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London Borough of Lewisham

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 27, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“This threat requires an urgent response from all sectors of society, including locally, and in 2019 Lewisham Council declared a Climate Emergency and proposed a new ambition for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2030”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Lewisham Climate Emergency Strategic Action Plan 2020–2030

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

London Borough of Lewisham was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Commitment and integration section.

SectionLondon Borough of LewishamAverage single tier council
Total score77%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
15/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
11/18
9.0/18
Section 3 · Top performer Commitment and integration
7/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
4/5
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

689.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.3 tCO2

per person

19.5 ktCO2

per km2

48%

Domestic

35%

Transport

9%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

2%

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 Lewisham 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
London Borough of Waltham Forest89%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Brent86%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Haringey85%Yes2027March 18, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich85%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Ealing82%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Newham81%Yes2050April 15, 2019
Portsmouth City Council79%No2030March 19, 2019
Greater London Authority77%YesDec. 1, 2019
Luton Borough Council77%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Hounslow77%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Lewisham 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 Ealing89%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich89%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Gosport Borough Council89%Yes2050No
London Borough of Enfield88%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest88%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
Hastings Borough Council86%No2030Feb. 13, 2019
London Borough of Merton86%No2030July 10, 2019
Luton Borough Council85%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Bexley85%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Hounslow84%Yes2030No

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Southwark99%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Tower Hamlets99%No2025July 17, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich99%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth99%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Newham99%Yes2050April 15, 2019
City of London99%No2027No
London Borough of Bromley99%Yes2027No
London Borough of Croydon98%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Greater London Authority98%YesDec. 1, 2019
London Borough of Hackney98%Yes2040June 28, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Lewisham 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 Brent91%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Newham90%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest87%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Southwark85%No2050March 27, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich82%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Haringey81%Yes2027March 18, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth80%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Portsmouth City Council78%No2030March 19, 2019
London Borough of Ealing76%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham73%Yes2030July 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Lewisham 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 Haringey99%Yes2027March 18, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth94%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Brent93%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Newham93%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest90%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Southwark86%No2050March 27, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich84%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Ealing83%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham83%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham83%No2030Jan. 30, 2020

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Strong on engagement Strong on public health Strong on fairness Good on green jobs, skills & training

Powers & Responsibilities

London Borough of Lewisham 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: London Borough of Lewisham. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/london-borough-of-lewisham/ [Accessed 6 Jun 2023].

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