Notice of Withdrawal of Amendment

24 January 2020

Private Members’ Business

Item 4: Order Paper 6/17-22 – Monday 27 January 2020

Motion: Climate Emergency

That this Assembly recognises that we are facing climate breakdown and a biodiversity crisis which are impacting here and now, and will affect all aspects of our lives in coming years; declares a climate emergency; and calls upon the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Minister for the Economy to implement urgently the commitments as agreed in the New Decade, New Approach agreement to include reviewing the Executive’s strategies to reduce carbon emissions in respect of the Paris Accord and the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100; developing a new energy strategy which will set ambitious targets and actions for a fair and just transition to a zero carbon society; bringing forward a climate change act to give environmental targets a strong legal underpinning; establishing an Independent Environmental Protection Agency to oversee this work and ensure targets are met; developing an economic strategy which will support clean and inclusive growth and create jobs as part of a green new deal; creating a plan to eliminate plastic pollution; and closing down the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme and replacing with it with a scheme that cuts carbon emissions effectively.

[Dr C Archibald]
[Mr P McGuigan]
[Mr D McAleer]

The following amendment, tabled by Mr Christopher Stalford and Mr William Irwin, on 23 January 2020 has now been withdrawn:

Amendment

Leave out all after ‘we’ and insert:

‘owe it to future generations to pass on our land, water and air in a better condition than we inherited them and that we must ensure that Northern Ireland makes its contribution to the United Kingdom’s Net Zero CO2 target and global climate action; and calls on the Executive to implement urgently the commitments as agreed in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, to include reviewing the Executive’s strategies to reduce carbon emissions in respect of the Paris Accord and the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100, developing a new energy strategy which will set ambitious targets and actions for a fair and just transition to a zero carbon society, bringing forward a climate change act to give environmental targets a strong legal underpinning, establishing an Independent Environmental Protection Agency to oversee this work and ensure that targets are met, developing an economic strategy which will support clean and inclusive growth and create jobs as part of a green new deal, creating a plan to eliminate plastic pollution, developing an Environmental Strategy 2021-2051 for the first 30 years of Northern Ireland’s new century, creating farming support programmes that promote sustainability and efficiency, and closing down the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme and replacing it with a scheme that cuts carbon emissions effectively.’

[Mr Christopher Stalford]
[Mr William Irwin]