Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the ongoing progress of Cork City Council’s Climate Adaptation Strategy and has created and posted a new web page on the Council’s climate action work on his website www.kieranmccarthy.ie. The Council’s Climate Action Committee and the Climate Action Team provide governance and management for all climate actions for which Cork City Council is responsible, including the 66 implementation actions from the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2019-2024 and actions contained in the Climate Charter. The majority of these actions are being implemented or ongoing.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “I often get regular requests from students and interested locals on what kind of strands and projects Cork City Council is working on in terms of climate action. The existing and developing programmes are helping to increase resilience on the ground and do tie in with National Climate action programmes. There is a lot going on. There is also some really interesting and innovative partnership work going on in an array of diverse areas from energy, food, green schools, biodiversity, lifelong learning, park development, to funding and supporting Tidytowns and exploring and implementing the sustainable development goals”.
Cllr McCarthy continued; “The City Council’s Climate Action Unit has worked recently with the Glucksman and the Planning Department of UCC to deliver a programme that asked school children what they would do if they had ‘Freedom of the City’. The unit is working with the Public Participation Network and Cork Environmental Forum to support local community groups to develop their own climate action plans”.
“In essence, what I describe as a more innovative urban agenda for Cork is emerging through the lenses of climate action programmes. Such thinking is also emerging as frameworks in the new draft City Development plan. My new web page I have created and posted up on kieranmccarthy.ie pulls together an array of over 30 ongoing City Council led projects, which are very positive for Cork society, provide new innovative angles for Cork’s economic development, and showcase the importance of partnership and leadership”, Cllr McCarthy concluded.