Efficiency and Sustainability

The four police forces and police authorities of Yorkshire and the Humber have jointly signed an Ambassadors’ pledge to find ways to reduce carbon emissions across the four forces to help tackle climate change.

On April 23, 2009, Chief Constable Tim Hollis of Humberside Police and Alene Branton of Humberside Police Authority signed a Low Carbon Leadership Accord on behalf of Humberside, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire police forces and police authorities. The agreement is in conjunction with Carbon Action Yorkshire (CAY) - an organisation funded and supported by Yorkshire Forward - aimed at speeding up the development of a lower carbon economy for the region.

It is working alongside public sector organisations and businesses across the region, to help them find ways to reduce their carbon footprint throughout their day-to-day functions and signpost them towards potential funding to speed up the improvement process.

One of the key aims of joint working and collaboration between the four forces is to create efficiencies through improved practices and systems. Signing the agreement illustrates the commitment of the four forces to find effective ways to tackle global warming across the region.

CC Tim Hollis said: “At a time when public confidence is of critical importance to the police service nationally, we believe that it’s right to reassure the public in Yorkshire and the Humber that local police forces take their wider social responsibilities seriously. We are seeking ways jointly to reduce our carbon emissions because we believe that climate change is the responsibility of everyone. We hope that we can tap into CAY’s knowledge and expertise to assist us to operate an effective system of low carbon management and meet our carbon reduction commitments.

Signing up to the pledge provides a joined-up approach and access to potential EU funding to accelerate improvements and move towards the use of innovative low carbon products, services and technologies. CAY is supported by Yorkshire Forward to assist companies and organisations in the region to reach a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20-25% by 2016 from 1990 levels. CAY works with organisations within the region to maximise business benefits and help to reduce the risks of climate change through encouraging and sharing best practice with businesses and organisations across the region.

“It is crucial that we have agreement from organisations and businesses across the region in the drive towards creating a low carbon economy for Yorkshire and the Humber.” Said CAY Programme Director, Richard Hall. “Protecting the environment is a concern for us all and we are delighted that the four police forces in the region have acknowledged their support for this programme by signing the Accord.”

Carbon Factoids

Of the energy used in the home about 60% is for heating the spaces we live in.
Every cup you boil represents 25 cups of CO2 released.
A staggering amount of the Nation's electricity bills is spent on standby and appliances left plugged in when not used, in excess of £230 million! By switching off at the plug when not required you could save up to 8% off your electricity bill.
A TV if left on standby will be responsible for 30 kg CO2 over the year.
A mobile phone charger if left plugged in when not charging will be responsible for between 35 to 70kg C02 over the year.
Every time you use a dishwasher you use enough electricity to release nearly 1kg of CO2. If you use it just once less a week that’s a saving of 52kg of C02
Every time you use a tumble dryer you use enough electricity to emit over 1.5kg CO2. A tumble dryer if used for every wash will be responsible for emitting about 140kg of CO2
Every degree over 18°C will increase your heating bills by about 8%. For a gas fired system that's between 220 to 250kg CO2 a year
Our cars release over a tonne of CO2 each year for every man, woman and child.

Monitoring & Evaluating Success - Read more…

Richard Hall of CAY with Chief Constable Tim Hollis (Humberside) and Alene Branton (Humberside Police Authority)