Climate Change - Local Leadership of a Global Issue

Two of Britain’s young climate champions will throw down a challenge to local councils and regional organisations at a major conference being held in Sheffield next week.

The November 2 conference, organised jointly by the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, the Environment Agency, Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber and Local Government Yorkshire and Humber, will look at developing leadership on climate change issues and showcase local authority and other best practice in the region.

The young climate champions, Zoheb Khalil, 11, from Halifax, and David Saddington, 13, from Stockton-on-Tees, are part of a group of nine unveiled by Defra earlier this year to communicate the role of young people in tackling climate change. They will challenge delegates to come up with more effective ways of working to address the threat presented by this issue.

Also on the agenda is the regional launch of the Nottingham Declaration Action Pack, a toolkit which shows local authorities how to develop sustainable energy strategy plans and allows them to pledge to actively tackle climate change in their area and work with partners to reduce emissions nationally.

Sir John Harman, Chairman of the Environment Agency will give the keynote speech. Other speakers will include Mayor Martin Winter from Doncaster Council and representatives from Defra and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Workshops will be led by Futerra Sustainability Communications and will help delegates identify key organisations they need to work with to improve the way they deal with the issue of climate change.

The November 2 conference is being held at the City Hall, Sheffield, between 9-30am and 4pm

What they say about climate change and the conference

Sir John Harman, Chairman of Environment Agency said “Limiting and adapting to climate change is a key theme running through all of our activities. We have placed climate change at the heart of our planning, management and operational activities, especially flood defence and water resources. The Environment Agency strongly supports ambitious targets and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to control the risks we will eventually face, but we must also strengthen our efforts to deal with climate change as it happens.”

Cllr Arthur Barker, Chair of the Assembly’s Sustainable Development Board said “Climate change is a growing threat to our region and it is crucial that the Assembly leads on work to limit its effect. We are working closely with partners across the region to find ways of tackling this issue and working in more sustainable ways. We are very pleased to have been involved with the organisation of this important conference and we hope it will encourage as many local authorities as possible to sign up to the Nottingham Declaration and take action in the fight against climate change.”

Felicity Everiss, Regional Director, Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber said “The Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber recognises the importance of climate change for our region, both as a major generator of CO2 emissions and as a region that has significant flood risk. We
believe that all local authorities in the region are very important players in developing and delivering strategies with their local partners to both reduce emissions and plan for the impacts of a changing climate. We have demonstrated our regional commitment by leading the development of Your Climate: Yorkshire and Humber's climate change action plan and are now committed to its delivery. This conference will assist to generate action at a local level and we urge more local authorities to make this a corporate priority by signing the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change.”

Carole Hassan, Chief Executive of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber said “LGYH is pleased to be involved with partners and local authorities in sponsoring this event on the important issue of climate change. Climate change is a key area for local government and Councils have a wide range of roles to play in helping to tackle climate change - in their commissioning and procurement capacity, in developing and setting the conditions for economic development of areas and in their role as community leaders. Many of the contributions and case studies which will be presented will show the wide range of actions councils are taking on this issue and how they are developing relationships of trust, working alongside citizens in tackling climate change.”

Note to news editors/photographers

You are welcome to attend the event. If you’d like photographs or interviews on the day please contact either Iain Lovell or Jodie Weston at the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly - 01924 331602, email Jodie.Weston@yhassembly.gov.uk