GRETA Thunberg should be invited to Glasgow allowing the local authority to demonstrate their support to tackle climate change according to Labour councillors.
Councillor Paul Carey wrote to the leader of Glasgow City Council, councillor Susan Aitken, at the beginning of September asking if it would be possible to invite the teenage activist to speak a full council meeting.
Mr Carey, who is still to hear back from Ms Aitken, has issued a fresh plea to the leader, as the local authority pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030.
READ MORE: Greta Thunberg makes impassioned plea for climate action at UN
At the city administration committee, yesterday (Thursday) councillors said they needed the help of third sector organisations in order to demonstrate to activists they are making a difference by 2025.
Glasgow, which will host COP26 next year, is determined to lead the way on climate change for the rest of Scotland. On Wednesday Scottish ministers agreed that the country would become “net-zero” by 2045 and reduce carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2030.
Earlier in the week Greta Thunberg condemned world leaders of “stealing her dreams and childhood” during an emotional speech at the UN climate action summit in New York.
Councillor Carey believes that councillors should be able to show their support to Greta.
He said: “I am asking the Leader of the Council to invite this young lady, Greta Thunberg to any future council meetings to show that Glasgow is getting behind, not just this young lady and the fantastic work she does but the Paris Agreement.”
The Paris Agreement is an understanding within the United Nations framework convention on climate change to mitigate global warming.
Mr Carey went on: “We should be able to show this young lady we are committed to supporting her.
“Greta has been a worldwide inspiration particularly for young people so it would be great if she could speak at a full council meeting with a number of young people in the public gallery there to listen to her.”
READ MORE: Nicola Love: Why Greta gets adults’ backs up so much
A council spokesman said: “The leader of the council has made clear her admiration for the role being played by Greta Thurnberg – and also thousands of young people in Glasgow – in drawing the world’s attention to the climate emergency.
“Glasgow is about to take a place at the very centre of that discussion, as it prepares to host the UN’s COP26 conference next year.
“The leader feels hosting that event might offer a better platform for young people to inspire the city than attending a meeting of the council.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel