A virtual climate change conference is taking place in Kirklees this week – and you’re invited.

A webinar, featuring leading advocates for green action to tackle carbon emissions in Kirklees, is being organised by Kirklees Climate Commission (KCC) on Thursday November 11.

Hosted on YouTube, it will be open to all members of the public running from 6pm to 7.30pm. The webinar will be available at this link https://youtu.be/6GlkLeUMNCI.

KCC was established in June as an initiative by Kirklees Council, with an aim of bringing together key communities, organisations and groups from across the district to support, guide and track climate action within the area.

The commission strives to promote inclusion and diversity and to include balanced representation from across the different communities and sectors.

There are currently 17 KCC commissioners, with University of Leeds Professor Peter Roberts as chairman and Kirklees councillor Will Simpson as vice-chairman.

During the webinar, attendees will find out how KCC works, why it is needed, and its future projects. There will be short, insightful video presentations from some of the commissioners talking about projects they are involved with in Kirklees and how these contribute positively to the local environment and net zero goal for the district. People will then be able to put live questions to the panel.

Clr Simpson, Cabinet member for culture and greener Kirklees, said: “The council has made significant progress against our climate ambitions but there is now much more hard work to be done to meet our ambition of being a net-zero borough by 2038.

“The launch of the Kirklees Climate Commission is one of the key ways we have responded to our own declaration of a climate emergency in January 2019.

“We recognised the need to connect with, and mobilise, other key players in our district. We wanted to actively promote partnership working and the co-production of climate action, allowing us to extend the reach and capacity of the council in affecting significant and sustainable positive climate change.

“We hope this event will help to motivate and inspire Kirklees’ residents to join the race to reach our collective goal of bringing about a carbon net-zero district and cut their personal carbon emissions.”

All landscape images by: SEAN DOYLE

Throughout the COP26 fortnight in Glasgow, the North East & Yorkshire Energy Hub is hosting COP26 Regional Roadshows to mirror the activity and themes happening in Glasgow.

These roadshows are supported and funded by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, through the five regional Energy Hubs. The webinar is Kirklees’ contribution to that programme.

Time will be limited for questions from the public, so people are urged to send in questions they may want to put to the commissioners and specific subjects they would like to discuss in advance. Questions to be put to the commissioners in advance can be emailed to climatechange@kirklees.gov.uk