‘Place’ is the key to effective climate action

In Yorkshire and the Humber, there is strong, cross-party ambition to accelerate climate action, which enables our work at the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission (YHCC), including our newly updated Climate Action Plan. All the region’s local authority chief executives and mayors are committed to it. But are we climate-ready? Not even close. That’s why our plan gives equal priority to adaptation and resilience alongside rapid emissions reduction, as well as protecting and restoring nature and ensuring the transition to net zero is fair and just.

We also have a route to get us there. A recent YHCC publication, Our Carbon Story, reveals that we can technically meet our ambitious regional zero-carbon target of 2038, and it would be good for the economy to do so, with significant returns on investment. It would also bring benefits to people’s lives, alleviating fuel poverty through housing retrofit and achieving massive health improvements through switching short car journeys to active travel.

But to make this happen, we need a fourfold increase in the rate of emissions reduction, and £7.3 billion per year investment to 2038 − and that requires extending the government’s mission-driven approach to facilitate deeper and faster changes, and to include climate readiness. At a recent event, a senior local authority representative described the need to move from “incremental pragmatism” to “making every decision count”. Those priorities must be relevant to communities and the challenges they face if they are to support and participate in them − and if they are ultimately to be successful.

This article was first published on The House, on 29 November 2024.