Agenda item

The purpose of this item is to present a working draft of the West Yorkshire Climate Strategy. The strategy is accompanied by a proposed ‘menu of actions’ which set out a range of specific actions that can be taken over different time horizons.

Contact: Shannon Kennedy, Public Health Specialty Registrar, West Yorkshire, Health and Care Partnership

Shannon Kennedy, Public Health Specialty Registrar, provided the Board with an update on the Climate Change Strategy.  In summary, the Board was informed that the draft strategy went to the Partnership Board in March 2023, as a working draft where it was agreed that the next phase was to take this working draft to colleagues and Health and Wellbeing Boards for engagement and comment.

The strategy:

-        Sets out system ambition on climate change and sustainability

-        Highlights need for a risk management approach because climate change is everyone’s problem

-        Provides some high-level interventions across the ICP

It is looking at how the whole system can have an ambition on climate and sustainability. Climate change is already having an effect and is already a problem for people across West Yorkshire and across the world today, and this is going to accelerate. 

The purpose of this strategy was also to provide some interventions and actions at a high level across the health and care partnership, not just within the NHS bodies that make up the partnership, but for everyone, because climate change issue is not just for the NHS to tackle.

Referring to the presentation, the Board was shown examples of how climate change is affecting the West Yorkshire region, including flooding and wildfires.  The Board was informed of that unseasonable heat a few weeks ago, and during last summer’s heat wave, there were approximately 3000 deaths in people aged 65 and over and such issues are accelerating. Effects are also being seen in the health service and in well-being in general for people.

As part of this strategy, a menu of actions have been provided that could start to be taken at a systems level.  It is important to emphasise that these actions are not a mandate, but a starting point. If all of the actions were taken, the system would be in a substantially better place than it currently is, not just mitigating, but reducing  climate harms.  The living environment has many climate harming substances, such as climate harming fuels and gases,  medication and overprescribing and all these are hard on the climate.

There is much work that needs to be done in order to reach local targets on things like net zero, and national requirements under the Climate Change Act. 

The request to the Health and Wellbeing Board is:

-        Engage, support and be aware that this work is being undertaken

-        Consider the actions on the menu of options and think about how that might work in terms of taking ownership on climate and biodiversity at a place level

-        There is also an option to make a pledge and promote the ‘all hands in’ campaign that begun last year, and outlines ways for people to make simple personal pledges about how they might act on climate and biodiversity

The following question was posed to the Board:

“What do you need from the Climate Change Team to help you deliver the strategy and associated actions”?

RESOLVED:

That Shannon Kennedy be thanked for providing an update on the Climate Change Strategy.

That the presentation be circulated to board members.