City of York Council has published its a Climate Change action update to inform residents of the work currently underway to tackle the causes and impacts of climate change at a local level.
In 2019, the council declared a Climate Emergency and set its ambition for York to become a net-zero carbon city by 2030. Since then, over £345m of investment has led to a steady stream of activity to turn this ambition into reality.
Cllr Paula Widdowson, City of York Council, executive member for environment and climate change, said: “We want residents to understand what their council is doing to tackle climate change on a local level, to give them ideas for steps they can take in their own home or business, and to inspire them to join the collective effort to improve our environment here in York.”
As transport contributes around 28% of the city’s carbon emissions, the council is taking steps to improve the sustainability of how people and goods get in and move around the city. In 2020, York became the first and only city in the country to voluntarily introduce a clean air zone for buses, aimed at reducing exhaust emissions, as part of a bid to tackle pollution.
The council was recently awarded £17.36m to support the development of key bus schemes and initiatives across the city. In March, the authority was awarded £8.4m to support the purchase of an additional 44 electric buses to add to the 33 already in service on the park and ride network.
Additionally, its four-year Fleet Electrification programme will cover all vehicles under 3.5 tonnes and the council’s HGVs will all be of the highest environmental standards. While, the council’s EV Strategy is designed to support residents to travel more sustainably with the creation of EV charging Hyper Hubs, due to open shortly at the Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park and Ride sites.
The council has also allocated around £3.3m to support active travel schemes across the city to be implemented by 2023. The Active Travel Programme includes a range of improvements, new infrastructure, and active travel initiatives such as people streets.
Recently, York’s executive member for transport announced the current e-scooter scheme with Tier Mobility, under the Department for Transport trial, has been extended until November 2022.
As well as corporate and resident travel, the council is looking into solutions to reduce the carbon emissions of logistics and goods deliveries. This work includes feasibility studies and schemes researching solutions to deliveries travelling into and out of the city centre.
