Newcastle City Council’s strategy for tackling the climate crisis will be detailed in a talk next Wednesday (23 October) by cabinet member Clare Penny-Evans.

The idea of a “climate change convention” was first mooted by council leader Nick Forbes in April as a means of seeking agreement on a three-pronged approach to make the city greener: formation of a cross-party committee, a “Net Zero Board” that would include the city’s universities and hospitals, and a “Citizens’ Assembly” across the North of Tyne region.

Penny-Evans is the council’s cabinet member for climate change and her talk is part of Jesmond Library’s “Climate Action Month” — a series of events hosted in partnership with Extinction Rebellion and the Women’s Institute.

The council declared a “climate emergency” at the beginning of April, partly in response to a petition that was signed by almost 3,000 people. Clare Andrews, the Green Party campaigner who created the petition, will give a talk “Heading for Extinction and what to do about it” on the following evening (24 October), alongside local activist Tony Waterston.

Waterston, who like Andrews has stood as a Green Party candidate in Jesmond, said that the talk, given on behalf of Extinction Rebellion, is “primarily aimed at governments” in an attempt to pressure them into “making it easier” for people to reduce their negative effect on the climate.

“Progress in Jesmond has been extremely slow,” Waterson said. “The council is really foot-dragging so a lot of the focus from Extinction Rebellion in Newcastle is on them to make real their commitments to the climate emergency.”

The aim of the Library’s month of events, says Waterson, is to get people to “go from thinking this is somebody else’s problem to my problem – Greta [Thunberg] has shown that every single person can do something themselves, and I think it’s taking that step from seeing yourself as a spectator to seeing yourself as somebody who can be part of changing the process,” he said.

The events take place against a backdrop of local and national actions by Extinction Rebellion. Last week, local Extinction Rebellion groups joined to protest and raise awareness of air pollution at the Corner House road junction in Heaton.