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Bath and North East Somerset Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on March 14, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Request that the Cabinet takes steps to identify work streams and budgets with the aim of making B&NES Council carbon neutral by 2030, across all functions, as our contribution to fighting climate change.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Pledge to provide the leadership to enable Bath & North East Somerset to become carbon neutral by 2030; Sign up to the UK100 Pledge to provide the strategic community leadership needed to enable our communities to achieve 100% clean energy across all sectors in Bath & North East Somerset by 2030, as a logical step from the B&NES Environmental Sustainability Vision Motion passed unanimously by Council in July 2018, and as a way to enable carbon neutrality by 2030;”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate And Ecological Emergency Action Plan

Action Plan · HTML

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Bath and North East Somerset Council Action Plan

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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

SectionBath and North East Somerset CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score50%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
7/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

599.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.1 tCO2

per person

1.7 ktCO2

per km2

42%

Domestic

34%

Transport

8%

Public Sector

8%

Commercial

7%

Industry

2%

Agriculture

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 Bath and North East Somerset 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
South Gloucestershire Council86%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council83%Yes2030July 29, 2019
North Somerset Council83%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Hampshire County Council83%No2050June 17, 2019
Gloucestershire County Council82%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council82%Yes2030No
Swindon Borough Council82%Yes2030No
Hertfordshire County Council82%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Stroud District Council81%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Bracknell Forest Council81%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Bath and North East Somerset 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
Folkestone and Hythe District Council94%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Leeds City Council92%No2030March 27, 2019
West of England Combined Authority90%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council89%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Ashford Borough Council88%Yes2030No
Welwyn Hatfield Council88%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Worcester City Council88%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council88%Yes2050No
Swansea City Council87%No2030June 27, 2019
Salford City Council87%No2038July 17, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Mendip District Council97%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
South Gloucestershire Council97%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Bristol City Council95%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
North Somerset Council95%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Somerset County Council94%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Stroud District Council93%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
South Somerset District Council93%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council92%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
Sedgemoor District Council91%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Newport City Council91%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Bath and North East Somerset 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
Hampshire County Council98%No2050June 17, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council97%Yes2030No
Wealden District Council97%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council97%No2030July 19, 2019
Chelmsford City Council96%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Cherwell District Council96%No2030July 22, 2019
Leicestershire County Council96%No2030May 15, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council96%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council96%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Lichfield District Council95%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Bath and North East Somerset 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
Vale of Glamorgan Council98%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council98%No2030April 3, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council98%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019
Fenland District Council97%NoNo targetNo
North Hertfordshire District Council96%Yes2030May 21, 2019
North Somerset Council96%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
North East Derbyshire District Council96%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Amber Valley Borough Council96%Yes2030July 24, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council96%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Lewes District Council95%Yes2030July 15, 2019

Features

This council’s climate plan has been tagged with the following features:

Powers & Responsibilities

Bath and North East Somerset 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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    beta.bathnes.gov.uk
    Bath and North East Somerset Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Bath and North East Somerset Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.
    Friends of the Earth ‘Near You’ tool
    Discover climate groups in this area, data about Bath and North East Somerset Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Bath and North East Somerset Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/bath-and-north-east-somerset-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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