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From a commitment to protecting 30% of land and sea for wildlife by 2030, to developing nature-focused learning opportunities for children, we’re calling for a set of regional actions in our new insight paper on Nature’s Recovery, launched today.
Informed by a range of experts, including the citizens of Yorkshire and the Humber through our Commonplace platform, this is the latest in a series of insight papers laying out recommendations for decision makers at all levels across the region.
Writing about the newly released paper, Engagement and Impact Officer Sam Herbert stresses the many positives of giving nature a voice in decision making, including economic drivers and incentives for our business leaders:
“Putting nature at the heart of business can attract investors and increase market share, create resilience in supply chains, and in turn reduce costs of waste management and risks of noncompliance with environmental regulations.”
Read the report on Nature’s Recovery: https://yorksandhumberclimate.org.uk/natures-recovery
Read Sam’s blog in full: https://yorksandhumberclimate.org.uk/can-yorkshire-and-humber-become-haven-our-wildlife-so-desperately-needs-0
Yorkshire and the Humber’s coastline and seas are of significant cultural, economic and ecological importance, and while many of us in the region may not feel that close to the seaside, everything we do on land impacts the ocean.
That’s why our next survey is dedicated to our marine environment.
In consultation with specialists working in this field, we’ve looked at how the region can protect and restore these important habitats off our shores, making sure the marine environment is central to decisions about planning and development.
Now it’s your turn – head to our survey to have your say.
In an election year in which climate policies are a key issue, the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission are helping voters to cut through the noise.
Climate Talking Points calls for four key changes to national policy crucial for making real progress on climate and nature in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The world has just experienced its warmest February in modern times, and record temperature highs have been observed each month since June 2023. The first year-long breach of 1.5C warming was confirmed last month, and global sea surface temperatures hit their highest ever levels last year.
Evidence shows that people want action on climate. Without a change in national policy, Yorkshire and the UK are in danger of failing to meet climate targets and missing out on significant economic and social benefits.
“It’s imperative that we act fast, that we act now, and that everyone plays their part,” said Rosa Foster, Director of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission (YHCC), which is an independent and politically neutral advisory body run by a secretariat at the University of Leeds.
“We work closely with organisations across all sectors, as well as with local authorities and local politicians in the Yorkshire and Humber region. We know there is not only consensus on what we need to do, but also plenty of evidence to support the policy changes. What’s needed now is for people on the doorstep to press for these and make sure the messages hit home.”
Regional action
The Climate Talking Points briefing, which will be presented at an online event on 13 March, states that rapid decarbonisation, prioritising nature, and building resilience are key issues – and that investment in these areas will create new jobs and business opportunities, lower energy bills, and bring down costs associated with poor health and climate impacts.
The Commission also says it is crucial to ensure that climate action reduces inequalities and helps people to pursue healthy, fulfilling lives.
Encouraging action is already taking place across Yorkshire and the Humber, with local and combined authorities investing in climate friendly measures such as the Leeds PIPES district heating network, and grants for reducing emissions aimed at small businesses in South Yorkshire. The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has also run its own climate-themed citizens’ assembly.
In Hull, the Living with Water project is tackling adaptation to climate impacts, while the major industries around the Humber have big plans to get to net zero emissions, which are particularly important for the region's role in global climate action.
And in York, the City of York Council, with partners on the Retrofit One Stop Shop York (ROSSY) project, has been awarded £3.37 million from Innovate UK to support, promote and encourage retrofitting work to homes across the city, helping residents to save money and to move the city towards net zero, while upskilling the sector with the latest techniques.
Cllr Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council and a YHCC vice-chair, said:
“Climate Talking Points provide the opportunity for wide-ranging debates about the existential challenge facing humankind as we look to the future. Not only do they provide regional government, campaigning and other organisations with a framework for what needs to happen, they provide guidance to national policy makers and Government in how to deliver the change required if we’re to halt the increasingly dangerous warming of our planet.
“I hope the public and decision makers will embrace Climate Talking Points and the direction they point us towards in delivering the economic, environmental and social benefits for Yorkshire and Humber of living in a cleaner world”.
Cllr Jack Hemingway, Deputy Leader of Wakefield Council and also a YHCC vice-chair, said:
“We are really proud to have three West Yorkshire authorities ranked A by CDP [Carbon Disclosure Project] for global leadership - but we know we need to go further and faster. The Climate Talking Points enable us to have that conversation.”
Cllr Paul West, Councillor for Wolds Weighton Ward and another YHCC vice-chair, said:
"As we enter spring in a few weeks' time, we can all reflect on the turbulence that climate change has caused over the winter period. Displacing people, damaging ecosystems, creating uncertainty for millions of people. It is vitally important that we all play our part in reducing our impact on the planet. Through the work of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission we can all add our voices to help shape our planet and region for generations to come."
What policy changes are needed to unlock climate action across Yorkshire and the Humber?
In its Climate Talking Points briefing, the Commission has identified four key policy changes:
Chance to debate
The Climate Talking Points will be presented at an online event on Wednesday 13 March 7.00-8.30pm by the Commission’s Senior Engagement and Impact Officer Andrew Wood, in a discussion chaired by Richard Beardsworth, Professor of International Politics at the University of Leeds.
A panel of respondents features Melanie Taylor (Just Strategy), Paul Hayes (Senior Policy Fellow, Leeds University Business School), Niki Roach (Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management), Amogh Nagendra (Regional Youth Climate Assembly), and Rachael Balmer (North Yorks Council).
Register for the event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-talking-points-tickets-852142770967
Read the Climate Talking Points: https://yorksandhumberclimate.org.uk/climate-talking-points
New for 2024, our survey on transforming businesses for a thriving future has gone live! We’re looking for insights into how we can help businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber become more adaptive in the face of environmental and economic change.
There is a huge opportunity for businesses of all sizes, to not only build resilience and longevity into operations, but also to bring security and protection to employees, to local communities and to the region.
Having heard from different businesses and business networks operating in the region, we’ve set out some ideas in our draft insight paper – but do you agree with them? We’d love to hear your views, particularly if you work in this sector, to help shape our recommendations for policy makers.
Thank you for taking part in our most recent surveys on Commonplace - we had an amazing response to our relaunch last month!
If you are new to the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan, you may not have had the opportunity to respond to some of our previous surveys.
So, for a limited time only, the following topics are making a comeback:
As ever, your feedback will help shape important decisions about our region, so click on a link to have your say!
Help us shape positive action in Yorkshire and the Humber by taking part in our new survey on Rethinking our Relationship with Nature.
If we’re serious about addressing the environmental crises we’re facing, we need to reframe how we view the natural world.
In our latest draft insight paper, we’ve looked at how can we help communities in the region feel more emotionally and physically connected with nature, more empowered to take positive action, and more accepting that our local landscapes and seascapes need to evolve.
Take a look at our recommendations for the region’s decision makers, then have your say.
Take part in our survey on Health and Wellbeing! We want to hear your views on how we can help keep Yorkshire and the Humber healthy as the climate crisis continues to unfold.
Climate change is already having an impact on our physical and mental health, particularly in vulnerable or underserved communities. Air pollution is also likely to get worse as the climate and ecological crises continue.
But with the right interventions, these are trends we can help to reverse, as set out in our latest draft recommendations. Help us refine our thinking on this topic by filling in the short questionnaire on our Commonplace platform, where you can also see what other people think!
Our public conversation on Energy Supply and Distribution is now live and awaiting your input!
Over the last ten years, the UK electricity supply has seen the fastest reduction in CO2 emissions of any major global economy. But to achieve net zero, more needs to be done.
We’ve thought about actions we can take in Yorkshire and the Humber to support the UK's transition to a more decentralised, flexible, renewable and resilient power system, as set out in our draft insight paper.
And now it’s over to you. With your input, we can refine our recommendations for action, which will be presented to the region's decision makers.
The latest in our series of conversations on regional climate action has landed! This time we’re looking at how we can protect communities in Yorkshire and the Humber from the impacts of extreme weather.
Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as flooding, heatwaves, drought and storms. This can put people’s health and living spaces at risk, particularly in vulnerable communities, and cause disruption to essential services such as electricity and water supplies.
How can we prepare for these impacts, and ensure our emergency response teams are equipped for the challenges ahead?
We've set out some ideas in our draft paper on Emergency Preparedness and Response, but we want to capture a broader range of viewpoints to help shape our recommendations for the region.
The Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission is looking at how land use changes in the region could help achieve our climate goals – and we need your help.
We’re seeking input via our conversation on Net Zero and Nature-based Solutions, which is now live on our Commonplace platform.
Land use changes will play a pivotal role in helping Yorkshire and Humber meet the regional target of net zero by 2038, using nature-based solutions and technological innovation to reduce emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere. If done well, land management could also help restore habitats and biodiversity.
In consultation with a range of experts, the Commission has developed a set of draft recommendations, to ensure that sustainability is at the heart of future planning decisions.
Before we finalise our proposals, we want to hear from a broader range of people on the topic - so whether you live or work in the region, or have an insight on the subject that you would like to share, let us know what you think!
The Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission wants your views on how to leverage the funds needed to achieve the region’s ambitious climate action goals.
We are seeking feedback via our latest conversation on Finance and Investment, which is now live on our Commonplace platform.
Significant investment is needed to fund initiatives that will reduce emissions, restore nature and help us adapt to a changing climate. The UK’s financial sector has committed to reaching net zero, but as the delivery of climate plans happens in our towns, cities and countryside, we’ve looked at how to make finance work on a local level.
Informed by a range of expert testimonies, we have developed a proposed set of actions for tackling this issue in Yorkshire and Humber, as set out in our draft Climate Action Report.
Responses to the short, five-minute survey will help shape a final position paper on the subject, which will be presented to the region’s leaders and decision makers.
So give us your feedback today!
The Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission wants your feedback on how we can work towards a more sustainable and resilient built environment for the region.
Two short surveys – one on 'New Build Homes and Places' and a second on 'Infrastructure' – are now live on the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan Commonplace site.
We welcome your views on our proposals, which are outlined in the summary sections and further detailed in the accompanying draft Climate Action Reports.
The proposed actions for Yorkshire and Humber were informed by evidence-gathering sessions, which brought together commissioners, researchers and experts in these areas.
Whether you live in the region or work in a relevant sector, we now want to hear from you!
Two new surveys and reports have just gone live on our Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan Commonplace seeking your views on nature’s recovery and on green jobs and skills.
Each survey is accompanied by a draft Climate Action Report compiled by Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission that brings together themes, thoughts and existing research and proposes specific actions we can take here in Yorkshire and Humber.
The reports are informed by our Delivering Impact evidence-gathering sessions with commissioners, researchers, and experts who are tackling these issues across the country, in the region, and on the ground.
You can watch the sessions and read the reports, or just check out the summary of actions if you’re pressed for time.
Your views are important and will help ensure that a diversity of voices and opinions are heard on these vital subjects, shaping our final recommendations for the region that will be presented to decision makers.
Please give us your feedback today!
The Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission wants your views on how best to develop a food system that provides for all in a healthy and sustainable way.
The Commission has been gathering feedback via our Commonplace platform on priorities and guiding principles for Yorkshire and Humber’s food system which we set out in a draft Climate Action Report exploring the issue.
The report draws on input from a range of experts, including the work of the region’s FixOurFood project. Contributions received via our Commonplace survey will help us further develop the report, which will make recommendations for a Yorkshire-wide approach to future land use and will ultimately be presented to regional leaders and decision makers.
The Commonplace survey has already received a number of interesting comments and suggestions, which you can read and decide whether to agree with. But we’d like more feedback to build on this picture, so please give us your views!
The short (five minutes) survey invites responses on key aspects of the draft report, including four principles for a sustainable, regional food system:
The paper also identifies key actions aimed at addressing food insecurity in the region - which at 20.6%far exceeds the national average of 15.5%.
As our climate changes, we face even more challenges in ensuring everyone has access to enough healthy, sustainable food. Your views can help us set out a way of doing that in Yorkshire and Humber – please give us your feedback today!
A new digital citizens' engagement platform to gather views on how to tackle the climate crisis has gone live for Yorkshire and Humber.
A Commonplace platform has been created specifically to gather feedback on the 50 actions in the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan. The site will run for over a year, with new topics being introduced regularly.
The platform, which launched on Tuesday 29 November 2022 at an online public event, is hosted by Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.
The first two live topics are on retrofitting houses and regional food systems. There is also an opportunity for respondants to share local initiatives, projects and groups and highlight climate change impacts in their own areas by adding information to a map of the region.
People are invited to take part in the live surveys and sign up for alerts by email about new surveys and news items.
More than 70% of citizens want to be involved in open, ongoing conversations, particularly about climate change, reported Amy Hazlehurst of Commonplace. "This is a fantastic opportunity to get the digitally engaged civically engaged."
Engagement all the wayFor the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, Co-Director Andy Gouldson explained that the new Commonplace platform will be used to further engagement with the delivery of the actions in the plan, which itself involved consultation with over 500 people when it was published in November 2021.
The Commission are running expert sessions on a range of topics in the Climate Action Plan, findings from which are summarised in draft Regional Climate Action Reports, along with a set of recommended actions for delivery. The draft reports, and recordings of the sessions, are shared on the Commonplace platform together with surveys and an opportunity for people to share their own views and read and agree with others.
All the responses to the surveys will be analysed and presented to decision makers across the region and nationally. The results be also be disseminated widely throughout the ongoing conversations on Commonplace, both in news stories on the platform and through the Commission's social media, policy reports and other channels.
A final summary will be published in a public report in March 2024.
Join the platform and have your say here: https://yorkshirecap.commonplace.is
In November 2021 we consulted on and published a Climate Action Plan for the region – a positive, comprehensive and constructive set of 50 actions. It's a living document, and we want to grow that conversation and get your views on how those actions can be delivered.
Over the next year we are running a series of focused sessions with experts and key stakeholders on topics in the Climate Action Plan. We will be sharing outputs from each of these sessions on this new Commonplace citizens' engagement platform – then it's over to you to tell us what you think!
We will analyse all the responses and present them to decision makers across the region and nationally, as well as summarising them in a public report and disseminating them widely throughout this ongoing conversation.
Join us for the online launch event of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan Commonplace on Tuesday 29 November at 5pm to find out more about how the platform works, how you can take part, what topics we'll be covering and how your voice can help shape climate action across Yorkshire and Humber.
Agenda
17.00 A Yorkshire-wide conversation on delivering climate action – Andy Gouldson, Co-Director, Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission
17.10 Introduction to Commonplace – Amy Hazelhurst, Consultant, UK North, Commonplace
17.15 Conversation 1: Creating sustainable regional food systems – Sam Herbert, Engagement and Impact Officer, Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission
17.25 Conversation 2: Retrofitting – Kat Armstrong, Engagement and Impact Officer, Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission
17.35 Demonstration: Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan Commonplace – Catherine Graves, Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission
17.45 Q&A with speakers
17.55 Wrap up and next steps – Andy Gouldson
18.00 Close.
Register for the event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yorkshire-and-humber-climate-action-conversation-have-your-say-tickets-469937113557
Download the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan: https://yorksandhumberclimate.org.uk/climate-action-plan
Executive Summaries are also available to download from the link above in Urdu, Polish, Punjabi, Bengali and Arabic.
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 actionAt 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.”
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.
Read the Yorkshire Post news story
Picture of 2021 Yorkshire Post Climate Change Summit by Kate Lock
