Carla Suzanne Denyer is an English Green Party politician, sitting as a councillor for the Bristol ward of Clifton Down. She is most noted for her lead role in bringing about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency in 2018, which paved the way for similar declarations across the UK.
In 2018, Denyer proposed the motion to bring about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency. This was the first such declaration by a UK council, and one of the first in the world. Denyer has accordingly been seen as a key figure in launching a global movement of government climate-emergency declarations. BBC news credited Denyer with the idea of first putting forward 'the idea of a local area declaring a climate emergency'. Denyer's motion was described in The Independent as 'the historic first motion' which by July 2019 had been 'copied by more than 400 local authorities and parliaments.' As of 2019, however, Denyer remained critical of Bristol's progress towards achieving its goal, and particularly of the planned expansion of Bristol Airport.
Fossil fuel divestment
Following her work prior to becoming a councillor on the Quakers' divestment, Denyer became a leading figure in the campaign to make the University of Bristol divest from fossil fuels, first tabling a motion in her capacity as a city councillor sitting on one of the University's governance bodies in November 2015. Despite initial defeats, the campaign succeeded in March 2017. Denyer also participated in achieving the 2015 divestment of Bristol's Avon Pension Fund from fossil fuels.
Other activity as a councillor
Denyer continued campaigning on traffic as a councillor, focusing on cars parking in cycle lanes and trying to introduce congestion charging. Other prominent campaigning has included improving conditions for people renting their homes; successfully opposing council tax increases for poorer taxpayers, while seeking what Denyer has described as 'more ambition from the Mayor's Office in tackling austerity' by calling for the city to raise the top band of council tax.
In May 2019, Denyer unsuccessfully stood as one of the Green candidates for South West England in the European Parliament Election. The elections saw her no-platforming the UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin regarding a hustings planned to be held at the University of Bristol, arguing that 'while the protection of free speech is important, we have to guard against the far right taking advantage of it'. In November 2019, she stood as the Green candidate for Bristol West in the 2019 UK general election, participating in the Unite to Remain campaign, leading to discussion as to whether she or the standing Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire was the more convincing candidate for pro-EU voters. Denyer came second, with 24.9% of the vote to Debbonaire's 62.3%.
Honours and awards
Denyer received a 'special mention' in the Local Government Information Unit's Councillor Achievement Awards in the category 'Environment and Sustainability Pioneer'. She received the UK Local Government Association's 2018-19 Clarence Barrett Award for outstanding achievement 'for her work on the Climate Emergency motion which has been carried forward by councils everywhere'. In 2020, she was named in the sustainability category by the Women's Engineering Society as one of the UK's top fifty women in engineering, with the commendation focusing on her climate emergency motion. In 2019, Denyer was also nominated for the Bristol Diversity Awards in the 'politician' category, and was involved in her employer's achievement of the Best Promotional Incentive Award in the 2013 Travelwest Sustainable Business Travel Awards for encouraging staff car-sharing.
