In July 2022, North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) declared a Climate Emergency which rolled over to the new North Yorkshire Council (NYC) from April 2023.
On July 23rd, 2024, North Yorkshire Council finalised and adopted its climate strategy. The full strategy can read at the link below:
The strategy sets out how NYC will respond to the climate emergency by:
-
reducing greenhouse gas emissions
-
preparing for the changing climate
-
supporting nature to thrive
It states that the actions NYC will take to meet these aims are:
Mitigation – reducing North Yorkshire’s emissions
-
A low energy and low carbon built environment powered by local renewable energy.
-
Easy, accessible, and affordable low carbon transport to enable active travel, public transport, and electric vehicles.
-
A low waste and circular economy with support for communities and businesses to reduce resource use and benefit from green economic growth.
-
Making the most of our land to store carbon.
-
Encouraging everyone to reduce carbon emissions.
Adaptation – preparing North Yorkshire for climate impacts
-
Ensuring that North Yorkshire is climate resilient: reducing exposure to, preparing for, coping with and recovering better from extreme weather events and global supply chain and health impacts that will become more intense and frequent.
-
Climate adaptation plans to support infrastructure, services and residents to prepare and adapt.
-
Adaptation for and by nature, enabling nature to adapt to changing habitats and using nature based solutions to cool our towns and reduce flash flooding.
Supporting Nature – helping the natural world, on which we depend, to thrive
-
Developing strong forward plans and community partnerships for nature.
-
Protect, enhance and link important nature sites and corridors and realise opportunities to grow sustainable economic prosperity.
-
Prioritise nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
North Yorkshire Council – becoming a Climate Responsible Council
-
The Council aims to be carbon neutral by 2030 and will measure and report its progress annually.
-
A detailed decarbonisation programme will cover NYC's buildings and vehicle fleet, the goods and services its buys and how it uses its assets to support nature.
-
Climate-responsible actions will be built into the Council’s governance and culture, training, impact assessments, officer groups and regular progress reporting.