Health partners must rapidly meet climate change challenge in Calderdale

Health partner organisations need to take practical steps rapidly to play their part in meeting challenges posed by climate change.
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Members of Calderdale Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board noted progress made so far and pledged to do more to meet carbon reduction targets, working together.

The paper outlined progress made towards achieving changes the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said were necessary, Calderdale Council Cabinet member for Climate Change and Resilience, Coun Scott Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot) told the board.

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The UN report warned of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade.

Councillor Scott PatientCouncillor Scott Patient
Councillor Scott Patient

Coun Patient said it made for “stark and severe” reading in terms of what health partners needed to do to help avert some of the “catastrophic” climate change impacts being seen around the globe and, with flooding, in Calderdale.

“Clearly it’s not just the big polluters that need to play their part in changing how they work, it’s all of us.

“It’s all about our anchor institutions to provide some of that inspiration for the people in the streets to make those changes to their life,” he said.

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The council’s Director of Public Health, Deborah Harkins, said the challenge should be looked at in detail at a development session so partners could think about what they need to do individually and together to reach the target of zero emissions by 2038, and board members agreed to do this.

Organisations reporting what progress they had made included Together Housing, the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group, Locala health practices and Calderdale Council.

Measures being taken so far ranged from LED lighting projects to Together’s retrofit strategy for some of its properties.

Calderdale Council’s Chief Executive, Robin Tuddenham, said hard data from the COVID-19 pandemic showed changing travel patterns and ways of working would have a part to play.

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Cabinet member for Adult Services and Wellbeing, Coun Josh Fenton-Glynn (Lab, Calder) said active travel was a win in terms of air quality and health, if people felt safe to cycle, for example.

In terms of housing development technology had to be ujsed to insulate homes, which also saved householders money, more electric vehicle charging points provided, he said.

Cabinet member for Children and Young People’s Services, Coun Adam Wilkinson (Lab, Sowerby Bridge) said when asked what their greatest concern was, children said it was climate change.

Dr Steven Cleasby of Caldetrdale Clinical Comissioning Group, said it was a question of practical steps. “I don’t think we need to win hearts and minds – for young people, this is the number one issue,” he said.

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