Kirklees Council 'delighted' by improved climate score

Based on the Energy and Climate Change Team report submitted in July, this score reflects work carried out up until that point.

The CDP scoring recognises the council’s Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability assessment, which provides the area of Kirklees with an understanding of the impacts and risks of climate change.

CDP also acknowledges the targets set and the actions taken since the council declared their climate emergency in 2019, to reduce the effects of climate change.

The Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability Assessment is a key piece of research that informs the council’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP).

Having been approved at Cabinet earlier this month, the CCAP was not taken into consideration by CDP and is therefore not reflected in the grade awarded. However, It is hoped with the approval of the Climate Plan that next year’s grade would improve even further.

The CCAP is an accumulation of significant engagement with residents and businesses alongside research and analysis by the service and will be officially launched in early December, alongside dedicated web pages and a video animation.

The webpages will provide information on Kirklees’ climate journey to date, highlighting what has been achieved since the declaration of the Climate Emergency and the council’s aims for the future.

Coun Will Simpson, cabinet member for culture and greener Kirklees is ‘delighted’ in the improvement of the council’s score and in response said: “This is testament to the hard work and dedication of the climate team and the collaborative working across the council in actioning change and is another positive milestone in our climate journey.

“As a district we have already been successful in meeting initial actions including increased numbers of electric and hybrid fleet cars, the installation of additional Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points district wide, relaunched green parking permits, set up the Kirklees Climate Commission and completed our award-winning Abbey Road energy efficiency retrofit programme.

“We have converted 92 per cent of streetlighting to low energy LED, increased the types of household plastics recyclable from home, hosted our second Young People’s Climate Festival and approved the next phase of the Huddersfield Heat Network. These examples are just a snapshot of what we have achieved, we are still at the beginning of our journey.

"There is so much more that we can and will do not only as a council, but as a community across our borough to tackle the climate emergency.

“By working together, we can collectively achieve our Net Zero and Climate Ready 2038 goal for the district.”

Furthermore, Kirklees Council has also been successful in a bid to the Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF). The £96k in funding will be used to develop low carbon heating solutions for public buildings throughout the district, aligning with and complementing the existing work already underway for the Huddersfield District Energy Network.