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City of Edinburgh Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 7, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Edinburgh has declared a ‘climate emergency’ and set ambitious targets for reducing emissions to zero by 2030, with a hard-target for 2037.”

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

City of Edinburgh Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils.

SectionCity of Edinburgh CouncilAverage single tier council
Top performer Total score82%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
20/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
16/18
9.0/18
Section 3 · Top performer Commitment and integration
7/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 · Top performer Education, skills and training
5/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
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 City of Edinburgh Council’s projects

49

Projects

8.3 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£14,354,588.7

Total capital cost

Emissions data

1731.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.3 tCO2

per person

6.3 ktCO2

per km2

39%

Domestic

28%

Transport

14%

Commercial

9%

Industry

9%

Public Sector

0%

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 City of Edinburgh 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
Aberdeen City Council78%Yes2045No
West Lothian Council76%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
Renfrewshire Council76%No2030June 27, 2019
Falkirk Council75%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council74%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council73%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Leeds City Council73%No2030March 27, 2019
City of York Council72%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Worcester City Council72%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council71%Yes2030April 3, 2019

These councils are the most similar to City of Edinburgh 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
Worcester City Council89%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Norwich City Council89%Yes2030Jan. 29, 2019
Salford City Council88%No2038July 17, 2019
Canterbury City Council88%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council88%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council87%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Leeds City Council85%No2030March 27, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council85%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Bristol City Council84%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
West of England Combined Authority84%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Midlothian Council97%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
West Lothian Council96%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
Fife Council95%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
Falkirk Council93%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council93%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021
East Lothian Council92%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Scottish Borders Council91%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
South Lanarkshire Council91%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council91%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Dundee City Council90%Yes2045June 24, 2019

These councils are the most similar to City of Edinburgh 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
Cheltenham Borough Council96%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
London Borough of Bromley95%Yes2027No
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council92%Yes2038Nov. 28, 2018
North Somerset Council88%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council87%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Swindon Borough Council87%Yes2030No
Warrington Borough Council86%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Three Rivers District Council86%No2030May 21, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council86%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)86%Yes2025May 22, 2019

These councils are the most similar to City of Edinburgh 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
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council97%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Halton Borough Council96%YesNo targetOct. 16, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority96%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Sunderland City Council95%Yes2030March 27, 2019
Leeds City Council95%No2030March 27, 2019
Chesterfield Borough Council95%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Sheffield City Council95%Yes2050Feb. 6, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

City of Edinburgh 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

    edinburgh.gov.uk
    City of Edinburgh Council’s official homepage.
    @Edinburgh_CC
    City of Edinburgh Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check City of Edinburgh 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: City of Edinburgh Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/city-of-edinburgh-council/ [Accessed 24 Mar 2023].

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