Delivering change to accelerate the impact of climate change

Climate change across the Bradford district.

This is fast becoming the number one source of councillor enquiries in the Wharfedale Ward (Menston & Burley). I receive many emails from residents and people who support organisations like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth all with a single goal in mind – to advance the date at which we deliver a carbon net-zero district.

Just like many of you, I’m extremely concerned about the impact of climate change and it’s at the top of my personal and family agenda. It’s also high on my Council agenda and I’ve been working with Council departments and government to ask them to ensure that green energy solutions are mandated for new housing and building. Hopefully, from 2023, all new build homes will need to have solar panels and heat pumps.

I also fully appreciate the opportunity that green jobs could bring to the local economy and that councils can play a role in that; I will continue to encourage and support such action where and whenever possible.

I’m aware that all councils in West Yorkshire are working towards becoming carbon neutral by 2038; but many have been recently criticised for declaring a climate emergency and have failed to deliver any real change. It’s therefore extremely important that all councillors support this common goal for it to be achieved.

Bradford Council are working to minimise the impact of climate change.

Bradford Council is already working towards many of the 50 points listed in the Friends of the Earth action plan, but more still needs to be done and more quickly. I’m personally already working nationally and locally on points 13 to 17 and 32 of the above, some of which are already government policy e.g.: home insulation and clean air zones.

Waste (36) is not solely a council issue, Council do promote recycling of waste material although some people do not yet do so, however, Council do not yet recycle food waste.

Land use is also a priority, particularly as valuable green belt is released ahead of previously developed (brownfield) land, and council has a plentiful supply. This is something that I really care about, it’s ridiculous that we should even consider green belt development when there’s so much brownfield around. We should be developing brownfield first and I continue to challenge Council about this issue. There’s now £64 million support from government to West Yorkshire councils specifically targeted to support the redevelopment of brownfield land. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.

Uncomfortable truth.

Let’s face some uncomfortable truths, Bradford Council are only able to manage and mitigate their own CO₂ output. Councils can encourage local industry to play their part, but it is local industry that need to respond to requests. Below are CO₂ reductions made between 2005 and 2019 across the Bradford district.

As can be clearly seen in the above table, domestic energy use is the single largest area in which CO₂  reductions have been made, with public services accounting for only 7% of the overall total. The district in whole contributes another 3.8 tonnes* of CO₂ per capita.

Yorkshire and the Humber region has the UK’s second highest CO₂ output per capita* (see attached pdf – 373KB)

* Figures do not include CO₂ produced by imports/exports or aviation.

Changing business behaviour.

Business is in the business of making, and not spending money unless there’s a return. The best method to affect change in local business are consumers, government and councils can only provide frameworks to encourages consumers and business to change their direction of travel. That having been said, councils should take the lead an mandate the addition of solar and heat pumps in all new builds rather than waiting for government legislation.

As consumers, it’s up to us to change business attitudes by using our cumulative purchasing power. If we choose not to buy goods from ‘supplier A’ because they’re too polluting and have no desire to address climate change, and switch to another supplier who takes climate change seriously, business A will have to respond to meet that change.

Ultimately, business will have to adapt and change their behaviour to meet consumer demand, that means changing their commitment to climate change.

Whilst many of these things are, understandably, directed at local Councils and government, some are also the responsibility of, and will remain the choice of, the individual and businesses. Everyone has a part to play and that means making difficult choices. These choices may be constrained by household budget, lifestyle choices, etc. which are similar dilemmas to those faced by Council (e.g., budget and relative priorities). Examples of personal action, as you may be aware, are:

• Many people have 2 cars or more, but for 80% of any given day our cars are sat at home or parked at work. Should we be encouraged to use public transport? The West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the new Mayor are currently looking into improving our transport infrastructure network.
• Consumerism, TV’s, mobiles, electronic devices being changed or upgraded every year or two have a great environmental impact.
• Social media, emails, mobiles, etc. Again, many people haven’t considered the impact that social media, email traffic, cloud storage, etc. have on the planet in terms of energy consumption, land use and the use of raw materials. Facebook alone have 4 data centres for European traffic located in Dublin, Nelson (Manchester), Denmark (270,000 sq ft, 6.2 acres) and Sweden. Globally, data centres account for 1% of the planets power use, each using around 70 megawatts of power which is enough to power 56,000 homes.
• Holidays and air travel – see my personal Jet Zero consultation response, attached sent recently to central government.
• Energy. We can all do our bit to help, Solar power will help reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and typically will reduce electricity use by up to 60%, and solar is becoming more and more affordable. New boilers will also reduce gas consumption by 30%.Longer term, we all need to think about installing heat pumps, however, heat pumps require that your home must be well insulated. That means adding more insulation to loft space and cavity wall insulation, otherwise the heat pumps aren’t a viable alternative to gas.
  • Installation can be difficult and expensive, and you may need bigger radiators or to dig into floors.
  • And the high levels of insulation needed aren’t always possible in older, solid-walled homes common across the UK.
  • Engineers who are trained in installing and servicing heat pumps are for the moment, harder to find.
• Food – at a personal level, our household looks at the food miles travelled, buy British wherever possible and have switched much of our meat consumption to meat substitutes or more vegetables. We also work hard to ensure we have zero food waste. Food waste, and it’s significant is generated as follow:
  • 25% of all food waste occurs at the production stage. ‘Wonky’ or imperfect vegetables are put back into the ground.
  • 25% of all food waste is made by retailers, this is out of date or damaged stock that’s often sent to landfill.
  • 50% of all food waste occurs in consumers homes.
• This illustrates the scale of the problem, consumers account for half of the total, so what are you going to do to help remedy the current situation?

Climate change might be at the top of governments and Council agendas, but realistically action needs to start with consumers. It’s consumerism that drive industry and demand for goods, it’s therefore, whether we like to admit this or not, down to personal choice.

What’s your Carbon footprint.

Everyone has a part to play, but few look at their own carbon footprint or take positive steps towards reducing it – see https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/questionnaire as an example. The average person in the UK produces around 13.5 tonnes of CO₂ annually. Government have set an annual target that’s 78% lower (3.37 tonnes) and that’s to be achieved by 2035.

So, when making climate change requests, I would also ask for your help too. Don’t wait for Council or government legislation, start by making a positive personal difference now, or build on what you’re already doing. As we change our own behaviours, we will influence business, councils, and government to accelerate the pace of change.

As you’ll appreciate, councils are run by collective decision making so I’m trying to influence decisions at a local level.

CO2 output across the district 2005 to 2019

Data source the ONS. Please note that carbon capture is predominantly the amount of CO2 uptake by trees across the district. A mature tree removes 21.5Kg of CO2 annually from the atmosphere, so a typical household gas boiler requires 138 trees to planted to be carbon neutral.

Household CO2 output in 2019 versus other West Yorkshire authorities.

Data source the ONS. **