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10
May
How Zero Carbon Harrogate is tackling climate crisis locally 10 years on
For the last 10 years, Zero Carbon Harrogate has been at the forefront of raising awareness of the environment and climate change locally.
From walk-to-school campaigns to launching energy-efficient building programmes, the charity has sought to be practical in its environmental aims.
At the centre of the charity’s work is Jemima Parker, chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate.
As the organisation turns 10 years old, we spoke with Jemima about its goals, the climate crisis and how we can do more to reduce our carbon footprint.
Moving to Harrogate
Jemima moved to Harrogate in 2001 from Bristol after her husband took up a new job. Originally a teacher, she took a career break after moving to North Yorkshire to look after her children.
It was here in Harrogate that she became invested in tackling the environment by taking up a role with the Diocese of Leeds.
Jemima with some of Harrogate's General Election candidates in 2024.
But Jemima’s interest in the natural world stretches back before her move to the North.
She said:
It kind of crept up on me.
I had always been interested in the connection between the natural environment and people. I did a geography degree which looked at that side of things: the human-nature interaction.
I then went onto teach geography. It was during that time when I was teaching that I became much more aware of how our climate was changing. Having my own children, I was increasingly aware of what the implications of that were.
One book which underpinned Jemima’s increasing interest in the environment was Mark Lynas’ Six Degrees, which was published in 2008.
The book examines the effects on the world if global temperatures persist at the rates reported at the time of publication.
It was a book that “made it real” for Jemima.
Setting up Zero Carbon Harrogate
Seven years after the publication of Lynas’ book, the Paris Climate Change Agreement was signed, which bound countries to limit global average temperature rises to below two degrees celsius this century.
The legally binding agreement was a milestone in global action against climate change — but it also had an impact locally.
Jemima began meeting people who were interested in taking steps locally to tackle the environment, and in 2015 those meetings led to the creation of Zero Carbon Harrogate.
To begin with, the charity focused on integrating itself with the right people and setting up working groups on different topics.
The integration into Harrogate was gradual, but the organisation started to launch initiatives which aimed to tackle the climate crisis locally.
Jemima Parker.
One was introducing Walk to School Days, which aimed to encourage school pupils to walk to school one day each half-term.
Another was the charity’s energy-efficient retrofit programme, which promoted sustainable building practices across North Yorkshire and was backed with £234,000 in funding from both Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The scheme helped to tackle one area which Zero Carbon Harrogate identified as a main source of carbon emissions in Harrogate.
Jemima said:
The carbon emissions for Harrogate come from a few main sources. One of them is our buildings and the energy-inefficiency in our buildings.
We could see what the barriers were. Many homeowners were reluctant to make changes to their homes because there were not many people in the building trade who were skilled enough to do the work and homeowners did not really know what to ask for.
So, we pulled together a project to provide funding for training for local tradespeople.
The project ran for three years and helped to train individuals as retrofit assessors and coordinators, as well as upskill building trades in high-performance building practices.
The next step is to secure funding to launch a scheme to ensure homeowners have confidence in retrofitting their properties, Jemima says.
The projects at Zero Carbon Harrogate are designed to change the carbon footprint of the area. But, they are also aimed at encouraging people to change their habits.
Jemima believes that most people want to alter their lifestyles to help bring down carbon emissions but are unsure how to do it.
She said:
I think most people know what’s happening with our changing climate. I think most people want to do something about it, but there is often a lot of confusion over ‘what should I do and how do I go about that?’
Some of it is hard, because it means a change in lifestyle and that can be difficult for people. But I’m always really conscious that those changes are in a way an act of kindness and generosity to other people from the next generation, or from other parts of the world who are going to struggle to adapt.
But as the world continues to tackle the rise in global, does she have any confidence that things will improve?
Jemima points to other organisations that want to see change as a source of hope.
The fact that there are so many different organisations across the town who want to see a change. It’s great working with people like Harrogate Bus Company and it’s been encouraging being part of the Neighbourhood Plan Forum.
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