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Yorkshire & Humber Climate Action Plan 2024

Yorkshire & the Humber Climate Action Plan, Rapid Emissions Reduction graphic
Yorkshire & the Humber Climate Action Plan, Rapid Emissions Reduction graphic

The Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission has published an updated Climate Action Plan. The last one was released in 2021.

Will it make any difference, or is just so much bla bla bla? The answer to that question comes on page 11 of the Plan, which says:

‘The Climate Action Plan was developed by the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission – an independent advisory group that was set up to support ambitious climate action across Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Commission is made up of climate leaders from across the public, private and third sectors in the region’.

So it’s advisory, and relies on others for implementation, notably councils.

North Yorkshire Council Leader Carl Les has signed it on behalf of the Yorkshire Leaders Board. The Leaders Board comments as follows:

‘We know we need to go further and faster in responding to the challenges ahead. We also know that we will only achieve the change required at the pace and scale that is needed by working together across political, social, and economic boundaries, involving organisations from different sectors, and finding ways to effectively collaborate’.

In my view, Carl Les presides over a council that signs up to ambitious climate goals, but which has no intention of taking meaningful action to reach them.

‘Say one thing, do another’ could be North Yorkshire Council’s motto.

There are councils in the region that take climate action seriously, and perhaps the Climate Action Plan will influence their actions. In North Yorkshire, the Plan will be totally ignored.

As one small example, North Yorkshire promised to reduce the speed limit on certain Harrogate streets to 20mph, and put in traffic calming. The council has now postponed this work indefinitely.

Judged by its actions, North Yorkshire is a high-traffic, high-carbon council, which is simply not taking the steps needed to bring about meaningful change.

Four Pillars of Climate Action

The Climate Action Plan says there are four pillars of climate action:

  1. Rapid Emissions Reduction
  2. Climate Adaptation and Resilience
  3. Nature Restoration and
  4. A Just Transition

In relation to emissions, there are some interesting facts in the Plan.

Yorkshire & the Humber has 5.5 million people and accounts for 9.4% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. This amounts to more than small countries like Croatia or Slovenia.

Emissions are down 44% since 2000, mainly due to the decarbonisation of electricity (including the carbon accounting trick of regarding burning wood at Drax as zero emission).

The target is to be net zero in the region by 2038. Further decarbonisation will require noticeable changes to lifestyles.

‘For example, transport emissions come mainly from petrol and diesel cars. Over the years, our transport and economic planning have prioritised private car use, making them the most reliable way to get around.

To reduce emissions quickly, we can’t simply switch to electric cars; we need to make big improvements to our public transport, build more cycle lanes, and redesign our neighbourhoods so that walking, cycling and public transport become the easiest and preferred choice.

The health, wellbeing and productivity benefits resulting from such a shift will be transformative for the region’.

Actions for the Region

The Climate Action Plan sets out actions, organised according to priorities A to G.

The Plan says that to reach the 2038 net zero goal, the region needs to decarbonise four times faster than at present. ‘This requires bold leadership’.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for bold leadership from North Yorkshire Council.

For example, the Leaders Board agreed Planning Policy Principles. One of them to be pursued now is modal shift in travel, aligning planning policies to ensure that public and active modes become the most attractive choice for a much larger share of journeys’.

North Yorkshire is doing the opposite: it is prioritising motor vehicles over other modes at the West Harrogate urban expansion.

Say one thing, do another.

Another interesting fact to emerge in the Actions section is that the net zero economy represents 4% of the region’s total economy, but it is growing much faster than the rest of the economy: 9% vs 0.1% in 2023.

Places and Transport

‘Transport within the region currently accounts for 29% of our direct emissions.

Switching to electric vehicles will only address part of the issue: shifting more journeys from private car to walking, cycling and public transport will be hugely beneficial to people’s health, social inclusion and productivity.

All of these measures require significant investment and leadership, because to enable more sustainable travel choices, our built environments, public spaces and transport infrastructure needs to work together. Solutions will also vary between different neighbourhoods and between urban and rural areas’.

Having acknowledged the need to switch to active travel and public transport, Action E5 is to enable leaders to make bold investment and policy decisions to prioritise public transport and to develop the high-quality infrastructure needed to reach the target where 50% of trips in our towns and cities are walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030.

E5 also envisages every transport authority in the region scoring at least three in Active Travel England’s capability ratings.

North Yorkshire is stuck at Level 1, and given the way it conducts itself at present a hundred years could pass and it would not reach Level 3.

Yorkshire & Humber Climate Action Plan 2024