Conference Report A Green New Deal for Sheffield From Global Challenges to Local Solutions Saturday 28th February St. Mary’s Centre, Bramall Lane, Sheffield Hosted by Sheffield Campaign Against Climate Change Written by Gareth Roberts David Hayes Heather Hunt Jenny Patient Table of Contents Table of Contents............................................................................................................................ 2 Executive Summary........................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 4 Background..................................................................................................................................... 5 The Green New Deal is…............................................................................................................ 5 Aims & Outcomes ........................................................................................................................... 6 Informing National Policy............................................................................................................. 6 Re-thinking Regional Development ............................................................................................. 6 Developing Local Economic Strategy .......................................................................................... 6 Generating Community Action..................................................................................................... 6 Programme Highlights .................................................................................................................... 7 Keynote Address......................................................................................................................... 7 Colin Hines, Convenor, Green New Deal Group ......................................................................7 Responses from Sheffield City Council........................................................................................ 8 Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Sheffield City Council ............................................................ 8 Andy Nolan, Head of Environmental Strategy, Sheffield City Council....................................... 8 Presentations ............................................................................................................................ 10 Open Space .............................................................................................................................. 14 Workshops ................................................................................................................................ 14 Recommendations........................................................................................................................ 15 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 15 Key Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 15 Employment & Skills .............................................................................................................. 15 Finance.................................................................................................................................. 16 Buildings ................................................................................................................................ 16 Energy ................................................................................................................................... 16 Enterprise .............................................................................................................................. 16 Local Food Production ........................................................................................................... 17 Transport ............................................................................................................................... 17 Indicators of progress ............................................................................................................ 18 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................. 19 Executive Summary This is a report of the conference 'A Green New Deal for Sheffield: From Global Challenges to Local Solutions' held on 28th February 2009 at St Mary’s Centre, Sheffield. The primary recommendation of this report is for a radical re-think of the economic policy of Sheffield and the surrounding city-region, prioritising the development of a ‘low carbon economy’ as the underlying principle driving the Sheffield Economic Masterplan. The report recommends a range of actions on finance, employment and skills, buildings, energy, enterprise, local food production, transport and indicators of progress. These recommendations are made with the aim to initiate fundamental changes to improve the capacity of Sheffield to recover from the economic recession, deal with the energy and climate crisis, and support Sheffield’s ambition of becoming ‘an Attractive, Sustainable, Low Carbon City’. In addition the report provides an introduction to the conference, background information to the Green New Deal concept and describes the desired aims and outcomes of the conference. A summary of key speeches, presentations and other conference sessions are also provided. Conference Report - A Green New Deal for Sheffield: From Global Challenges to Local Solutions 06/05/2009 Page 3 of 19 Introduction On behalf of Sheffield Campaign against Climate Change, we would like to introduce this report of our successful day conference held on Saturday 28th February 2009: “A Green New Deal – from Global Challenges to Local Solutions”. As a campaign, SCACC was formed in 2005 to raise awareness, campaign and lobby about dangerous climate change, and how we can take action locally, nationally and internationally. As well as organising for demonstrations on the global day of action and lobbying MPs, we have always taken on a campaigning role in Sheffield itself - about what Sheffield can do. We have pushed for city targets on greenhouse gas emissions and have emphasised the importance of not just our local emissions but the total footprint of our consumption. We have campaigned for the policy changes that are needed for us to live a sustainable life. We have taken petitions to the City Council which have lead to discussions with the Council and Sheffield First and we have talked about the need for action on transport, insulation, food, waste management, and, more and more, about the economic aspirations for the city and whether they can be reconciled with Sheffield’s carbon reduction commitments. We were delighted, therefore, in summer 2008 to read the Green New Deal Report and to consider how we can respond to this agenda in Sheffield. Through the autumn this became more and more relevant as we saw the financial meltdown leading to a potential disaster for jobs and communities. From our perspective in Sheffield Campaign against Climate Change we are aware that no matter how bad economic system breakdown is, climate system breakdown would be even more of a disaster. We see only one credible response, which is to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our impact on the biosphere, and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. The beauty of this response is that if we build resilience in local communities, localise our economy, and focus on well-being instead of monetary wealth, it can offer us a happier and more just world, as well as one that is safer from climate threats and resource risks. Our conference - which attracted over 140 participants, 20 speakers and 10 Open Space conveners - moved from our vision for a low-carbon Sheffield towards practical recommendations for action. We are pleased that Sheffield City Council have supported us both by contributing speakers and participants to the conference, and by listening to the outputs of the day. Their pioneering commitment to using the new Sustainable Communities Act will enable the ideas from the conference to be passed to central government as well, where appropriate. We see the conference as just the beginning, and look forward to the process of moving together ‘from global challenges to local solutions’ in Sheffield. Jenny Patient and Heather Hunt, SCACC Conference Report - A Green New Deal for Sheffield: From Global Challenges to Local Solutions 06/05/2009 Page 4 of 19 Background The Green New Deal is a response to the ‘triple crunch’ of credit-fuelled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and soaring energy prices underpinned by an encroaching peak in oil production. The Green New Deal Group, drawing inspiration from the tone of President Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression, propose a modernised version, a ‘Green New Deal’ designed to power a renewables revolution, create thousands of green-collar jobs and rein in the distorting power of the finance sector while making more low-cost capital available for pressing priorities. The Green New Deal is…1 • A massive environmental transformation of the economy to tackle the triple crunch of the financial crisis, climate change and insecure energy supplies. • Jobs, more jobs and secure jobs.