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Derry City and Strabane District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 27, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2045

“The Climate Change Emergency Pledge outlines the Council's climate action commitments, including a shift to net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the city and district by 2045.”

Climate documents

Last update: Oct. 4, 2021

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

SectionDerry City and Strabane District CouncilAverage Northern Ireland council
Total score25%26%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
9/21
6.0/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
5/18
3.8/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.5/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
3.0/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
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
0/5
1.0/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
0.8/4

Emissions data

886.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.9 tCO2

per person

0.7 ktCO2

per km2

33%

Domestic

30%

Industry

26%

Transport

5%

Public Sector

4%

Agriculture

2%

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 Derry City and Strabane 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
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council65%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council63%No2030May 2, 2020
Ards and North Down Borough Council60%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019
Mid Ulster District Council60%NoNo targetNo
Inverclyde Council56%NoNo targetNo
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council55%NoNo targetNo
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council54%NoNo targetSept. 9, 2019
Belfast City Council52%YesNo targetOct. 1, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council52%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council51%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Derry City and Strabane 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
The Moray Council70%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council68%NoNo targetNo
Rutland County Council66%No2050No
Ribble Valley Borough Council65%No2030No
Stirling Council63%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
Northumberland Council61%Yes2030June 11, 2019
North Yorkshire County Council61%Yes2030No
The Highland Council61%No2025May 9, 2019
Allerdale Borough Council60%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
East Riding of Yorkshire Council59%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council95%Yes2040July 2, 2019
Mid Ulster District Council94%NoNo targetNo
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council91%No2030May 2, 2020
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council89%NoNo targetNo
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council88%NoNo targetNo
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council87%NoNo targetSept. 9, 2019
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council86%NoNo targetNo
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council85%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Belfast City Council85%YesNo targetOct. 1, 2019
Ards and North Down Borough Council81%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Derry City and Strabane 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
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council95%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council94%No2030May 2, 2020
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council89%Yes2040July 2, 2019
Mid Ulster District Council87%NoNo targetNo
Belfast City Council74%YesNo targetOct. 1, 2019
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council72%Yes2040Jan. 29, 2020
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council68%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council68%NoNo targetNo
Middlesbrough Borough Council68%No2029Sept. 4, 2019
Burnley Borough Council68%Yes2030July 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Derry City and Strabane 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
Cherwell District Council99%No2030July 22, 2019
Test Valley Borough Council98%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council98%Yes2030July 10, 2019
South Ayrshire Council95%No2045No
Stroud District Council94%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Somerset West and Taunton Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Harrogate Borough Council93%No2038April 10, 2019
Carlisle City Council92%No2030March 5, 2019
Angus Council91%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Boston Borough Council91%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020

Powers & Responsibilities

Derry City and Strabane District 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

    derrystrabane.com
    Derry City and Strabane District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Derry City and Strabane District 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: Derry City and Strabane District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/derry-city-and-strabane-district-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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