When confronting the apocalyptic nightmare of climate change, it’s easy to forget that some of the solutions are incredibly mundane.

Buses, for example – and public transport more broadly. Buses will do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to transforming public transport in most cities and towns.

We need lots more of them and fares need to be cheap. They need to be so frequent, reliable, accessible, easy to use and affordable that it is a no-brainer to get about by bus rather than to own a car. Frequent, reliable and cheap does not describe the bus experience in our city region today.

Currently our buses are run by private companies to generate as much profit for shareholders as possible. This will not deliver a net-zero bus system by 2040.

Steps in the right direction are being taken. The Combined Authority is moving to a franchising system which will bring more control over how the buses are run locally. There is also a proposal to cut single fares to £2.

However, this is countered by the news that services are going to be cut by the bus companies in September.

The net-zero bus service we need requires buses to be operated as a public good, for the benefit of the people of the city region – not for private profit. How quickly can the franchising model make this a reality?

What keeps me awake at night is not what needs to be done to reduce carbon emissions (thinking about buses makes me sleepy) but it is the rate and scale at which change must happen, compared to the rate of change we see happening.