The Climate Action Pledge is starting a ‘sprint’ of focused action on climate across our region. We want to see a year of progress in 2023 that puts us on the road to net zero, that helps protect our economy from climate impacts and that boosts nature, enhancing our region’s fantastic natural assets. It’s an opportunity for organisations and businesses to join in a movement for a greener, more secure and prosperous Yorkshire & Humber. 

Who is it for?

The Climate Action Pledge has been designed to be applicable to as many businesses and organisations across our region as possible, from SMEs to our largest businesses, from local third sector bodies to NHS Trusts.  

How does the Climate Action Pledge work? 

After signing the pledge, businesses and organisations will be asked about their progress so far in tackling climate and nature issues on a simple tick box scale. This will enable us to categorise organisations into one of three tiers:

Signatories: those who have signed and pledged to take action
Achievers: Those who already have a plan in place for one or more of our four areas of focus.  
Leaders: During 2023, we will work with those businesses and organisations that appear to be most advanced to develop criteria for Climate Leaders.

The questions will be asked again at the beginning of 2024 to help track progress.  

What support will be available to signatories? 

The Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission is seeking to develop a Climate Leadership Programme – a series of online training modules that will help support those who take the pledge. In the meantime, we will signpost signatories to existing support services and tools that we identify.  
We will also be developing opportunities for business engagement and networking, sharing the best practice from around the region and encouraging peer support.  

What makes this Pledge different? 

There are other climate pledge schemes – but they tend to focus on cutting carbon emissions alone – and that’s not the only action we need to take. Our pledge also asks businesses and organisations to get ready for a changing climate through addressing risks and becoming more resilient, and to start taking actions to help tackle our nature and biodiversity crisis.  

It’s also about working together for Yorkshire & Humber – helping make sure our region is climate ready and able to take advantage of the opportunities of a greener economy. The Climate Action Pledge encourages businesses and organisations to consider how their action can influence people and partners  they work with, and places they work in  – cascading impacts from business to business as well as business to community from Huddersfield to Hull.    

How will businesses and organisations be assessed? 

The Climate Action Pledge is a public commitment to taking action that aims to create a movement for change. We will be relying on businesses and organisations to provide honest, self-assessed feedback on their progress. During the year we will define criteria for climate leadership and a simple process that will allow a limited number of pioneering organisations to be identified as Yorkshire & Humber’s Climate Leaders. Our scheme is focused on growing the number of organisations taking action on climate, and deepening and broadening that action over time, rather than grading or certifying individual businesses.