UK Labour Party to force climate emergency vote
Britain's opposition Labour Party is expected to force a vote this week to declare a national climate change emergency following the 11-day protests that gridlocked parts of central London.
Students attend the YouthStrike4Climate demonstration against climate change in Parliament Square, central London on April 12, 2019. AFP/File/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS
“On Wednesday, the UK Parliament will have the chance to be the first in the world to declare an environment and climate emergency, which we hope will trigger a wave of action from parliaments and governments around the world,” Corbyn said late Saturday.
He will demand that the country takes action to help avoid more than 1.5 degrees centigrade of warming, requiring global emissions to be cut by almost half of 2010 levels by 2030.
Corbyn said on Saturday that the recent protest was “a massive and necessary wake-up call” that demanded “rapid and dramatic action”.
Environmentalists used festive but highly disruptive rallies to focus global attention on climate change, bringing parts of London to a standstill.
The entire campaign saw police make 1,130 arrests and press charges against 69 people.
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist behind the new wave of protests, called it “a great first step”.
“We cannot solve an emergency without treating it like an emergency,” she added.
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