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London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 9, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“In July 2019, Richmond Council declared a Climate Emergency, committing to working towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030. ”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Emergency Strategy 2019–2024

Document · PDF
Climate Emergency Strategy 2020–2024: 2021 Action Plan

Action Plan · 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

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Community, engagement and communications section.

SectionLondon Borough of Richmond upon ThamesAverage single tier council
Total score78%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
15/21
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 · Top performer Community, engagement and communications
9/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
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
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

567.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.9 tCO2

per person

9.7 ktCO2

per km2

51%

Domestic

30%

Transport

10%

Commercial

5%

Public Sector

4%

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 Richmond upon Thames 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
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council92%Yes2035July 23, 2019
London Borough of Bromley86%Yes2027No
Fareham Borough Council84%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames84%Yes2038June 25, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council83%Yes2030No
Woking Borough Council83%Yes2030July 25, 2019
London Borough of Sutton82%No2045July 22, 2019
St Albans City and District Council82%No2030July 9, 2019
Three Rivers District Council81%No2030May 21, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead81%No2050June 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 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 Bromley93%Yes2027No
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council93%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Spelthorne Borough Council91%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council90%No2030July 18, 2019
Wokingham Borough Council89%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Three Rivers District Council88%No2030May 21, 2019
London Borough of Harrow87%Yes2030July 18, 2019
London Borough of Croydon87%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council87%Yes2030No
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council87%No2030March 28, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Hounslow99%Yes2030No
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames99%Yes2038June 25, 2019
London Borough of Ealing99%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham99%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council98%No2030July 17, 2019
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council98%Yes2035July 23, 2019
London Borough of Merton98%No2030July 10, 2019
London Borough of Brent98%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth98%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea98%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 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
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council92%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Fareham Borough Council87%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames87%Yes2038June 25, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council86%No2030July 17, 2019
St Albans City and District Council83%No2030July 9, 2019
Eastleigh Borough Council82%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council82%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Woking Borough Council82%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead81%No2050June 26, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council81%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 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
Brighton and Hove City Council100%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
Ipswich Borough Council99%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Stevenage Borough Council99%No2030June 12, 2019
Gosport Borough Council99%Yes2050No
Worthing Borough Council99%YesJuly 18, 2019
Kingston-upon-Hull City Council99%No2030March 21, 2019
Norwich City Council99%Yes2030Jan. 29, 2019
City of London99%No2027No
Glasgow City Council99%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Derby City Council99%Yes2050May 23, 2019

Features

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

Strong on engagement Clear communication Strong on public health Strong on fairness

Powers & Responsibilities

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/london-borough-of-richmond-upon-thames/ [Accessed 24 Mar 2023].

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