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Devon County Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 21, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“The Council reports its carbon footprint each year and has a target to become net-zero carbon by 2030, including those arising from its purchasing of goods and services.”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“We have committed to facilitating the reduction of Devon’s carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 at the latest and improving the environment’s and our communities’ resilience to climate change.”

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

SectionDevon County CouncilAverage county council
Total score47%40%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
8.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
9/18
6.6/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/5
2.7/5
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.4/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.2/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
1.7/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.5/4

Emissions data

3294.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.1 tCO2

per person

0.5 ktCO2

per km2

39%

Transport

31%

Domestic

13%

Industry

8%

Agriculture

6%

Commercial

3%

Public Sector

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities. Data has been combined from constituent local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Devon County 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
Somerset County Council91%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Dorset Council89%No2040May 16, 2019
South Somerset District Council87%Yes2023May 21, 2019
North Devon Council85%Yes2030July 24, 2019
East Devon District Council84%Yes2040July 24, 2019
Mendip District Council84%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary84%No2030May 16, 2019
Sedgemoor District Council83%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council83%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Wychavon District Council82%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Devon County 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
Somerset County Council89%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council89%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Dorset Council89%No2040May 16, 2019
East Devon District Council86%Yes2040July 24, 2019
South Somerset District Council85%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Cornwall Council (Unitary)84%Yes2030Jan. 22, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council84%Yes2050No
Boston Borough Council83%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Tewkesbury Borough Council82%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Wiltshire Council82%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Cardiff Council99%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council96%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council96%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Newport City Council96%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Torfaen County Borough Council95%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Sedgemoor District Council94%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council94%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council94%Yes2050No
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council94%Yes2030No
North Somerset Council94%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Devon County 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
Powys County Council97%No2030July 30, 2020
Teignbridge District Council96%Yes2025April 18, 2019
North Warwickshire Borough Council96%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
South Somerset District Council95%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Midlothian Council94%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary94%No2030May 16, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council93%Yes2045No
Mendip District Council92%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
Dorset Council92%No2040May 16, 2019
West Suffolk Council92%No2030Sept. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Devon County 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
Rother District Council97%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Chichester District Council97%Yes2025July 9, 2019
Norfolk County Council97%No2030No
North Devon Council95%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council94%Yes2050No
South Oxfordshire District Council94%Yes2025April 11, 2019
North Yorkshire County Council94%Yes2030No
Cumbria County Council93%Yes2050No
Dorset Council93%No2040May 16, 2019
Wiltshire Council93%No2030Feb. 26, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Devon County Council is a County 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
    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.

    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.

    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 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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    devon.gov.uk
    Devon County Council’s official homepage.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Devon County Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/devon-county-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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