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Harrogate Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on April 10, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2038

“By 2038 we will have a net zero-carbon economy. The council’s own operations will be clean and efficient, and we will play a positive role enabling the wider district to achieve net-zero emissions.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Carbon Reduction Strategy

Climate Strategy · PDF · Approved · Council Only

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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

SectionHarrogate Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score19%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
4/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
2/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
1/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

737.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.6 tCO2

per person

0.6 ktCO2

per km2

38%

Domestic

30%

Transport

11%

Industry

9%

Commercial

7%

Public Sector

5%

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 Harrogate 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
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)77%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Stafford Borough Council77%No2040July 23, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council75%No2030April 2, 2019
Mole Valley District Council73%No2030June 18, 2019
North Yorkshire County Council73%Yes2030No
Cherwell District Council72%No2030July 22, 2019
West Berkshire Council71%No2030July 2, 2019
Stroud District Council71%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Cheshire West and Chester Council71%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Waverley Borough Council70%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Harrogate 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
Denbighshire County Council78%No2030July 2, 2019
West Oxfordshire District Council77%Yes2030June 26, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority74%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Waverley Borough Council73%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)72%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council72%No2030April 2, 2019
Mole Valley District Council72%No2030June 18, 2019
Stafford Borough Council71%No2040July 23, 2019
East Lothian Council71%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Gwynedd County Council71%No2030March 7, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
North Yorkshire County Council98%Yes2030No
Leeds City Council95%No2030March 27, 2019
Bradford Metropolitan District Council93%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019
Hambleton District Council93%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
West Yorkshire Combined Authority93%No2038June 27, 2019
Richmondshire District Council91%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council91%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Kirklees Council90%Yes2038Jan. 16, 2019
Darlington Borough Council90%Yes2050July 18, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Harrogate 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
East Hampshire District Council99%No2050July 18, 2019
Winchester City Council98%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Stroud District Council98%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Mole Valley District Council98%No2030June 18, 2019
Cotswold District Council97%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Guildford Borough Council97%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council97%No2030April 2, 2019
Rochford District Council97%Yes2030No
Horsham District Council96%Yes2050June 26, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council96%No2050No

These councils are the most similar to Harrogate 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
Test Valley Borough Council94%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Derry City and Strabane District Council93%Yes2045June 27, 2019
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council93%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Cherwell District Council92%No2030July 22, 2019
Angus Council89%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council88%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Stroud District Council88%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
South Ayrshire Council88%No2045No
Carlisle City Council86%No2030March 5, 2019
Ashford Borough Council85%Yes2030No

Powers & Responsibilities

Harrogate 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

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

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    Cite this page

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

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