Leeds City Council has passed a Motion to declare a climate emergency in the city.
The majority vote, for a White Paper Motion presented by Council Leader, Cllr Judith Blake (pictured), was passed at a full Council meeting on 27 March 2019.
In passing the Motion, the Council resolved not only to declare a climate emergency, but to sign up to a science based carbon reduction target consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement of no more than 1.5°C global temperature increase.
The resolution included working to make Leeds carbon neutral by 2030 and calling on central government to provide the funding and powers to make this possible. (Read our story.)
This section of our website will bring together coverage and information of events and activities relating to the Climate Emergency that the Leeds Climate Commission is involved with.
Leeds carbon roadmap
The Climate Commission was tasked, by the Council, with producing a science based roadmap for Leeds. This was produced by our Chair, Prof Andy Gouldson, and his team - read our story and view the roadmap report.
The roadmap was presented to Leeds City Council's executive board on 17 April 2019. (See the agenda and minutes and view the webcast .)
Big Leeds Climate Conversation
Leeds Climate Commission has worked collaboratively with Leeds City Council to co-host a city-wide conversation on the climate emergency. An online survey, "The Big Leeds Climate Conversation", was launched at an event at the University of Leeds on 16 July 2019.
Cllr Lisa Mulherin, Executive Board member for climate change, transport and sustainable development, gave the opening address and announced initiatives by the Council around support for businesses and organisations to reduce travel emissions, as well as a series of community car-free days across Leeds. Council leader Judith Blake gave the closing address.
Read the press release and watch the video of the climate Q&A. A video of the livestream and separate films of the speakers can be found on the Big Leeds Climate Conversation YouTube channel.
The Big Leeds Climate Conversation ran until 30 November 2019 and is now closed. Council officers engaged with Leeds citizens at 80 events across the city during that time and the survey had almost 8,000 responses. The findings from the survey and associated events and engagements can be found in this report. The results of the survey were used to inform Leeds City Council's response to the climate emergency - read the Council's Climate Emergency Update report (7 January 2020). The Council has also put a number of 'asks' to the Government, requesting assistance to help it achieve its 2030 zero carbon target.
Citizens' Jury
From September to November 2019, Leeds Climate Commission ran a Leeds Climate Change Citizens' Jury, working with Shared Future CIC, to address the question, "What should Leeds do about the emergency of climate change?" The jurors were selected from across Leeds using random stratified sampling and the services of Sortition Foundation. An oversight panel made up of representatives from a wide range of organisations and groups was engaged to ensure the process was transparent and fair. The jurors delivered their recommendations at an event at The Tetley in Leeds on 25 November. Follow the links from this page to find out more about the recruitment process, the sessions and the final report, as well as links to videos of commentators and interviews with the jurors.
Focus groups
Leeds Climate Commission has also run focus groups with an inner city group and a faith group, findings from which were fed into the Big Leeds Climate Conversation.
Climate information website
To find out more about how Leeds is responding to the climate emergency, check out the Leeds City Council climate change pages. The Council has also launched a website, called Leeds By Example, dedicated to tips and inspiration for Leeds citizens, with sections on 'home', 'food', biodiversity', 'stuff' and 'travel'. You can sign up for regular updates from the Leeds By Example newsletter here.
Social media
The Council has launched a Twitter channel for news and information about the climate emergency - follow @LeedCC_CEAQ. And keep the conversation going by following Leeds Climate Commission too - @LeedsClimateCom!
Climate emergency update report
On 7 January 2020, Leeds City Council published a Climate Emergency Update Report,which was presented to full council. The report presents the findings of the Big Leeds Climate Conversation and lays out next steps. It references the input of Leeds Climate Commission and the Leeds Climate Change Citizens' Jury. (see section 3.2, p.18).
Read the press release: Council approves plan to more than halve carbon emissions by 2025.
