Today, I signed Lambeth Council up to the 10:10 carbon reduction campaign.  The campaign, gathering momentum across the country, commits signatories to reducing their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010 as part of a national drive to cut the country’s emissions by the same amount. 

The campaign is open to individuals, businesses and other organisations.  Climate change threatens the future of our planet, and it’s up to all of us to take action to stop it before the most serious damage is done. 

Here in Lambeth we’re taking the climate change agenda very seriously.  For the council that means taking action ourselves but also supporting community initiatives that see local people taking action for themselves.  

We’ve already set Lambeth the toughest carbon reduction target in London.  Our new Michael Tippett School is the most sustainably built in the country, and our new housing development on Vale Street has the highest sustainability standards within the M25.  Earlier this year we launched a borough-wide Green Champions scheme to help local communities come together to cut household carbon emissions following a successful local model developed on the Hyde Farm neighbourhood in Balham.  We’ve introduced emissions-based parking charges to discourage high-emissions vehicles, and we’ve seen usage of the Street Car scheme that allows local people to share a car on their street treble in a year. 

Later this week, I’ll be joining supporters of Transition Town Brixton to launch the Brixton Pound.  That’s a new local currency that aims to keep money in the local economy, and follows similar schemes in other parts of the UK and USA.  That’s all part of a wider sustainability agenda the council’s supporting. 

If you’d like to sign up to the 10:10 campaign there’s more information here.  I’ve signed up individually and will play my part by cutting my household emissions by 10% too.