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Argyll and Bute Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

We don’t think this council has declared a climate emergency – let us know if it has!

Council only pledge for 2045

“This will be a new reference point for our own journey towards being a ‘net zero’ organisation by 2045”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022

Climate Plan Scorecard

This council’s climate plans as of 20th September 2021 were assessed and scored by trained Climate Emergency UK volunteers, as part of the Council Climate Plan Scorecards project.

Show the full Scorecard Read more about the scoring process

SectionArgyll and Bute CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score35%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
11/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
8/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
2.1/4

Emissions reduction projects

Local authorities in Scotland are required to publish yearly data on their compliance with their climate change duties – including the emissions reduction projects they are undertaking.

See all of Argyll and Bute Council’s projects

59

Projects

5.4 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£19,439,914

Total capital cost

Emissions data

422.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.9 tCO2

per person

0.1 ktCO2

per km2

34%

Domestic

34%

Transport

11%

Industry

9%

Agriculture

8%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Argyll and Bute Council in terms of emissions profile, deprivation, rural/urban population density, and geographical nearness. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
The Highland Council82%No2025May 9, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council77%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
East Ayrshire Council77%No2030No
Perth and Kinross Council75%No2045No
Gwynedd County Council75%No2030March 7, 2019
Scottish Borders Council74%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
Cumbria County Council74%Yes2050No
South Lakeland District Council72%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
East Lothian Council72%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Dumfries and Galloway Council72%Yes2025June 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Argyll and Bute Council in terms of their emissions profile, based on the latest data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
East Riding of Yorkshire Council85%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
North Yorkshire County Council84%Yes2030No
Angus Council83%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Gwynedd County Council83%No2030March 7, 2019
South Ayrshire Council79%No2045No
North Norfolk District Council79%Yes2030April 24, 2019
South Lakeland District Council78%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
East Lindsey District Council78%Yes2040No
Isle of Anglesey County Council78%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
The Highland Council77%No2025May 9, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
North Ayrshire Council92%No2030June 25, 2019
Inverclyde Council91%NoNo targetNo
West Dunbartonshire Council89%Yes2045May 29, 2019
Renfrewshire Council89%No2030June 27, 2019
Stirling Council87%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council86%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
South Ayrshire Council86%No2045No
Glasgow City Council85%Yes2030May 16, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council85%Yes2045No
East Ayrshire Council84%No2030No

These councils are the most similar to Argyll and Bute Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in high deprivation, medium deprivation, and low deprivation neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
The Highland Council98%No2025May 9, 2019
Suffolk County Council97%Yes2030March 21, 2019
North Warwickshire Borough Council97%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council94%No2030April 3, 2019
Dorset Council94%No2040May 16, 2019
Midlothian Council94%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
East Suffolk Council94%No2030July 24, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council93%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council93%Yes2050No
Falkirk Council93%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Argyll and Bute Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in urban, rural, and highly rural neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Hambleton District Council98%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
Derbyshire Dales District Council96%Yes2030May 30, 2019
North Norfolk District Council95%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council94%Yes2030May 9, 2019
South Hams District Council93%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council92%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
West Devon Borough Council91%Yes2030May 21, 2019
West Lindsey District Council91%Yes2050No
Powys County Council90%No2030July 30, 2020
Richmondshire District Council90%Yes2030July 23, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Argyll and Bute Council is a Unitary Authority, with powers over:

Council buildings and staff

Climate actions might include:

  • making council offices more energy efficient
  • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
  • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    Environmental health

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing industrial emissions through air quality enforcement
    • bringing up insulation and energy efficiency standards through enforcement of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Decent Homes Standard 2000, for cold and damp conditions in private rental and social housing

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Planning and building control

    Climate actions might include:

    • imposing reasonable requirements that new developments comply with energy efficiency standards and get a proportion of their energy from local, renewable sources (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • incorporating additional energy performance standards into their Local Plan, for new works that require planning permission
    • using Area Action Plans to guide development proposals towards lower carbon emissions or more cycling and walking routes, for example
    • enforcing legislation that requires private rental properties to be of Energy Efficiency Rating E or above (Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2015)
    • funding energy efficiency improvements on existing homes, through initiatives such as Green Homes Grants

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Schools and libraries

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing the carbon footprint of civic buildings through better insulation and renewable energy use
    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
    • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    • encouraging eco-clubs at schools
    • using school land to plant trees and hedgerows, or to grow food

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • setting energy standards above building regulations (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock through loans
    • where councils operate their own social housing, prioritising energy efficiency – for example, by requiring Passivhaus standard for newly built schemes

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Spending, procuring, and investing

    Climate actions might include:

    • embedding carbon impact assessment as part of the council’s budgeting and financial accountability process
    • utilising Public Works Loan Board loans or the Business Rates Retention Scheme to invest in emissions-reducing capital projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded
    • specifying low carbon equipment and practices when procuring for relevant services from suppliers
    • prioritising positive environmental impacts during procurement, through the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
    Transport planning

    Climate actions might include:

    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ like walking and cycling by creating or widening footways and cycleways
    • incentivising Electric Vehicle use by assigning street space to EV charging
    • disincentivising the use of fossil fuel cars through congestion charging,low-traffic neighbourhoods, or the reduction of parking space

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Waste collection and disposal

    Climate actions might include:

    • establishing ‘Joint Waste Solutions’ with neighbouring councils, to get more value out of waste, recycling, and street cleaning contracts
    • running marketing campaigns to encourage residential recycling, reuse, and waste minimisation

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Read more about local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

    argyll-bute.gov.uk
    Argyll and Bute Council’s official homepage.
    @ArgyllAndBute
    Argyll and Bute Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Argyll and Bute Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Argyll and Bute Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/argyll-and-bute-council/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

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