CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘The council declared a climate emergency in 2019, but where’s the emergency response? This is a fight for survival, not a PR exercise.’ That’s according to one resident who wants to ask some pointed questions at next week’s Town Hall meeting
Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, is to face questions at the Town Hall next week demanding to know why his council is dragging its feet over its commitments to achieving Net Zero, and has failed to deliver even modest environmental measures for this borough to do its bit to try to reduce the impact of the climate emergency.
Doing nothing is not an option: protesters have taken their ‘AMOC bomb’ around London to warn of the climate disaster
Almost £4million-worth of grants allocated to Croydon in 2016, to be used to offset the borough’s carbon emissions, remains unspent.
Today, protestors from across the capital dropped an “AMOC Bomb” outside City Hall, to draw attention to an impending climate disaster which threatens to end the Gulf Stream effect which has given the British Isles the typically mild and damp climate conditions which in the past made this part of Europe a relatively agreeable, and productive, place to live.
Environmentalists consider that too little is being done to avert this potential disaster, which could see southern England’s climate cool by an average of 5°, making the region more like Alaska, with some heralding “a new ice age”.
“Colder, drier conditions would largely wipe out crop growing in the British Isles,” the National Preparedness Commission warned last November.
The research findings and evidence are mounting that decades of global warming is having a real, and potentially catastrophic, impact on our climate.
The blue blob: how cold water from melting glaciers in Greenland could impact the Gulf Stream and impact climate on both sides of the Atlantic
While almost the entire world has been warming up over the past 100 years or so, waters off the coast of Greenland have been getting colder.
According to an article in The Times, “Climate scientists call it the ‘cold blob’. You might think that being close to it would suit Britain as the world warms. Perhaps it could keep our weather pleasantly mild, even as surrounding continents swelter in record-breaking heat.
“Unfortunately, the physics of climate change may not prove so forgiving. Scientists think the cold blob could spell danger for Britain, putting it in the crosshairs of one of the worst disasters climate change might inflict on the planet.”
AMOC is the “Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation”, which brings warm sea water from the Gulf of Mexico up towards Britain and north-western Europe. AMOC was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis.
In a Doomsday scenario, scientists are warning that AMOC has weakened by around 15% and is in danger of collapsing altogether because of climate change.
The cause is the melting glaciers of Greenland. Fresh water is flowing from melting ice into the North Atlantic, and this “cold blob” is disrupting the process that drives the Gulf Stream towards Europe.
Last November, the National Preparedness Commission (an independent body whose role is to help Britain be significantly better prepared to avoid, mitigate, respond to, and recover from all kinds of major shocks, threats and challenges) published a report on AMOC collapse that warned of the consequences. AMOC collapse would impact global food production, so coupled with the loss of domestic agriculture production, Britain’s food supplies would be reduced by around 90%.
Around 30 people were expected at this morning’s protest outside City Hall, including scientists who describe AMOC collapse as the country’s “No1 National Security threat”.
Answering questions: Zack Polanski was one of only three out of 25 LAMs to respond to the AMOC email
Jon Fuller, one of the campaigners behind this morning’s protest, described the possibility of AMOC collapse as “a threat so great it could kill virtually everyone in London”.
Climate models show that the tipping point that makes an AMOC shutdown inevitable is likely to be passed within a few decades but that the collapse itself may not happen until 50 to 100 years later.
Fuller says that in July this year, all 25 London Assembly Members were emailed and asked to be ready to prove what they did when alerted to an unprecedented threat to the lives of everyone in London. He got replies from only three LAMs – the Green Party’s Zoe Garbett, Caroline Russell and Zack Polanski, recently elected as his party’s national leader.
Fuller and today’s protesters are calling for the British government to form an alliance with Ireland and all Scandinavian nations at the COP30 climate negotiations later this year to press for dramatically increased efforts to decarbonise. “Nations should reach Net Zero by 2035, recognising this will entail significant change to the lifestyles of wealthier people,” they said.
They also call on the government to sack Daniel Zeichner, the minister responsible for England’s food security strategy “for ignoring the unprecedented threat of AMOC collapse”.
If getting things wrong, or doing nothing, becomes a sackable offence, then Croydon Mayor Jason Perry ought to be handed his P45 today.
Croydon Council declared a climate emergency in July 2019, establishing the Croydon Climate Crisis Commission, chaired by Miatta Fahnbulleh, now MP for Peckham, when it promised to take “major steps towards becoming London’s greenest borough”.
Since when… not a lot.
It took the Commission almost three years to come up with its Carbon Neutral Action Plan, and another 18 months before the council employed two staff “to undertake the work outlined in the 2022 Action Plan and embarked [sic] on a discovery exercise of the Carbon Neutral Action Plan”. Oh yeah! A discovery exercise no less.
And now? “Currently the plan is being updated.”
“A refresh of the Carbon Neutral Action Plan is scheduled to be published in 2025-2026,” according to our dynamic council. Whether they will rename it, in the interests of accuracy, as the Carbon Neutral Inaction Plan remains to be seen.
Flat-lining: Croydon Council’s own figures show that no real progress inreducing emissions has been made in five years
It’s not even as if the cash-strapped council has to spend money on this. The Mayor of London has given Croydon a £5million carbon offset fund.
Yet Croydon has spent barely £1million of that money since 2016.
Connie Duxbury is the chief exec of Croydon Community Energy, which is eager to access public funding to help expand its operations and deliver zero-carbon energy.
But she appears to have lost patience with her council.
“Croydon Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, but where’s the emergency response?” Duxbury told Inside Croydon.
“The threat of AMOC collapse shows this is a fight for survival, not a PR exercise.
“While the planet races toward catastrophe, the council still drags its feet on basics like renewable energy, home insulation and climate resilience.
Asking questions: Connie Duxbury
“I will be asking a question at the full council meeting next week, querying why the council has only spent 22% of its allocated £5million from the Mayor of London’s carbon offset fund in the past nine years, while other councils have used the funds for retrofitting council homes, planting trees and greening boroughs and creating community energy funds.
“As the most populated London borough, Croydon should be leading the way, not waiting for Westminster.”
And Paul Ainscough, a Green Party candidate at the Town Hall elections next May, accused Labour and Tory councillors in Croydon of “increasingly sidelining the climate crisis”.
“I want to know what Croydon Council has achieved since receiving the Croydon Climate Crisis Commission recommendations in March 2021,” Ainscough said today.
“I believe that despite the best efforts of Green councillors and several council officers, very little has been implemented because both Labour and the Conservatives are increasingly sidelining the climate crisis.”
Croydon’s £84,000 per year Mayor, Jason Perry, has meanwhile spent most of this week with his climate change-denying chums at the Conservative Party annual conference.
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Thanks for highlighting this. Awareness of the dangers of AMOC collapse is very low when you consider the dire risk to food production in the UK, despite the best efforts of Jon Fuller and friends.
Croydon Councils inaction over many years, when time is what we don’t have is inexcusable. Climate & nature risks, like the AMOC collapse risk would, amongst other life threatening impacts, devastate our food supply. Ignorance about, or simply ignoring these risks, particularly from our politicians is very concerning. There is a National briefing for MPs about the threats presented by the climate & nature crisis, and the science-based pathway forwards – 27th Nov 2025 – 9am
Westminster Central Hall the question is will any of our Croydon MPs attend ?
Anyone who has done the most basic Biology knows that Carbon Dioxide is what plants ‘breathe’ and that it is the “Gas of Life”. That is why commercial growers add CO2 to their greenhouses at up to 3x ambient concentration, to give up to double the yield before Diminishing Returns sets in.
No Carbon Dioxide – No Plants or Plankton.
No Plants or Plankton – No Animals
Net Zero is just a scam so that Traders, Investors and insider-trading politicians can get rich off Carbon Credit trading, as well as being a way of surreptitiously introducing a Global Taxation System that would never be accepted otherwise.
All these protestors are just consuming public funds on self-promotional jollies, instead of being productive in the real world.
Throughout our lifetimes, everything they have predicted has turned out to be false – while politicians like Al Gore get richer.
Here’s a list of some of the most notable failed predictions:
1970s: Impending Ice Age: In the 1970s, scientists warned of an impending ice age due to decreased solar activity. This prediction was later disproven as global temperatures began to rise. (Source: The New York Times, “The Coming Ice Age,” 1975)
1989: Rising Sea Levels: James Hansen, a prominent climate scientist, predicted that sea levels would rise by 20 feet (6 meters) by 2000 due to melting ice caps. This did not happen, and sea levels are only marginally higher. (Source: The New York Times, “A Scientist’s Warning, 20 Years Late,” 2008)
1989: Droughts and Famines: The United Nations predicted that by 2000, global warming would cause widespread droughts and famines, leading to a 20% decrease in agricultural productivity. This has not come to pass, and global agricultural productivity has increased. (Source: United Nations, “Global Warming in an Historical Perspective,” 1989)
1990: Maldives Underwater: The Maldives’ former president, Mohamed Nasheed, claimed that his country would be underwater by 2018 due to rising sea levels. The Maldives are still above water today. (Source: The Guardian, “Maldives president warns of underwater country by 2018,” 2009)
2004: North Pole Ice Cap Gone by 2008: A BBC report claimed that the North Pole would be ice-free by 2008 due to global warming. This did not happen, and the Arctic has seen significant ice growth in recent years. (Source: BBC, “North Pole could be ice-free by 2008,” 2004)
2006: Arctic Ice Cap Gone by 2013: Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” predicted that the Arctic ice cap would be gone by 2013. Satellite imagery shows that the Arctic ice cap is still present today. (Source: “An Inconvenient Truth,” 2006)
2008: Global Food Crisis: The World Bank warned of a global food crisis due to climate change, with 100 million people at risk of starvation. This crisis never materialized. (Source: The Guardian, “World Bank warns of global food crisis,” 2008)
2009: Coral Reefs Gone by 2050: The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that coral reefs would be gone by 2050 due to ocean acidification. Many coral reefs are still thriving today, and the main problem is currently pollution. (Source: IPCC, “Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report,” 2007)
2015: Global Warming to Cause Massive Crop Failures: The World Bank warned that global warming would cause massive crop failures and lead to widespread famine. Global crop yields have continued to increase since this prediction. (Source: The Guardian, “World Bank: climate change will cause massive crop failures,” 2015)
These failed predictions serve as a reminder that climate change is a complex issue, and long-term predictions should be approached with caution. It’s essential to focus on empirical evidence and real-world observations rather than speculative models.
Don’t look up Ron
You’re right CO2 feeds photo synthesis but it’s often used to kill chickens in battery farms
What a load of junk science tin-foil hat bollocks.
I expect, hope for, better from our top commenters.
If you’re going to do a takedown, take it apart, point by point
Sorry Mr Downes, sir
My remark was also aimed at Ainscough
Yes, Sorry Sir
Seconds out… round two.
“CO₂ Is the Gas of Life” so more can’t be bad. Right? Wrong! Plants need CO₂ but too much acts like a blanket, trapping extra heat. The natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth ~33 °C warmer than if there were no greenhouse gases at all. Human CO₂ emissions have intensified this blanket, driving a roughly 0.18 °C per decade rise since 1981 and a total of ~1.1 °C above pre-industrial levels.
Net Zero isn’t a racket dreamed up by politicians and traders to fatten their wallets. It’s a scientifically grounded strategy endorsed by nearly 200 countries under the Paris Agreement. It’s about balancing emissions and removals to avoid runaway global heating. The people against it include Trump and the fossil-fuel lobby, because they don’t want change for the good, they want money now.
Independent bodies like NASA confirm that cutting greenhouse gases is essential to prevent catastrophic sea-level rise, extreme weather, and ecosystem collapse.
Cherrypicking a handful of headlines from decades ago doesn’t invalidate the entirety of climate science, which progresses and develops like any other field of research.
Global temperatures are up by 1.1 °C since 1850. Europe’s glaciers are disappearing before our eyes.
2025 was our hottest year – so far. Five UK areas are officially in drought, six are designated as suffering from prolonged dry weather.
Sea-levels are rising, and at an accelerating rate, —a direct result of melting ice and thermal expansion. In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 6 inches of sea level rise, rendering them increasingly uninhabitable.
I could go on, but you’d still hold the same views
I don’t think anyone has ever suggested that we should eradicate CO2, but adding an extra 37 billion tonnes to the atmosphere annually is having a profound effect.
Even if for some reason you don’t buy the overwhelming consensus about our changing climate, maybe you’d be concerned about breaching the 7th of 9 Planetary Boundaries, i.e. Ocean acidification.
Ron, here’s an update on Coral Reefs which you may be interested in. Just one of many tipping points in the the Climate system. https://news.exeter.ac.uk/research/new-reality-as-world-reaches-first-climate-tipping-point/
Perry’s 2022 election manifesto made the promises listed below, none of which he has kept but instead has done his best to ignore, bend or break, e.g. his anti-ULEZ campaign.
What Perry has done is appoint the useless Scott Roche (he rhymes his surname with tosh) who gets £40k of our money to be the Cabinet Member for Streets and Environment. His responsibilities include … “Climate Change”.
“I confirm my commitment to improving our local air quality in this climate emergency, because it is of national and local importance to take the urgent actions necessary to improve our environment in Croydon. This means tackling air pollution, as well as moving towards ending our reliance on non-renewable energy sources.
I commit to developing policies that will help achieve our target of being carbon neutral by 2030 through a community-led approach. Acting on climate change is not the remit of any one part of Croydon. I am pleased to see that the Climate Crisis Commission Report places an emphasis on building trust, so that initiatives to cut emissions are genuinely co-created, not pushed from the top down.
I am also pleased to commit to implementing most – if not all – of the 23 Climate Recommendations detailed in the Climate Crisis Commission Report. As part of my own “Listening To Croydon” pledge, I will ensure that the community is brought with us as we implement these initiatives. We all saw the result of the Council’s implementation of the Parsons Mead LTN, which led to huge protests as their community felt completely ignored. Acting without listening is not a sustainable way to create change.
Any environmental schemes introduced by me, if I am Mayor of Croydon, will have evidenced based social and environmental benefits for residents and businesses, whilst not disproportionately impacting the poorest in our borough.
I will take strong action to protect Croydon’s vital and unique green spaces, which improve the environment and ensure that every resident (no matter whether they own a garden) can enjoy the great outdoors. It is vital that we protect the green lungs of Croydon, whether that be parks, woods or natural open spaces that help clean our air and support the physical and mental health of residents.
Development must be sustainable and I will ensure stronger planning protection for trees, to slow down the loss of mature trees and nature habitat which are so important to our ecology. I will protect allotments and will look at how we can use ‘bits and pieces’ of land around the borough for some form of “green use” for local communities, creating a ‘garden city’ environment.”
Does Croydon Council have millions of pounds in a ring-fenced bank a/c for spending on the climate emergency? Or has it been used instead to pay off some of the interest on Croydon’s huge debt mountain, or even worse just been embezzled by either or both of the Labour crooks who declared the climate emergency in 2019 while bankrupting the council, or Piss-Poor Perry and his Tory mates who are now driving Croydon further into the ground ?
Similar questions arise over unspent S106 funds.
This is a matter in which Katherine Kerswell and senior staff need to be held to account
But they won’t be held to account.
For years the (ironically-named) “Scrutiny Committee” at Croydon Council has been a joke, and now the council has pulled the wool over the eyes of both the (also ironically-named) “Improvement Panel” and now been allowed to repeat the trick with the “Government Inspectors” !
If the funds have been “resting” since 2016, then Tony Newman and the rest of the Gang of Four, and Jo Negrini, owe us some explanations too. Same goes for the external auditors and the procession of administrators sent in to run the “bankrupt” borough
As usual La Kerswell is low profile and doesn’t get involved in such matters
Doesn’t have the knowledge and no kudos in it for her. She sticks to her committee meetings, weekly waffle and keeping the staff happy with her surveys.
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Climate change is such a wide subject and still rather abstract vague and unpredictable so therefore it would be nigh impossible to attach specific funds to projects that would yield visible future results.