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Belfast City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Oct. 1, 2019.

Climate pledges

We couldn’t find any climate pledges from this council. If you’ve found one, let us know!

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

SectionBelfast City CouncilAverage Northern Ireland council
Total score19%26%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
4/21
6.0/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
3/18
3.8/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.5/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
2/9
3.0/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
1/5
0.5/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.5/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.0/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
0.8/4

Emissions data

1407.0 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.1 tCO2

per person

10.2 ktCO2

per km2

42%

Domestic

20%

Industry

16%

Transport

15%

Public Sector

6%

Commercial

1%

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 Belfast City 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
West Dunbartonshire Council63%Yes2045May 29, 2019
Blackpool Borough Council60%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Glasgow City Council59%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Preston City Council58%No2030April 18, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council58%Yes2030April 3, 2019
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council57%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Nottingham City Council56%Yes2028Jan. 21, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority54%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Liverpool City Council54%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Salford City Council54%No2038July 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Belfast City 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
Cheltenham Borough Council68%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Aberdeen City Council68%Yes2045No
Oxford City Council63%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Cambridge City Council62%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Runnymede Borough Council61%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council61%NoNo targetNo
West Dunbartonshire Council60%Yes2045May 29, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council58%Yes2030April 3, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea57%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham57%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council98%NoNo targetNo
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council97%NoNo targetNo
Ards and North Down Borough Council96%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council96%NoNo targetSept. 9, 2019
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council95%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council93%NoNo targetNo
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council90%No2030May 2, 2020
Mid Ulster District Council89%NoNo targetNo
Derry City and Strabane District Council82%Yes2045June 27, 2019
South Ayrshire Council82%No2045No

These councils are the most similar to Belfast City 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
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council92%Yes2040Jan. 29, 2020
Kingston-upon-Hull City Council84%No2030March 21, 2019
Birmingham City Council83%No2030June 11, 2019
Blackpool Borough Council83%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Liverpool City Council83%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Stoke-on-Trent City Council83%NoNo targetJuly 4, 2019
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council82%No2030March 10, 2020
Burnley Borough Council80%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council80%NoNo targetNo
Mid Ulster District Council80%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Belfast City 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
Tamworth Borough Council99%No2050Oct. 19, 2019
Cheltenham Borough Council99%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Crawley Borough Council99%Yes2040July 17, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council99%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council99%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Dundee City Council99%Yes2045June 24, 2019
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council99%No2030No
South Tyneside Council99%No2030July 18, 2019
Eastbourne Borough Council99%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Middlesbrough Borough Council99%No2029Sept. 4, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Belfast City Council is a Northern Irish Council, 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.

    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.

    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
    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

    belfastcity.gov.uk
    Belfast City Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Belfast City 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: Belfast City Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/belfast-city-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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