Climate urgency

“WE all need to start acting with the urgency that an emergency demands,” Gibraltar’s Deputy Chief Minister has said about climate change.

Joseph Garcia was speaking at the start of the Aspire sustainable construction conference where public and private professionals met to learn how they could build greener.

He challenged delegates to ‘change the way things have traditionally been done’ in order to reach the Net Zero targets his government has set.

Accountable

The keynote speaker at the event was environmental campaigner Tony Juniper who was among a full line-up of top panellists.

In his opening address, Garcia spoke of his desire to see the government working with developers and contractors to put the local community first in the design of new buildings. He warned that ‘the private sector cannot simply put profit above quality of life’.

Under the keen eye of environment minister John Cortes, Gibraltar established an independent Climate Change Committee to oversee this work and hold the government accountable.