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London Borough of Harrow

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 18, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Aim to make London borough of Harrow carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption of emissions.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Cabinet Report: The Climate And Ecological Emergency – Interim Strategy And Action Plan

Climate Strategy · PDF · Approved · Whole Area

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Climate Change Strategy 2019–2024

Climate Strategy · PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

Climate And Ecological Emergency: Harrow’s Interim Strategy And Actions

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

SectionLondon Borough of HarrowAverage single tier council
Total score62%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
13/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
13/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
4/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

594.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.4 tCO2

per person

11.8 ktCO2

per km2

56%

Domestic

29%

Transport

7%

Commercial

5%

Public Sector

3%

Industry

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 Harrow 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
Watford Borough Council90%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Barnet90%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Merton86%No2030July 10, 2019
London Borough of Sutton86%No2045July 22, 2019
Worthing Borough Council86%YesJuly 18, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge85%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Bexley84%NoNo targetNo
Spelthorne Borough Council83%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
London Borough of Havering83%NoNo targetNo
Rushmoor Borough Council81%Yes2030June 20, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Harrow 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 Croydon90%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Worthing Borough Council90%YesJuly 18, 2019
London Borough of Sutton89%No2045July 22, 2019
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council89%No2030July 18, 2019
London Borough of Havering89%NoNo targetNo
Spelthorne Borough Council88%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames88%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Havant Borough Council87%Yes2050No
Eastleigh Borough Council87%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Fareham Borough Council87%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Ealing99%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Brent99%No2030July 8, 2019
Watford Borough Council99%No2030July 9, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council99%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
London Borough of Hillingdon98%Yes2030Jan. 16, 2020
London Borough of Barnet98%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Hounslow98%Yes2030No
Three Rivers District Council98%No2030May 21, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham98%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames98%Yes2030July 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Harrow 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
London Borough of Barnet96%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Bexley91%NoNo targetNo
Watford Borough Council90%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Merton85%No2030July 10, 2019
City of London83%No2027No
Oxford City Council82%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Worthing Borough Council81%YesJuly 18, 2019
Exeter City Council81%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Cambridge City Council81%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council80%Yes2030June 20, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Harrow 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
Southampton City Council100%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Luton Borough Council99%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Hounslow99%Yes2030No
Leicester City Council99%Yes2030Feb. 1, 2019
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames99%Yes2038June 25, 2019
Manchester City Council98%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Portsmouth City Council98%No2030March 19, 2019
London Borough of Sutton98%No2045July 22, 2019
London Borough of Merton97%No2030July 10, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge97%Yes2050June 20, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan

Powers & Responsibilities

London Borough of Harrow 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: London Borough of Harrow. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/london-borough-of-harrow/ [Accessed 27 May 2023].

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