IOC in the North for a full house turnout, vegan and meat, bacon sandwich breakfast for the Leeds climate emergency breakfast Nov 6th, the council looking at how they can work together to take on the challenge.

Cllr Blake, the leader of the Council at the head of the table. Tom Riordan, CEO, ‘How should Leeds respond to the climate emergency?’

Council leader, Judith Blake

Leeds has put itself out there and we are taking a strong lead, leading by example we are ambitious, but no one part of the system can take responsibility for this climate emergency. 2030 is our target, we need to move at pace. We need the hearts and minds of the people to make progress with significant changes ahead.

At present rates Leeds is forecast to use up our share of the global carbon budget within just 9 years. Deeper and faster emission cuts are urgently needed in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. As one of the largest cities in the UK, Leeds has the potential to make a big difference in tackling climate change. However doing so will require widespread support from businesses in Leeds to identify how we can best take collective action to achieve our ambitious citywide mission. The agenda is to work together to realise our ambition for Leeds to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Tom Riordan,

Transport, how do we leapfrog to a community transport solution and deal with freight? We are up for a transport conversation from train to road.

Leeds has become the supply chain in engineering. Getting waste out of the economic circle is a win-win for the city of Leeds. The govt agenda switched from 'nice to do', twenty years ago; to something at the centre of the agenda today. How do we make sure we don’t penalise people?, energy bills in our poorest communities who need support, district heating schemes, common civic infrastructure to save energy for all.

Polly Cook, chief officer, sustainable energy and air quality.

Setting the scene, Leeds has declared Carbon net zero for 2030. The Council has three hundred electric vehicles. There is no way one organisation can do this. Highways England have given us funding to bring electric vans forward, a catalyst for change providing electric vans on short trial hires. Leeds has a climate conversation, it's open until the end of November. The Leeds climate conversation, next stage is looking at what support business need. Common themes from five thousand respondents so far 97% agree business need to reduce their carbon footprint and 66% of people say they will pay more for sustainable goods. We are looking to get people into healthier lifestyle and travel. We have a top ten energy user group at this table, key themes have been travel and fleet conversion.

IOC at the Leeds breakfast to share best practice on final mile deliveries in high density conurbations with exploding numbers of internet shopping as e-retail moves purchase patterns from bricks and mortar to home delivery final mile van deliveries.

IOC comments,

Commerciality of electric van is challenging, charge point availability is a concern, two types of charge challenge exist, power need for vans at depot and the on street charging opportunity for the wider number of owner drivers parking vehicles at home, who may not have off street parking.’ ‘Cargo cycles are a clear clean air winner. There is great need for secure parking for cargo cycles. Supporting commerciality for electric vans would be priority parking, the DFT green number plates identifying such vehicles.

From the table.

White Rose shopping centre, part of the Leeds climate solution, has many solar panels on the roof,

we are looking at wind power and refurbished the centre with LED lighting and we have barriers to save heat and keep cold out.

Hermes,

Big warehouse challenge, electricity feed in tariff is a commercial challenge to make the technology work.

Turner Townsend leading the funding programme includes providing insulation to buildings.

IOC CEO Tracey Worth on the streets of Leeds, cycle lanes and bus lanes shared in the Northern Powerhouse.