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Gwynedd County Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on March 7, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Call on Welsh Government and the Westminster Government to provide the requisite powers and resources to achieve the target of a carbon-free Gwynedd by 2030.”

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

Gwynedd County 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.

SectionGwynedd County 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 data

558.9 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.5 tCO2

per person

0.2 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Transport

36%

Domestic

11%

Industry

8%

Agriculture

5%

Commercial

4%

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.

These councils are the most similar to Gwynedd 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
Isle of Anglesey County Council82%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Shropshire Council - Unitary78%No2030May 16, 2019
Denbighshire County Council76%No2030July 2, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council75%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Mid Devon District Council74%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council72%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
North Devon Council72%Yes2030July 24, 2019
West Lindsey District Council72%No2050No
Cumberland Council71%NoNo
Devon County Council71%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Gwynedd 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
Denbighshire County Council87%No2030July 2, 2019
Angus Council84%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
East Ayrshire Council84%No2030No
Argyll and Bute Council82%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Inverclyde Council82%NoNo targetNo
Shropshire Council - Unitary82%No2030May 16, 2019
West Lindsey District Council81%No2050No
North Kesteven District Council80%No2030July 11, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council80%Yes2030July 17, 2019
East Riding of Yorkshire Council80%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Conwy County Borough Council93%No2030May 9, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council90%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Ceredigion County Council88%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Denbighshire County Council87%No2030July 2, 2019
Powys County Council85%No2030July 30, 2020
Flintshire County Council83%YesNo targetNo
Wrexham County Borough Council82%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Wirral Council81%No2030July 15, 2019
Carmarthenshire County Council81%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Liverpool City Council78%Yes2030July 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Gwynedd 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
Forest of Dean District Council95%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
South Holland District Council92%NoNo targetNo
Ceredigion County Council89%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Somerset Council87%NoNo
Shropshire Council - Unitary86%No2030May 16, 2019
Mid Devon District Council86%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Herefordshire Council85%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council84%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council84%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
West Suffolk Council83%No2030Sept. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Gwynedd 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
Isle of Anglesey County Council95%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Uttlesford District Council95%Yes2030July 30, 2019
South Hams District Council94%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Cotswold District Council92%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council90%Yes2030July 15, 2019
North Norfolk District Council89%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council88%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council88%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
West Lindsey District Council88%No2050No
Mid Devon District Council88%Yes2030June 26, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Gwynedd County 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

    gwynedd.gov.uk
    Gwynedd County Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Gwynedd County 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 Gwynedd County Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Gwynedd County Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/gwynedd-county-council/ [Accessed 28 May 2023].

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