Monday May 25th 2026
Glasgow City Chambers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sarah Hilley
A councillor voiced concerns over the council hitting climate change targets as she pointed out schools would need air conditioning within 20 years due to rising temperatures.
Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell told a meeting this week that care homes and hospitals would also require air conditioning within 10 years according to a Climate Change Committee report.
Speaking at yesterday’s city administration committee, the Green councillor made the comments as the council’s revised climate plan was approved. But convenor for climate Angus Millar insisted the council will stick to its ambitions and goals.
The council has set a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030 as part of its climate plan.
Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell said: “I appreciate the ambition of this plan but I do have concerns. I know that many residents of Glasgow share my concerns around meeting our targets for 2030.”
Pointing out government changes, she said there have been potential “rollbacks” from both the Scottish and UK Governments concerning funding and legislation.
Councillor Reid-McConnell added: “The UK is not built for the temperatures we are going to see in just 20 years. It says we should be putting air conditioning in all of our care homes and hospitals over the next 10 years and all of our schools over the next 20 years. This is costing a lot of money .”
She said council teams had been doing great work at retrofitting buildings but “it is only touching the sides”.
Calling for climate to be central to the council’s work she asked what conversations and priorities the local authority would share with the Scottish Government and how will support be demanded.
In response, SNP councillor Millar said: “It is important to stress that as part of the revised climate plan that we are bringing forward for approval today we are not seeking to change the ambitions of the city or to lower our aspirations in terms of our targets. I have recognised in the past and continue to recognise that without an improvement in pace of delivery across a range of policy areas in national government that those targets are gong to be extremely challenging to meet.”
He told the committee that maintaining urgency shows national government that the city demands action on the climate and considerable carbon reduction progress has been made because of ambition.
He added: “City targets will the maintained and that will be central to engagement with national government.”
He said he will correspond with Scottish cabinet secretaries about a range of issues including sustainable transport and heat networks and would lobby the UK Government to deliver decarbonisation resources.
The issues were discussed as the revised Glasgow Climate Plan 2026 to 2030 was approved at the city administration committee yesterday.
New actions have been added following consultation including management of River Clyde pollution and an emphasis on food security and waste.
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