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Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is targeting a net zero carbon footprint by becoming the first local authority to sign up to a global treaty.
The Council will now seek to end its use of fossil fuels with a roadmap towards alternative energy.
The green initiative will also look to monitor air quality with a fine tooth comb looking for a pollutant health risk particle 100 times thinner than a human hair.
Mournes Councillor Jill Truesdale brought forward the motion to sign up to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
She said: ”It is clear we need a tangible binding plan that will end the expansion of coal, oil and gas projects and manage the global transition away from fossil fuels.
“If members are in agreement with this, this will be the first council In Northern Ireland to sign up to this treaty.”
The council will now review the effectiveness of its air quality management areas in the city to consider expansion of monitors. Levels of health risk pollutants are to be detected throughout the district with the particle ‘PM.25’ targeted for the first time according to the environment committee report.
Inhaling high levels of the minuscule particle is linked to various health problems, including respiratory and cardiovascular issues, and increased mortality.
The environmental treaty is a global agreement, which is being spearheaded by climate vulnerable Pacific island states. It calls for a fast, fair and funded end to the use of fossil fuels around the world, and for governments to coordinate to bring forward a globally just transition.
It has already been endorsed by 16 national governments globally. British cities including Birmingham, Glasgow and London have backed calls for the treaty.
However another Mournes Councillor Henry Reilly called for caution in promoting green energy in light of recent claims of failing solar power cells in Europe.
He said: “I have long held the view that we are going too quickly on this and we should take in to account what happened in Spain recently and the whole Iberian peninsula, that has become reliant on solar. And it just didn’t work and the slightest bit of pressure on the system caused the whole country to collapse into a power cut for 24hrs.
“We can’t afford to make mistakes like that. Fossil fuels are there until there are real viable alternatives…as the most vulnerable people in society are paying through the nose for this so-called green energy.”
In April, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the government was investigating a major power cut across the country and had ruled out a cyber attack.
Some of the possibilities for the power cut included the suggestion being that the incident could have been linked to renewable energy.
Newry City Councillor Doire Finn added: “Being the first council in the North to have this, I was wondering if it is possible that we share the information we have with other councils and ask them to consider signing the same treaty?”
Due to the disagreement in chamber a vote was taken with 11 members in favour, three against and one abstaining on the motion with the amendment to contact the other 10 councils in Northern Ireland.
The Motion from Cllr Jill Truesdale
Recognising NorthernIreland's commitment to achieve net zero by 2050, and Newry Mourne and Down's previous motion recognising a climate emergency, Council wil endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, an initiative to secure an international and legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels and will write to the Northern Ireland Executive urging them to support this initiative. In line with this commitment, it will also review the effectiveness of the council's Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA), and whether the number of air quality monitor stations can be expanded throughout the district.
