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East Renfrewshire Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Aug. 13, 2020.

Council only pledge for 2040

“Supports the ambition for the Council to be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2040 ( as a minimum target).”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022

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

East Renfrewshire Council scored zero points in this assessment. This is because the council either didn’t have any published plans at the time of the assessment, or the plans didn’t qualify.

SectionEast Renfrewshire CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score0%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
0/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
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 East Renfrewshire Council’s projects

26

Projects

6.7 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£2,201,084

Total capital cost

Emissions data

289.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.0 tCO2

per person

1.7 ktCO2

per km2

52%

Domestic

34%

Transport

5%

Commercial

5%

Public Sector

2%

Agriculture

2%

Industry

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 East Renfrewshire 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
East Dunbartonshire Council90%Yes2045No
Renfrewshire Council76%No2030June 27, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council76%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council75%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
City of York Council75%Yes2030March 11, 2019
West Lothian Council75%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
Chorley Council74%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)74%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Warrington Borough Council73%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Fylde Borough Council73%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to East Renfrewshire 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
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council92%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council91%No2050No
Hart District Council90%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council89%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead89%No2050June 26, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council89%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
St Albans City and District Council89%No2030July 9, 2019
Tandridge District Council88%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
London Borough of Bromley86%Yes2027No
Surrey Heath Borough Council85%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Glasgow City Council98%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Renfrewshire Council97%No2030June 27, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045No
West Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045May 29, 2019
East Ayrshire Council96%No2030No
Inverclyde Council95%NoNo targetNo
North Lanarkshire Council94%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Stirling Council93%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council92%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
North Ayrshire Council92%No2030June 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to East Renfrewshire 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
Oxfordshire County Council96%No2030April 2, 2019
Rochford District Council96%Yes2030No
East Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045No
Guildford Borough Council95%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead95%No2050June 26, 2019
Stroud District Council95%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Harrogate Borough Council95%No2038April 10, 2019
Winchester City Council95%Yes2024June 5, 2019
East Hampshire District Council95%No2050July 18, 2019
Cotswold District Council95%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019

These councils are the most similar to East Renfrewshire 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
Pendle Borough Council98%Yes2030July 11, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council98%Yes2045No
North East Lincolnshire Council97%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Newport City Council96%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Peterborough City Council96%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council96%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council96%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Renfrewshire Council96%No2030June 27, 2019
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council96%Yes2030No
Tees Valley Combined Authority96%NoNo targetNo

Powers & Responsibilities

East Renfrewshire 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

    eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
    East Renfrewshire Council’s official homepage.
    @EastRenCouncil
    East Renfrewshire Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check East Renfrewshire 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: East Renfrewshire Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/east-renfrewshire-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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