Eight English cities pledge more climate action

LONDON - Eight provincial English cities pledged on Thursday to take extra steps to combat climate change, echoing the actions of several counterparts in the United States.

Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Liverpool and Manchester promised to meet or exceed the goal of cutting carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2050 to be set out next week in the Climate Change Bill.

They also pledged to "show leadership" by getting the public and private sector actively involved and to build climate impact into all decision-making processes including procurement, transport, housing, waste, water and land use.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the declaration, signed in Nottingham after a two day meeting, and urged the government to raise the 60 percent target in the Climate Change Bill to 80 percent.

"The best city leaders now realise that the success of their city depends on them becoming low carbon economies, said Paul de Zylva, head of Friends of the Earth England.

"The government must now strengthen its proposed climate law to help England's cities make this shift and turn today's welcome pledge into more than just warm words," he added.

London has also set out its own plans to cut the city's climate-warming carbon emissions by 60 percent within 20 years.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has also made the city a driving force in the C40 grouping of mayors of major cities worldwide who are setting their own cutting-edge climate action programmes covering building, emission and energy efficiency standards.