Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission will again partner with the Yorkshire Post for a regional climate change summit.

The one-day conference, at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, will be on 15 November 2022.

The inaugural event took place in 2021 during the COP26 fortnight, and the timing will be repeated this year with the Yorkshire summit coinciding with the international climate negotiations at COP27 in Egypt.  

BBC meteorologist and climate correspondent Paul Hudson, who narrated the launch film for the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, will host the event.

The summit will bring together politicians, business leaders, academics and media from across sectors to address the climate challenges faced by the region.

Focus on delivering action

At the previous conference, the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission presented its Climate Action Plan; this year the focus is on how businesses and organisations can help to deliver it.

The Climate Action Plan identifies 50 actions that need to be taken across the region, with an equal emphasis on adapting to climate impacts and building resilience, along with achieving net zero and a wide range of cross-cutting measures.

Andy Gouldson and Rosa Foster, co-directors of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, said: “During the heatwave on 18-19 July, we saw temperatures in some parts of Yorkshire reach an unprecedented 38-39C and 40.1C in Finningley in Doncaster.

"The declaration of major incidents, from wildfires that caused houses to burn to closed railways and power cuts across the region, was a stark reminder that climate change is affecting us where we live, right now.

“We can expect these and other climate impacts like flooding, droughts and storms to become more frequent as the world continues to heat up.

“Understanding how we can best adapt and become resilient to this ‘new normal’ is a key part of the work of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, along with making sure we drive down emissions and achieve our 2038 regional net zero target. Ensuring that transition is just and fair for all, and that we work with nature to achieve it, is equally crucial to our mission.

“We look forward to exploring solutions for all these aspects at the Yorkshire Post Climate Change Summit 2022 – and to sharing a new initiative from the Commission to super-charge climate action by businesses and organisations across the region.”

Further information

Confirmed sponsors for the event include First Bus, Willerby, NatWest, Synetiq, Ecology Building Society, and Ison Harrison, along with Whitby Seafoods and Cafes Novell UK.

As last year, the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission will have an allocation of free tickets for the summit for people for whom the cost of attending in person would otherwise be prohibitive. These will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis. Details of how to apply for these tickets will be announced in due course. To ensure you receive notification of this, please subscribe via our web form.

Conference website

Read the Yorkshire Post news story

Picture of 2021 Yorkshire Post Climate Change Summit by Kate Lock