Council to spread message on ‘eliminating’ CO2 from Belfast

The council issued a statement today saying it will be putting someone up to speak on the subject at a British Irish Council meeting tomorrow.

The council brings together the Belfast and Dublin governments, and is one of the bodies set up by the Good Friday Agreement.

Belfast council’s “resilience commissioner” Grainia Long is to speak at a “virtual symposium” (that is, an online meeting) alongside farming minister Edwin Poots.

Mr Poots is on record as saying climate change should be combated, but he opposes efforts to “rush through legislation without it being properly considered”.

Meanwhile, Cooperation Ireland, which describes itself as a peace-building group, will hold an event on Wednesday about “the net zero carbon roadmap for Belfast”.

In a statement Lord Mayor Frank McCoubrey (a DUP councillor) said: “Last November, we announced plans to develop an 18-month programme to tackle the environmental crisis and work on this climate plan is well under way.

“One of the primary aims is to work towards the elimination of carbon-dioxide emissions in the city and establish targets for decarbonisation so this is a great opportunity to share this ambition and how we hope to get there.”

Some environmentalists have voiced scepticism about such goals as having “net zero carbon” cities.

They question whether first-world nations which cut down on their direct emissions are in fact just “offshoring” their carbon output to under-developed nations like India, China, or Bangladesh, where much of the West’s factory production now takes place.