South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard says the net zero transition represents a huge opportunity for his region - but has called for the area to be prioritised for Government funding to avoid a repeat of communities being left behind in the way they were when pits closed in the 1980s.
00:00 I was asked to talk about Net Zero and our approach to Net Zero in the North.
00:04 And you know you are in the foothills of a climate crisis when the person introducing the event in Bradford in September says, "Don't take all your clothes off."
00:16 [laughter]
00:18 So, we are in a climate crisis and I don't think there's any doubt about that.
00:23 I think this year is the hottest year on record, not just in the last 50 years but in the last 100,000 years.
00:31 So we absolutely are in a climate crisis and we have to deal with it like it is a crisis.
00:39 I am keen when I talk about the challenge in front of us, not just to talk about what that challenge looks like.
00:48 It is a significant challenge. If we are going to get to Net Zero in South Yorkshire, that mission is to get there by 2040.
00:57 Globally, we have to remove from the atmosphere 51 billion tonnes, billion would be tonnes, metric tonnes of carbon equivalent gases per day.
01:12 And that is a huge challenge, that is a massive transition for us all to make it all touch every part of our lives.
01:22 But it isn't just a challenge, it is a huge opportunity. It is a huge opportunity for the North.
01:27 It is a huge opportunity, I think, for the whole of the UK.
01:31 Because every business, every region will be touched by it, it creates that scale of opportunity.
01:38 And in South Yorkshire, most of all, we are absolutely determined to take advantage of that opportunity in front of us to make people's lives better.
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