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London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Jan. 30, 2020.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Barking and Dagenham Council has become the latest London borough to declare a climate emergency – outlining ambitious plans to become carbon neutral 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

SectionLondon Borough of Barking and DagenhamAverage single tier council
Total score34%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
5/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

487.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.3 tCO2

per person

12.9 ktCO2

per km2

40%

Domestic

36%

Transport

11%

Industry

9%

Commercial

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 London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 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
Luton Borough Council83%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Leicester City Council80%Yes2030Feb. 1, 2019
London Borough of Enfield80%No2030July 8, 2019
Portsmouth City Council79%No2030March 19, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich79%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Southampton City Council78%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Hastings Borough Council77%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest77%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Ealing77%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham76%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 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 Waltham Forest89%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham86%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich85%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Gosport Borough Council85%Yes2050No
Plymouth City Council83%Yes2030March 18, 2019
London Borough of Hackney83%Yes2040June 28, 2019
Luton Borough Council83%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Redbridge83%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Enfield83%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow82%Yes2030No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Kent County Council99%Yes2030May 23, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge99%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Bexley99%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Havering99%YesNo targetNo
London Borough of Newham99%Yes2050April 15, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich99%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest98%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
Dartford Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Epping Forest District Council98%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
London Borough of Tower Hamlets98%No2025July 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 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
Leicester City Council84%Yes2030Feb. 1, 2019
Luton Borough Council79%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Manchester City Council78%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Nottingham City Council77%Yes2028Jan. 21, 2019
Southampton City Council76%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council76%No2030March 10, 2020
Blackpool Borough Council76%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Hastings Borough Council75%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Portsmouth City Council74%No2030March 19, 2019
London Borough of Haringey73%Yes2027March 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 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
London Borough of Ealing99%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich99%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Greater London Authority98%YesDec. 1, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge97%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Merton96%No2030July 10, 2019
Portsmouth City Council96%No2030March 19, 2019
Southampton City Council94%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
London Borough of Harrow94%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Luton Borough Council93%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Hounslow92%Yes2030No

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is a London Borough, 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.

    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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    lbbd.gov.uk
    London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’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 London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/london-borough-of-barking-and-dagenham/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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