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Kent County Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Council only pledge for 2030

“We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our own estate and activities to net zero by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“We are also committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the whole county to net zero by 2050.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Energy And Low Emissions Strategy: Evidence Base

Summary Document · PDF · Approved · Whole Area
Energy And Low Emissions Strategy: Public Consultation Report, November 2019

Pre-Plan · PDF · Whole Area
Kcc Net Zero Plan

Action Plan · PDF

Show more action plan documents
Kent And Medway Energy And Low Emissions Strategy: Implementation Plan 2020-2023

Action Plan · PDF

Energy And Low Emissions Strategy, June 2020

Climate Strategy · 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

SectionKent County CouncilAverage county council
Total score53%40%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
8.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
6.6/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/5
2.7/5
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.4/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.2/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.7/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.5/4

Emissions data

5494.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.5 tCO2

per person

1.5 ktCO2

per km2

38%

Domestic

33%

Transport

11%

Industry

9%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

4%

Agriculture

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities. Data has been combined from constituent local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Kent 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
East Sussex County Council92%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council92%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Essex County Council90%Yes2030No
Bedford Borough Council89%Yes2030March 5, 2019
West Sussex County Council88%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Ashford Borough Council88%Yes2030No
Lewes District Council87%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Arun District Council87%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Colchester Borough Council87%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Lancashire County Council84%No2030Feb. 28, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Kent 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
Great Yarmouth Borough Council92%NoNo targetNo
Ashford Borough Council92%Yes2030No
Maidstone Borough Council92%Yes2030April 10, 2019
City of York Council92%Yes2030March 11, 2019
East Sussex County Council92%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council91%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Arun District Council91%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council90%No2030July 19, 2019
Worcestershire County Council90%Yes2030July 15, 2021

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham99%No2030Jan. 30, 2020
Royal Borough of Greenwich99%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Newham99%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Bexley99%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Redbridge99%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Tower Hamlets98%No2025July 17, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham98%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Havering98%YesNo targetNo
London Borough of Waltham Forest98%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Bromley98%Yes2027No

These councils are the most similar to Kent 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
East Sussex County Council99%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
West Lothian Council97%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
Derbyshire County Council96%Yes2032No
South Lanarkshire Council96%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
West Lindsey District Council95%Yes2050No
North Northamptonshire Council95%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Lincolnshire County Council95%Yes2050No
Falkirk Council95%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
East Staffordshire Borough Council94%Yes2040Aug. 17, 2020
Bridgend County Borough Council94%No2030July 22, 2022

These councils are the most similar to Kent 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
Derbyshire County Council98%Yes2032No
Cheshire West and Chester Council98%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council98%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council98%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Essex County Council98%Yes2030No
Epping Forest District Council98%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
New Forest District Council97%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Lancaster City Council97%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Flintshire County Council97%YesNo targetNo
Chorley Council96%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019

Features

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

Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Kent County Council is a County Council, 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
    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.

    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.

    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 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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    kent.gov.uk
    Kent County Council’s official homepage.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Kent County Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/kent-county-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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