There is now a solid foundation of political support and cross-party appetite for climate action in our region, and with Combined Authorities gaining more strategic powers comes a clear opportunity to create a coalition of the willing comprising academic researchers, policymakers and communities themselves – according to Andrew Wood (Senior Engagement and Impact Officer) at Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission (YHCC).
I write this article in the month that YHCC launched a new publication, Our Carbon Story. This brings together and analyses academic research into our technical pathways to decarbonisation in the region – as well as our consumption patterns – and translates it into key messages for policymakers, decision-makers and communities. The headlines are that we can still meet our ambitious net zero target for 2038, and that it would be good for the economy to do so; but that decisive, mission-driven action is needed to make it happen. The academic research on its own could have stated these messages; but because YHCC has cross-sector support we can now tell the story with confidence and impact.
Shared roots and goals
Giving impact to research is one of several goals that the Yorkshire Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN) and YHCC share. They both arose from a similar opportunity to operate within gaps that exist in our policy and decision-making architecture. Y-PERN grew from a recognition that post-COVID (and post-Brexit) recovery needed renewed strategy and collaboration to drive evidence-based policymaking; YHCC from a similar understanding that climate action was being held back by a lack of co-ordination and shared mission. And, instead of waiting for the formal institutional architecture to catch up, organisations across all sectors came together in coalitions of the willing. As Combined Authorities are gaining more strategic powers and the new UK administration is declaring its ‘mission-led government’ approach, we may be hopeful that our institutions are now catching up.
“It’s tempting to draw the distinction that YHCC is about ‘climate’ while Y-PERN – and YPIP – have a wider social and economic locus. But that would be to give in to traditional siloed thinking.”
Our new UK Government is pinning its hopes on achieving economic growth to finance the investment that’s needed, and it is increasingly obvious that being adaptive and resilient to the changing climate is a pre-condition for growth, not vice versa, because shocks are bad for the economy. An important part of YHCC’s story is the cross-party appetite for climate action across our local authorities’ politicians. Together, through the Yorkshire Leaders’ Board, they have supported a 2038 decarbonisation target for the region in our Climate Action Plan; and endorsed the work of our Regional Policy Forum in developing a menu of eight shared policy principles that would characterise a climate responsive planning system. This means that we understand the policy levers that authorities currently have and also the changes that are needed; and we can advocate for these in the knowledge that there is a foundation of political support for our work.
The sweet spot for engagement
The Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP) project gives Y-PERN and YHCC a very strong rationale for close collaboration. YPIP needs to work within a sweet spot between academics generating evidence, communities generating grassroots evidence, and the policymakers who need a more responsive, more confident way to access that evidence to effect change. YHCC brings its existing Regional Policy Forum into that sweet spot. The Forum provides a rare opportunity for local and combined authority officers, statutory bodies and local politicians to all work together and share experiences both of their initiatives and of the obstacles they face.
The Forum is a candid, Chatham House-style space, with topic experts joining from academia and other sectors, and we stress that it is not just for climate specialists. It’s tempting to draw the distinction that YHCC is about ‘climate’ while Y-PERN – and YPIP – have a wider social and economic locus. But that would be to give in to traditional siloed thinking. The climate is getting more temperamental at the same time as the population is ageing and other demographic changes emerge, and nature is in crisis. This means that more people’s lives and livelihoods will become vulnerable to climate-related stresses.
The art of the possible
As a society, and as a region, we need to create a future in which people can have healthy and fulfilling lives and be economically productive in the context of that vulnerability. The benefits of this better future need to be felt most by the people who are already struggling, in terms of fuel poverty, food poverty, health, housing quality, exposure to pollution, precarious employment and more. This may sound like a daunting challenge, but it is already the motivation between hundreds of lines of enquiry for academic research, and many more grassroots initiatives that show the art of the possible.
YHCC is the largest Climate Commission in the UK but there are several others, and the recently-published Climate Commissions Cookbook describes some of the key ingredients. Our Regional Policy Forum is probably unique at present and it may not easily replicate, because different places will have different starting points in terms of their existing networks and political dynamics. But anywhere in the UK you will find officers and politicians in local government who understand the climate mission and are hungry for help in making informed, confident decisions. That appetite is the most important ingredient of all.
