Climate change protestors outside Derry’s Guildhall in 2019
Said Cllr Harkin: “This report is the starkest of all the recent IPCC reports, and makes clear how entirely pathetic Stormont’s climate response has been.
“While the Executive celebrated its utterly inadequate targets set out in the recent Climate Bill, the science makes clear that only fundamental, radical action can avoid climate catastrophe.”
“We know that we must keep fossil fuels in the ground. And yet when my colleague, MLA Gerry Carroll, proposed an amendment to the recent climate legislation to ban future fossil fuel extraction, it was voted down.
“The UN Secretary General was scathing about governments and businesses ‘lying’ about being on track to meet the 1.5C target.
“His words could easily apply to Stormont’s asleep-at the-wheel approach.
“But there is a better way. We can begin by making all public transport free, banning any future fossil fuel extraction, retrofitting homes, and investing in renewable energy to an extent which matches the severity of the situation.
“Radical action on climate is key to addressing the cost of living crisis.
“The big polluting energy companies should be getting taxed to the hilt and their profits redistributed to support workers and the least well-off.
“Only socialists advocate for the system change we need. Only People Before Profit have a Climate Roadmap which would take on the big polluters while protecting ordinary people.
“In times like these, more than ever, Derry needs a socialist voice, one that puts people and planet before profit.”
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