate bill campaigners". Evening Standard. 6 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Extinction Rebellion to block streets in London, Manchester and Cardiff". The Guardian. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Extinction Rebellion activists glue themselves to ground outside parliament". The Independent. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  11. ^ Republic, Studio. "London Assembly gives support to proposed Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill". CIWEM. Retrieved 8 December 2021.

External links[]

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