Yorkshire council leaders urged to include aviation and shipping emissions in net zero target

Council leaders in Yorkshire have been urged to go beyond current national standards and include the region’s aviation and shipping emissions in their net zero calculations.
Planes lined up at Leeds Bradford Airport. Picture: James HardistyPlanes lined up at Leeds Bradford Airport. Picture: James Hardisty
Planes lined up at Leeds Bradford Airport. Picture: James Hardisty

The newly-published Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan proposes that the Yorkshire Leaders’ Board, which is made up of the region’s councils and combined authorities, expands its current ambitions to get the region to net zero by 2038 through including aviation and shipping emissions.

Currently emissions from aeroplanes and ships are not included in the UK’s net zero calculations, but last year the national Committee on Climate Change said they should be in future. It is thought the change may be introduced nationally from 2023.

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The plan, which is published today, states that adding the figures to the Yorkshire target would increase the region’s current calculated levels of direct emissions by 10 per cent

It says that carbon emissions linked to flying “form an increasingly significant part of our carbon footprint, and we should encourage all measures to tackle them, especially for frequent flyers, whilst recognising that some of these will require policy change at the national scale”.

Andy Gouldson, director of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission which has produced the plan, said: “The region has set through the Yorkshire Leaders’ Board a target of getting to net zero by 2038.

“In the action plan, we have recommended that we add in aviation and shipping emissions into that target.

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“That would add 10 or 11 per cent to our current carbon footprint and therefore make it more challenging to reduce our emissions but it is also what the national Committee on Climate Change has recommended.

“We would be a leader if we did that but I think the direction of travel is clear, that’s going to happen anyway.

“It would just be us showing leadership on that agenda.”

He said a key part of the action plan is to let Yorkshire and Humber as a region take ownership of climate change policies and help set its own agenda on the issue.

“There’s a line in the action plan that says we as a region should be doing this by us and for us rather than having it done to us,” he said.

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“I think one-size-fits-all national policies imposed on the region are not going to feel very nice.

“We can step up and take the lead and set our own future.”

Professor Gouldson said he hoped the plan would prompt organisations to put climate change at the heart of their decision-making processes.

“Climate change has to be put at the heart of all our big decisions, including in politics and policy and planning, but also in business and the economy.

“Climate change can’t just be left to a sustainability department to do – it has to be the chief executive and the council leaders.”

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Professor Gouldson said he hoped the plan would prompt organisations to put climate change at the heart of their decision-making processes.

“Climate change has to be put at the heart of all our big decisions, including in politics and policy and planning, but also in business and the economy. Climate change can’t just be left to a sustainability department to do - it has to be the chief executive and the council leaders.”

Savers 'could invest in Yorkshire climate platform'

A Yorkshire climate finance platform could be created to support the development of ‘investable climate-facing projects and programmes’, the action plan suggests.

It said the costs of reaching net zero is expected to be around £1.5bn a year for Yorkshire and Humber, which is less than one per cent of GDP per year.

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It states: “This is of course a massive amount of money – but investing less than one per cent of our income to secure a long-term future for the region and a liveable planet for our children and grandchildren should be seen as good value.”

Professor Gouldson said: “One of the amazing statistics that we found is that people in Yorkshire have £46bn sat in their ISAs.

“Imagine if we could create an opportunity for them to bring that money home and invest in the region and create jobs and tackle inequality and decarbonise at the same time. I would love to see that kind of catalyse a new relationship between the people of the region and the region.

“It would be the region investing in its own future rather than waiting for national government to do it.”

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