PRESS RELEASE
Friday, 30 July 2021
Saturday 31st July, from 11am to 1pm. Outside Sheffield Town Hall
*****
Trade unions, Climate groups, students and other campaigns join forces to talk about the need to change our transport systems
***
It’s time to talk about the climate in the build up to COP 26 talks in November
https://facebook.com/events/s/cop26-campaign-transport/30433683
Sheffield TUC and local trade unionists will join with climate campaigners and environment activists tomorrow Saturday 31st July on a Day of Action hosted by Sheffield Climate Campaign Umbrella Group COP26 Coalition. The theme will be Transport and Climate Change: we will be highlighting how our transport systems can and must change if we are to stop global warming.
“Transport is one of the biggest challenges in reducing carbon gas emissions” said Martin Mayer Secretary of Sheffield TUC. “We need to reduce our dependence on the car – we can do this by investing in a world class public transport system. We need to move more freight off the roads and onto rail and inland waterways. We need to end our dependence on fossil fuels. But we also need to do less transport – more online meetings, sourcing goods and products locally, cycling and walking more, for instance.”
“Climate change is a trade union issue,” said Martin Mayer. “Workers’ jobs and our families’ livelihoods are at stake. We want bold action from our world leaders at the COP 26 talks in Glasgow in November to transform our economies to combat climate change. That must mean public investment and the creation of good well-paid green jobs. There are huge opportunities to do just that in transforming the transport sector”.
At the event there will be campaign stalls, speakers and we will also be launching a petition calling on the South Yorkshire Combined Authority to bring in free bus travel during the weeks of COP26 in November. We want to highlight the need for urgent action on our transport infrastructure to tackle the climate crisis. This call is likely to be taken up by campaigners across the UK involved in building for COP26.
The COP26 Campaign Coalition in South Yorkshire will be holding other Actions Days with campaign stalls over the next few months, with each focusing on a particular theme. This is to build protests around COP26 in November.
What is COP 26?
The UK Government is hosting COP 26 talks in Glasgow in November (COP stands for Conference of the Partners). The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is scheduled to be held in the city of Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021 under the presidency of the United Kingdom. World leaders and climate specialists and campaigners will assemble to (hopefully!) make the decisions we need to save our planet from global warming. Ice caps are melting, oceans are warming, forest fires are raging and whole communities are being deluged by exceptional flooding. Climate change is real and we must act now.
Campaigners are encouraged to bring banners or placards (even some chalk to leave messages on the pavement) with messages to those Governments attending the COP26 discussions.
For comment please contact Martin Mayer on 0776 107 8482