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Copeland Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Whole area pledge for 2050

“The Cumbria Joint Public Health Strategy commits Cumbria to becoming a carbon neutral county. It is anticipated that this date will be before the 2050 requirement set out under the Climate Change Act of 2008.”

Climate documents

Last update: May 4, 2022
Sustainability Strategy & Climate Action Plan 2022-23

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Council Only

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Climate Action Plan 2021

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

SectionCopeland Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score25%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
1/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
1/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

226.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.3 tCO2

per person

0.3 ktCO2

per km2

49%

Domestic

28%

Transport

7%

Agriculture

6%

Industry

5%

Public Sector

5%

Commercial

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 Copeland Borough 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
Durham County Council80%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Denbighshire County Council78%No2030July 2, 2019
Bolsover District Council76%YesNo targetNo
East Ayrshire Council72%No2030No
Gwynedd County Council72%No2030March 7, 2019
Northumberland Council69%Yes2030June 11, 2019
Lancaster City Council68%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
East Lothian Council68%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council67%No2030May 9, 2019
Cumbria County Council67%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Copeland Borough 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
South Lanarkshire Council84%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council84%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Buckinghamshire Council83%No2050No
Epping Forest District Council82%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
Three Rivers District Council82%No2030May 21, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council82%Yes2030No
Tandridge District Council81%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council80%Yes2030No
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council80%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council80%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Allerdale Borough Council94%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council94%No2037July 16, 2019
Cumbria County Council93%Yes2050No
South Lakeland District Council91%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Blackpool Borough Council87%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Lancaster City Council87%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Wyre Council87%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Eden District Council86%No2030July 11, 2019
Fylde Borough Council86%NoNo targetNo
Carlisle City Council85%No2030March 5, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Copeland Borough 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
Caerphilly County Borough Council94%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council93%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Bolsover District Council92%YesNo targetNo
Fenland District Council91%NoNo targetNo
Tendring District Council91%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Denbighshire County Council89%No2030July 2, 2019
Swale Borough Council89%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Ashfield District Council88%NoNo targetNo
Isle of Wight Council87%No2030July 24, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council87%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Copeland Borough 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
Horsham District Council98%Yes2050June 26, 2019
Rushcliffe Borough Council95%Yes2030March 7, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council94%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021
Huntingdonshire District Council93%No2040No
Newark and Sherwood District Council93%Yes2035July 16, 2019
North Kesteven District Council92%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Selby District Council88%Yes2030No
Allerdale Borough Council88%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Harborough District Council87%No2030June 24, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council87%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Copeland Borough 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

    copeland.gov.uk
    Copeland Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Copeland Borough 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 Copeland Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Copeland Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/copeland-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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