Motion to Declare a Climate Emergency

At the 28 May All Student Meeting, a motion was submitted to Declare a Climate Emergency. In accordance with the Students’ Union’s constitution*, quorum for All Student Meetings is 100 ordinary members. As the All Student Meeting was not quorate we were unable to take a vote on this motion and now seek the opinions of all students through an online vote.

The motion asks that we, as a student body, declare a climate emergency in order to set a precedent and enable the Union to take the lead in action and pressure the College to improve its sustainability initiatives. 

If this motion is passed, the Students’ Union will:

• Publicly declare a climate emergency.
• Raise awareness of the emergency and create a point for discussion and act as a body of support of this global issue.
• Give students a voice about measures we feel should be taken, and enable a forum and platform for discussion in the form of discussion groups, actions and workshops.
• Lobby the College to declare a climate emergency and adopt the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into its new Strategic Plan.
• Lobby the College to fully divest from fossil fuels so that the College does not hold any of its assets in fossil fuel companies and reinvests in companies committed to full decarbonisation.
• Act in solidarity with Youth Strikes for Climate and similar grassroots youth climate action groups.

You can read the full motion to understand more.

We are asking all students to give the Union direction on how they would like us to move forward on this issue by voting for or against the proposed motion.

Voting will open at 10:00 on Wednesday 12 June and will close at 16:00 Friday 14 June. You must be logged in cast your vote.

Read The Full Motion

 

 

*The Students' Union's new constitution as voted for by students in May 2019 still requires approval from both the College’s governing body (known as College Council) and the Charity Commission in August. This motion is subject to our January 2019 constitution.

The Options

When deciding your view on the motion it's essential that you have both sides of the story.

For

Please see the proposer’s suggestions as to why this motion should stand under ‘This Union Notes’.

Against

No members wished to speak against the motion at the All Student Meeting at which the motion was presented.

There are no referenda running at the present time.

You need to be logged in to vote.