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Braintree District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 22, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“This Council declares a “Climate Emergency” with an aim to make Braintree District Council activities, as far as practical, carbon neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: Feb. 14, 2023
Climate Change Strategy, 2021–2030

Action Plan · PDF · Whole Area

Braintree District Council Climate Strategy

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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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

SectionBraintree District CouncilAverage district council
Total score38%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
5/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
2/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

619.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.0 tCO2

per person

1.0 ktCO2

per km2

45%

Transport

34%

Domestic

13%

Industry

4%

Commercial

2%

Public Sector

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 Braintree District 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
Essex County Council86%Yes2030No
Warwickshire County Council85%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Lewes District Council84%Yes2030July 15, 2019
East Suffolk Council83%No2030July 24, 2019
West Sussex County Council83%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Colchester Borough Council83%Yes2030July 17, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council83%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council81%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Bedford Borough Council81%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council81%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Braintree District 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
New Forest District Council88%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Horsham District Council87%Yes2050June 26, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council86%YesNo targetNo
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council86%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Chelmsford City Council85%Yes2030July 16, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council85%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council85%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Breckland District Council84%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019
Warwick District Council84%No2030June 26, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council83%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Chelmsford City Council97%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Colchester Borough Council96%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Uttlesford District Council96%Yes2030July 30, 2019
Maldon District Council96%No2030Feb. 4, 2021
Babergh District Council96%Yes2030July 23, 2019
West Suffolk Council95%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Essex County Council95%Yes2030No
Basildon Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Brentwood Borough Council95%No2040No
Castle Point Borough Council95%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Braintree District 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
Epping Forest District Council99%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
Rugby Borough Council98%Yes2030July 18, 2019
South Hams District Council97%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Lewes District Council97%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Chichester District Council97%Yes2025July 9, 2019
Dorset Council97%No2040May 16, 2019
Monmouthshire County Council97%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Malvern Hills District Council97%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Wychavon District Council95%Yes2050No
Teignbridge District Council95%Yes2025April 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Braintree District 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
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council99%Yes2030July 17, 2019
West Suffolk Council98%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
East Hampshire District Council97%No2050July 18, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council97%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Ards and North Down Borough Council96%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council95%NoNo targetNo
Hart District Council95%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council95%No2030April 2, 2019
West Berkshire Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
Warwickshire County Council95%Yes2030July 25, 2019

Features

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

Clear communication

Powers & Responsibilities

Braintree District Council is a Non-Metropolitan District, 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.

    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
    Waste collection

    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

    braintree.gov.uk
    Braintree District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Braintree District 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 Braintree District Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Braintree District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/braintree-district-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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