Assessing and Building City-Level Readiness for Climate Action: Findings and Next Steps from Leeds

Has your area has declared a climate emergency? How ready is it to deliver climate action? Through the ESRC Place Based Climate Action Network (PCAN), we have developed the Climate Action Readiness Assessment (CARA) framework.

So far in Leeds we’ve applied the framework to housing, commercial buildings, the public sector and transport. Together, these make up about 85% of our direct carbon footprint. The CARA methodology is also being piloted, with our help, by the cultural sector in Leeds via SAIL (Sustainable Arts in Leeds). Findings to date show that blockages are often in the policy area – local, regional and national – and in the financial area. Addressing these could build readiness in other areas. We have to pin down what policy changes we would like to see and need to adopt a determined focus on finances, exploring new ways of stimulating low carbon investment. This includes using the CARA framework as the basis for a low carbon investment prospectus for the city.

Join Leeds Climate Commission Chair, Andy Gouldson, Professor of Environmental Policy at the University of Leeds and a co-investigator for the ESRC-funded Place-Based Climate Action Network (PCAN) and colleagues from Leeds City Council, Leeds Climate Commission and SAIL in this webinar to find out how the CARA process will be used to unlock climate action in Leeds – and how it could be used in your area.

Presentations will be followed by a Q&A participants will be able to submit questions during the event.