In 2019, one of our members created and led the petition that resulted in the Council’s declaration of a climate emergency and pledge to review its carbon reduction plans to help to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Following this, four of our members were part of a Climate Emergency Working Group which worked with the Council, on a voluntary basis, to create a Climate Strategy and Action Plan, and one member went on to lead the transport subgroup in the subsequently formed Climate Action Group.

We will endeavour to accelerate the Council’s progress towards its 2030 net zero target for its own operations, and campaign to bring forward the Council’s 2050 net zero target for the borough. London’s Climate Risk Map is especially pertinent to the latter.

Moreover, whilst we acknowledge that the Council does not and never will have full control of carbon emissions in the borough, we believe that Merton Labour overplay this and have shown neither sufficient leadership nor enough ambition to address the issue. Accordingly, we will bring to the Council the political will to engage as widely and as deeply as it can with the business sector, the education sector, the healthcare sector, the voluntary sector, homeowners, landlords, Housing Associations, developers, transport providers, community groups, places of worship, and so on.