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Elmbridge Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 17, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“This Council therefore calls on the Cabinet to: Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’; Pledge to make Elmbridge carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions.”

Climate documents

Elmbridge Borough Council Action Plan

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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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

SectionElmbridge Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score59%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
17/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
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
3/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

534.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.9 tCO2

per person

5.5 ktCO2

per km2

45%

Domestic

36%

Transport

11%

Commercial

4%

Industry

4%

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 Elmbridge 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
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead88%No2050June 26, 2019
St Albans City and District Council86%No2030July 9, 2019
Surrey County Council86%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council85%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council84%Yes2030No
Three Rivers District Council83%No2030May 21, 2019
Mole Valley District Council82%No2030June 18, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council81%YesNo targetNo
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council81%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Waverley Borough Council80%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Elmbridge 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
Mole Valley District Council90%No2030June 18, 2019
Tandridge District Council89%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Waverley Borough Council86%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council86%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead85%No2050June 26, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council84%Yes2030No
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)84%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council84%No2050No
Surrey County Council83%Yes2030July 9, 2019
St Albans City and District Council80%No2030July 9, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Spelthorne Borough Council99%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames98%Yes2038June 25, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow98%Yes2030No
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council98%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Surrey County Council98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Runnymede Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Mole Valley District Council98%No2030June 18, 2019
Woking Borough Council98%Yes2030July 25, 2019
London Borough of Ealing97%Yes2030April 2, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Elmbridge 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
Fareham Borough Council99%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
St Albans City and District Council96%No2030July 9, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council95%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead94%No2050June 26, 2019
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council94%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council93%YesNo targetNo
West Berkshire Council92%No2030July 2, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council92%Yes2025April 11, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council92%Yes2030No
East Renfrewshire Council91%No2040Aug. 13, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Elmbridge 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
Chesterfield Borough Council99%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Sheffield City Council99%Yes2050Feb. 6, 2019
Halton Borough Council98%YesNo targetOct. 16, 2019
Broxtowe Borough Council98%Yes2027July 17, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Adur District Council98%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Woking Borough Council98%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Fareham Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council98%No2030Dec. 4, 2019

Features

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

Comprehensive plan for mitigation Integrated with Local Plan

Powers & Responsibilities

Elmbridge 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Elmbridge Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/elmbridge-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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