The development and use of renewable energy sources is required to protect the future of all who live and work in Gloucestershire from Climate Change. The current strategy of the Pension Fund administered by Gloucestershire County Council Pension Comittee to invest many many £millions in large fossil fuel companies is compromising the future of those of us who live in Gloucestershire and those who contribute to or are receiving GCC pensions.

100% London teamed up with energy experts to come up with nine essential steps to a clean energy future for London. The mayor needs to stand with every Londoner, including businesses, schools, hospitals and local councils, to make sure we build a clean future for our city. Here’s what the new mayor should commit to do to make London 100% clean: - Fix up older homes, to make them warm and energy efficient - Invest in public transport - Create a network of renewable energy suppliers - Make cycling safe and accessible for everybody - A city-wide solar power strategy - Make freight carbon-free - Cleaner air through lower vehicle emissions - Use resources well, and recycle more effectively - Modernise our workplaces to make them energy efficient

As pointed out recently by the 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, the global health improvements witnessed in recent decades risk being undone by climate change.. We also know that most of the existing coal, oil and gas reserves must stay in the ground if this is to be avoided. However, the energy sector’s continued exploration for new fossil fuel reserves makes clear that they will only respond to market forces. The ethical and financial case for fossil fuel divestment is thus well founded, and widely supported by, amongst others, the President of the World Bank and Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO)- both public health physicians. Whilst we commend the Gates Foundation Asset Trust’s recent decision to divest $765.9 million worth of shares from ExxonMobil, we feel that this does not go far enough. By failing to divest from the major fossil fuel companies, the Gates Foundation is implicitly providing moral support to companies that continue to obstruct meaningful action to reduce GHG emissions. Just as important, it sends the wrong signal to many governments who continue to frame their energy policies under the influence of the fossil fuel industry. It also misses the opportunity to support a transition to a safer and healthier world through transfer of investment to the renewable energy sector. Constructive engagement with the fossil fuel industry is important, but the Gates Foundation is better placed to support the transformation of the energy sector if it does not simultaneously signal that it is morally acceptable to profit from industries that cause global warming and threaten the health, biodiversity and security of the planet. Yours sincerely, Dr David McCoy, Medact, UK Prof. Hugh Montgomery, University College London Prof Sue Atkinson and Dr Robin Stott, on behalf of the Climate and Health Council, UK Dr David Pencheon, Director, Sustainable Development Unit for the Health and Social Care System, UK ----------- If you are from outside the UK then please email [email protected] with the following details, and we will add you to the petition manually: Full name, Email, Job title, Country and whether you work in the health sector.

Fracking is an inherently dangerous industrial process which poisons water aquifers. Do we want our families and future generations to suffer from the effects of chemically contaminated water in perpetuity? Environment America's Research and policy Centre’s report in 2013, which studied the impact of fracking across the United States, states that fracking poses grave risks to the environment and human health. For this reason the Scottish and Welsh assemblies have imposed a moratorium on fracking in Scotland and Wales. There have been many cases across the US where contamination of drinking water has led to serious impacts on health for humans and livestock. I urge anyone to get hold of it, it makes very sobering reading. Fracking is not a safe industry and the evidence from studies in the US backs this up. The visual and environmental impact of this industrial process on the landscape and to habitats is dramatic and therefore extremely concerning. Damage is caused by drilling through water bearing rock strata and pumping a cocktail of toxic chemicals at extremely high pressure in order to shatter oil bearing shale. Well linings break and degrade leading to irreversible contamination of aquifers. The vast quantities, millions of gallons, of water for this process must be taken in competition with the needs of irrigation for agriculture and our drinking water. The water becomes contaminated and cannot be recycled but has to be brought back to the surface and stored in reservoirs or dumped, leading to escape and further permanent damage to the environment. Fracking will without question threaten the purity and future security of water aquifers across England in densely populated counties including Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. Drilling horizontally below for example beneath the South Downs National Park cannot be considered safe. In geological terms, this isn't very deep at all. Depth does not address the risk fundamentals that high pressure fracking and extraction from well head to oil bearing strata and in reverse in a environmentally sensitive and densely populated region poses to health. Fracking should be regulated with as much rigour as the nuclear industry is under European Environmental Impact Assessment regulation. The impact of fracking is such a critical and detailed issue for the UK, I urge everyone to review the evidence on fracking that is emerging from the US for themselves and not rely on ministerial briefings and support a moratorium on fracking in England until fracking can ever be proved to be a safe and sustainable industrial practice. There are proven safe and sustainable alternatives to securing the nation's energy requirements.

RWE Innogy have submitted a planning application to dam the river Conwy and build a hydro electric power plant. The Afon Conwy is a unique & nationally important river designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a famous salmon & sea trout fishery and classic white water kayaking and canoeing resource. The section of the river that will be affected by the dam includes the famous Conwy Falls waterfall a significant visitor attraction and the iconic Fairy Glen. Photo ©Andy Teasdale

"A Chinese state-controlled company, with a minority French state partner, will build (and control) massive nuclear power plants at Hinkley Point, Bradwell in Essex and Sizewell. British intelligence agency sources are said to be so concerned that they have let it be known in public that they can never know what hidden capabilities are built into the plants’ software." Polly Toynbee. If these plans go ahead they could press that red button and make the UK a nuclear wasteland whenever they chose, or hold us to ransom indefinitely taking over our government and removing every last freedom we posses. Environmentally speaking our government has crushed burgeoning sustainable energy enterprises to make room for this. Fiscally speaking it is yet another selling off of basic infrastructure that we should own. Whether you believe that this is an environmental, a fiscal or a security risk please sign. Do not hand over the UK on a plate.

Oil & gas companies are looking to explore for more fossil fuels within Mole Valley even though Climate Change scientists and most world powers demand that we move away from our dependency on them to renewables. To be looking for more fossil fuels at a time when we have already found over 5 times more fuel than we can potentially use is utter madness and criminal.

So we do not leave a legacy of more nuclear waste to our future generations

A large agricultural anaerobic digestion plant is planned in East Lothian, between Longniddry and Ballencrieff on the B1377. The plant will convert energy crops and agricultural by products into gas which will be fed into the national grid. It will be the largest agricultural (non-food) in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK, three times the size of the current largest agricultural plant. We believe the plant will have a detrimental effect on the local environment, and pose serious risks to wildlife. Other issues such as increased HGV traffic, noise, and odour will also be of concern to local residents and commuters along this road alike. The site sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty, with the size, and especially height of the development far in excess of any other nearby structures. It will also sit less than 400m from residential property. The proposals are not yet on the online planning portal, but we expect them to be very soon. There will be a short window where objections can be lodged against the proposal and we will provide more details as they become available.

Jobs at risk The cost of solar panels since 2007 has fallen by over 70%. It is now the cheapest of all renewable technologies. This week, India announced the creation of 50 solar cities. Solar around the world is booming. In a few years, it won't need any support at all. But the UK Government seems to want to do everything it can to kill solar before we get to that point – and risk tens of thousands of jobs in the process. This is not the first time the Government has tried to kill the feed-in tariff, the scheme that pays people to feed clean electricity into the national grid from their solar panels. Back in 2011 Government tried to kill off 90% of the scheme with retrospective cuts. Friends of the Earth, together with the solar industry, took the Government to court - and won. Ministers were forced to backtrack. But once more, 35,000 jobs in the solar industry are on the line. (Quote from Friends of the Earth and image credit to intel free press)

Smart meters only record electricity used and not the excess electricity generated by small generators like personal homes with solar panels. The government pays a feed-in tariff but the excess electricity is still being placed on the national grid and sold by electricity companies when they have not paid for it. This is theft, pure and simple. Stop this theft by ordering all smart meters to record both incoming and outgoing electricity and make the electricity companies pay for the excess being generated or deduct the excess from the incoming electricity.

KCC’s Proposed modifications to the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan (MWLP) 2013-30. state that subject to certain conditions, planning permission will be granted for proposals associated with the exploration, appraisal and development of oil, gas and unconventional hydrocarbons. This blanket approach ignores the inherent risks of fracking which have been well documented around the world. The dangers are real and critical. Consultation on the subject has been buried in obscurely worded documents that will have successfully slipped below the radar of most of the residents of Kent. This is not an acceptable democratic approach. KCC must ensure they represent the views of the residents and land-owners of Kent before permitting any fracking activity to take place on Kentish soil.