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Exeter City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 23, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“This Plan presents Exeter's view of how the city can achieve its ambition to be net-zero carbon by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Net Zero Exeter 2030 Plan

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Whole Area

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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

SectionExeter City CouncilAverage district council
Total score61%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
9/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

352.6 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.6 tCO2

per person

7.4 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Domestic

20%

Transport

15%

Commercial

13%

Public Sector

13%

Industry

2%

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 Exeter City 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
Bristol City Council80%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
Worcester City Council80%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Cheltenham Borough Council77%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Gloucester City Council77%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Gosport Borough Council75%Yes2050No
Plymouth City Council75%Yes2030March 18, 2019
Cardiff Council74%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Reading Borough Council74%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Coventry City Council73%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council73%Yes2030June 20, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Exeter City 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
London Borough of Southwark89%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth89%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Glasgow City Council88%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Manchester City Council86%Yes2038July 10, 2019
City of Lincoln Council85%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Southampton City Council84%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Bristol City Council84%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham83%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Brent83%No2030July 8, 2019
Norwich City Council83%Yes2030Jan. 29, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Mid Devon District Council98%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Teignbridge District Council97%Yes2025April 18, 2019
Torbay Council96%Yes2030June 19, 2019
East Devon District Council96%Yes2040July 24, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
South Hams District Council93%Yes2030July 25, 2019
North Devon Council92%Yes2030July 24, 2019
West Devon Borough Council92%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Plymouth City Council89%Yes2030March 18, 2019
Sedgemoor District Council89%Yes2030March 20, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Exeter City 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
Oxford City Council93%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council93%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council92%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Castle Point Borough Council91%NoNo targetNo
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council88%No2030March 28, 2019
Brighton and Hove City Council87%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
London Borough of Bexley87%NoNo targetNo
Worcester City Council87%Yes2030July 16, 2019
London Borough of Havering86%YesNo targetNo
Cambridge City Council85%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Exeter City 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
Harlow Council100%Yes2030July 11, 2019
City of Lincoln Council100%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Stoke-on-Trent City Council99%NoNo targetJuly 4, 2019
Salford City Council99%No2038July 17, 2019
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council99%Yes2050Sept. 16, 2019
Worcester City Council99%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Cambridge City Council98%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Middlesbrough Borough Council98%No2029Sept. 4, 2019
Hastings Borough Council98%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Gloucester City Council98%Yes2030July 11, 2019

Features

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

Comprehensive plan for mitigation Integrated with Local Plan Strong on engagement Good on green jobs, skills & training

Powers & Responsibilities

Exeter City 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

    exeter.gov.uk
    Exeter City Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Exeter City 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 Exeter City Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Exeter City Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/exeter-city-council/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

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