Column: Talking Politics with Coun Jane Scullion, Leader Calderdale Council - We have formally agreed that we face a climate emergency

​This is, you’ll be thinking, likely to be the most boring article this newspaper has ever run, but please bear with me for just a moment and I’ll try to explain.

Since my last article, we’ve been enjoying exceptional midsummer hot weather. Like everyone, I’ve been making the most of it, even if the bedding plants have told me that they’re not very happy and the suncream tube is almost empty. But this weather pattern is not random and has been predicted by the climate scientists: as our planet heats up, we can expect more periods of very dry weather, more heatwaves and more fierce rainstorms. As Calderdale knows too well, we’re finding we’re getting either too much water (floods) or too little (droughts). The apparently unstoppable heating up of our planet simply does have to be stopped, or our grandchildren will inherit a world where humans will struggle to survive. Sometimes it seems just too challenging a task, but I’m an optimist and I think we all can play our part.

Here at the council, we have formally agreed that we face a climate emergency. But words alone achieve nothing. So we are trying to take practical steps to make a difference. We are aiming for net zero emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2038, but we are not hanging about till then because we mean to make substantial progress by 2030.

Many of the council’s fleet of vehicles are already electric – you’ve probably seen them out and about on the roads. We’re also cutting our energy usage (and our costs) in other ways, like installing air and ground source heat pumps in swimming pools and museums.

And then there are our streetlights… yes, I’m finally back on theme. We need good street lighting to ensure our roads are as safe as possible. But our streetlights don’t need to be the energy-guzzling lamps of old. Since 2017, Calderdale Council has been undertaking a major programme to switch to using LED bulbs. It’s already saving a phenomenal amount of energy we’d otherwise be using, saving 2.1 tonnes in CO2 emissions. There’s another plus. As we all know, these are very hard times. Changing to LED isn’t only saving energy, it’s also saving money. Just this year alone the total savings just from going LED have reached £2.9m. Good sense and common sense!