In January 2019, Kirklees Council declared a climate emergency on the basis that we must all take urgent action to improve and protect our environment. 

The content below is adapted from the climate emergency section of the council website. 

The climate emergency

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide trap heat energy within the atmosphere. The more greenhouse gases there are in the atmosphere, the more the Earth heats up.

Since the industrial revolution, human activity has released more than 2.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This has increased the total amount of greenhouse gases by more than half – from 280 to around 430 parts per million of carbon dioxide equivalent.

That might still seem like a tiny part of the atmosphere, but the additional heat trapped by these gases has increased average global temperatures by at least 1.4 degrees Celsius – and average increases in the UK and Europe have been much higher. That has disrupted our familiar weather patterns, and increased the number and severity of heatwaves, storms, floods and other extreme weather events. For more information on the UK’s changing climate, see the latest State of the UK Climate report from the Met Office.

Like the rest of the UK, Kirklees is already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate. Winters are warmer but wetter, summers are hotter and drier, and there are more intense storms. The effects are felt in the increasing incidence of moorland fires and flooding across the district.

These events will become more frequent and intense if we continue to emit greenhouse gases. The material costs of extreme weather events, and the health effects of rising temperatures, are typically experienced more keenly by the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalised groups within Kirklees.

It is vitally important that Kirklees acts to reduce emissions as our contribution to national and international targets. We also need to plan to reduce the impacts which we will experience because of our changing climate.

Kirklees Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, with the vision of a “Net Zero and Climate Ready Kirklees by 2038“.

This would provide Kirklees with a focus on both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. 

Mitigation is about stopping emissions which make the climate crisis even worse. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from human activities within Kirklees need to be reduced from current levels to as close to zero as possible, with any excess emissions removed from the atmosphere by other means.

Adaptation is about strengthening our ability to adjust locally to the effects of current and future changes in the climate. Taking action on adaptation will reduce the potential impact that our changing climate will have on Kirklees through flooding, storms and rising temperatures.

Emissions reduction

The overall target for Kirklees is to achieve net zero emissions by 2038.

This date is aligned with regional partners, and rooted in scientific advice. “Net zero emissions” means that any remaining emissions from the district are balanced by natural processes or carbon removal technology.

In August 2019, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research produced a report for Kirklees Council outlining recommended climate change targets. These were based on the commitments in the 2015 Paris Agreement to stay “well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C” in the average global temperature rise, in line with national and international commitments. This work was informed by climate science, and defined in terms of science-based carbon budget setting.

The report recommended that Kirklees aims to “reach zero or near zero carbon no later than 2041.”

Following this report, Kirklees Council set a more ambitious target to reach net zero emissions by 2038. This is aligned with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s target, and the regional target for Yorkshire and Humber set by the Yorkshire Leaders Board of local authorities.

Kirklees Council has set five-year stepping-stone targets for emissions reduction. For full details, download the Kirklees Climate Change Action Plan (2022). 

To read a detailed assessment of how Kirklees can reach its emissions targets, download A Net-Zero Assessment for Kirklees (2021).

To find out more about how emissions can be reduced across the wider region, download the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan (2024) from the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission.

Adaptation

Kirklees Council’s target for climate change adaptation is to be “Climate Ready by 2038”.

This means helping the whole area of Kirklees, its communities, residents, infrastructure, and environment, to be prepared for the impacts of increasingly severe weather events.

This strategy accepts that historic emissions released into the atmosphere by human activity mean that significant global heating is already locked in, with consequences which are already being felt by communities within Kirklees, across the UK, and around the world.

Expected climate changes in Kirklees include:

• Milder winters and hotter summers, with increasing likelihood of heatwaves.
• Wetter winters and drier summers, with an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events.
• Reduced snow fall in winter.
• Changes in the growing seasons.
• Increased humidity.
• Increased risk of wildfires.
• More intense storms.

It is important to understand the impacts and opportunities which climate change presents to the communities and business within Kirklees. We need to develop measures that can protect the most vulnerable residents, and we need to reduce the economic, environmental, health and social impacts that we will experience in the near future.

For an initial assessment of the risks facing Kirklees and its communities, download the council’s Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (2022).

Key documents on Kirklees and the climate emergency

A Net-Zero Assessment for Kirklees: A Technical and Economic Options Appraisal (2021) – detailed assessment of how Kirklees can reduce emissions, compiled by the University of Leeds on behalf of the Place-Based Climate Action Network

Kirklees Climate Change Action Plan (2022) – details of how emissions can be reduced in different economic areas including buildings, energy, natural environment, food and agriculture, transport and waste. 

Appendix A – Existing Actions (2022) – details of actions undertaken within the first phase of Kirklees Council’s climate emergency response.

Appendix D – Stakeholder Survey Results (2022) – summary of responses to a survey of Kirklees residents carried out in May/June 2022. 86% of respondents said they were very or fairly concerned about the climate, with 80% supporting the Kirklees net zero target.

Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (2022) – details of 392 risks and associated opportunities of a changing climate for Kirklees. The study was undertaken by WSP UK Ltd, in alignment with BS EN ISO 14091:2021 methodology. 

Kirklees Climate Emergency Declaration and the Kirklees Air Quality Strategy and Five Year Air Quality Action Plan(2019) – initial report from Kirklees Council’s Climate Emergency Working Party to the Cabinet.