I’ve taken a look at an important new piece of work that is out from the Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCCA).
The Manchester Climate Change Framework 2020-2025 sets out the huge challenge facing our city – to halve carbon emissions in the next five years – and tells us:
‘Manchester is ‘not currently on track to deliver its climate change objectives despite many actions across the city’.
There is quite a lot to take from the report despite the fact much of it’s not new, useful as it is (read my Twitter summary thread here).
But for me the main takeaway is that it puts Manchester’s Airport emissions firmly in the ‘official spotlight’ for first time.
The report shows clearly how emissions from flying/Manchester Airport (on which there’s been very little officially-sanctioned debate thus far) dwarf those from direct emissions, which have been focus of most of the city’s climate planning to date.
I think this highlights the huge moral dilemma we face in Manchester, where Greater Manchester residents are in effect, majority owners of what is the UK’s third largest airport.