Two years ago, politicians across all persuasions came together at a meeting of Wirral Council to declare a climate emergency, committing to "address the ecological and climate crisis that we face".
Vowing to take action to reduce pollution and promote and enhance biodiversity, the council set to work creating a climate emergency action plan and appointing a cabinet member to manage the new commitment.
Two years on from that declaration, Wirral council recently published a statement celebrating the milestone and listing the steps they have taken to honour their pledge to tackle climate change in the borough.
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The statement said measures taken by the council have included a 'No Mow May' campaign, a grant scheme to support more environmentally-friendly home energy usage and the planting of 20,000 trees across the borough.
Other actions have included a commitment to switching to renewable energy sources for council offices and vehicles and the phasing out of of weed killer glyphosate across the borough, as well as the implementation of new cycle lanes, LED street lights, tree inspection equipment and the borough becoming a "bee champion."
While climate activists and campaigners agree the measures are "welcome" many say the council has much more work to do to meet its commitments to tackling the climate emergency.
For chair of COOL Wirral partnership, which coordinates local action on climate change, and chief executive of Energy Projects Plus Peter Owen, the council has "shown its commitment to tackling the climate emergency" in steps taken so far.
He said: "The climate emergency is a significant challenge to everyone and we all need to play our part.
"The council, other public sector organisations, businesses and community groups can all take action that will involve and encourage each of us to take individual action.
'Wirral has shown its commitment'
"The COOL Wirral Partnership has developed as a means to draw together the various sectors of Wirral (including support from Wirral Council) and form a joint approach to reducing our collective impact.
"The COOL Strategy has outlined the challenge and how we will need to act to achieve Net Zero by 2041." - referring to achieving net zero carbon emissions, something Wirral council has committed to achieving by 2030.
Peter added: "We can all make a contribution, starting with the easy steps and, within the timeframe outlined, achieving the more challenging targets so that we can enjoy the real benefits of lower carbon lifestyles such as cleaner air, safer roads, healthier diets and an economy that offers sustainable jobs and opportunities to businesses to thrive."
But Wirral Green party leader, Pat Cleary said: "Wirral Council needs to do much, much better if it is really serious about the Climate Emergency."
He added: "There have been some notable advances such as preserving Hoylake Beach and reducing grass cutting to support wild life.
"Regeneration plans for Birkenhead have a welcome focus on people rather than traffic but those plans have yet to be realised."
'Council needs to do much, much better'
He points to what he says are "many failures" where measures that could have helped with the council's commitments were not taken, including over the implementation of a mass transit system for Wirral Waters, incorporating zero-carbon standards and renewable energy commitments in the new council offices in the councillor's central Birkenhead ward, improving recycling rates and introducing "effective" air quality monitoring.
He was also critical of how far the council's cycle network has come, saying there had been "slow and inadequate investment in infrastructure to support pedestrians and cyclists".
Labour cabinet member for Climate Emergency, Cllr Liz Grey says measures to tackle the climate emergency on Wirral are often hampered by political infighting amongst the different parties.
She said:: "I'm really pleased with what we've done and our plans for coming months and years.
"However, we are often held back by opposition parties in their attempts to prevent cycle routes and rewilding, even going against their own Government guidelines.
"This is very frustrating especially when they use call-ins and other council procedures to delay and delay matters and it's often with the clear aim to create an election campaign."
'Disappointing infighting causing delays'
The councillor referred to controversies over measures at Hoylake beach, the development of a cycle and walking routes in Wallasey as well as the ongoing furore over the planned introduction of new parking charges as areas where environmental proposals are being stymied by political opposition.
However, she added: "Our residents are well ahead of these politicians in their understanding of the grave environmental and economic crises we are facing."
Liverpool Friends of the Earth spokesperson, Don Naylor, says at times it has been "disappointing" to see the pace of action since Wirral declared a climate emergency, but added there are some encouraging signs.
He said: "As is the case with most councils, nationally, there is still a need to for a wider climate change-related understanding across all communities [as to] why many things need to be done differently, and quickly.
"At times, it has been disappointing to see progress on key climate projects appearing to be delayed by political infighting within Wirral Council whereas, encouragingly, all parties signed up to the original declaration.
"Three months prior to the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, we feel that within Wirral a correspondingly stronger intent to work together must be enabled.
'Progress has been made but there's still a big gap'
"Perhaps this may, in part, be achieved with an even wider rollout to councillors, council officers and residents, of the excellent Carbon Literacy training package currently on offer across the city region."
Zero Carbon Liverpool City Region founder, Ed Gommon, whose social enterprise is one of several providing carbon literacy training, aiming to raise awareness and understanding of the need to reduce carbon emissions as a key measure to tackle climate change, says he believes Wirral's progress had been "hampered significantly by covid".
He said: "Progress has still been made and we welcome all and any steps in the right direction taken.
"However, the scale of the challenge and the rate and scale of change needed is still not recognised or understood by many.
"In this pivotal year when the UK is hosting COP 26 our own government is still not showing enough leadership and creating the transformative policy landscape and funding that would enable Wirral council to make significant reductions in the sectors that emit the most carbon."
He says areas including transport, heating, powering homes and buildings and energy should be the focus of government policy, which in turn would feed into more effective local measures.
He said: "Instead, their official COP 26 spokesperson talks about not rinsing plates before putting them in the dishwasher."
Ed says that Wirral risks falling short of complying with Paris Agreement targets for its carbon budget, adding: "If emissions continue at 2017 rates this budget will be used up in the seven years from 2020."
Pointing to measures which could help in meeting those targets, including home insulation upgrades and switching to electricity and renewable sources through the fitting of eco heating systems, Ed said: "There is still a big gap between what we need to do and have the capacity to deliver."
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