Local government and the climate emergency

That this House welcomes the significant participation of local government representatives from across the globe in the COP26 conference in Glasgow; welcomes in particular the meeting of global group C40 Cities, attended by visiting civic leaders from cities as diverse as London, Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm, Bogotá, Phoenix, Dhaka, Freetown, Dubai and Los Angeles, which discussed expansion of the Global Green New Deal programme, to support work with trade unions, young people, and community organisations to ensure climate action benefits everyone; notes recent estimates that the costs to the Greater Glasgow area of extreme climate events could exceed £400 million a year by 2050 and that 140,000 of the area's poorest people will be the most affected by climate breakdown unless major investment is made to help them adapt; considers that local authority declarations that the world faces a climate emergency, such as that by East Renfrewshire Council in the week before COP26, highlighting the growing recognition of the need to act now to achieve net zero carbon emissions; and calls on the Government to work with the devolved Governments and on a global basis to ensure that local authorities have the necessary powers and resources to create the greener, healthier, more inclusive communities that is needed to drive the large-scale changes that are essential to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.