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London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 17, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2025

“In March 2019, Tower Hamlets Council declared a climate emergency. The Council is now aiming to be Net Zero Carbon by 2025.”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“This report also recommends that Tower Hamlets Council uses its powers, influence and leadership to put the Borough on the right track to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050 (or earlier if possible).”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Net Zero Carbon Plan, March 2020

Document · PDF

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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 Tower HamletsAverage single tier council
Total score34%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
11/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
4/18
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
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

1019.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.1 tCO2

per person

47.2 ktCO2

per km2

34%

Commercial

26%

Transport

21%

Domestic

10%

Industry

9%

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 Tower Hamlets 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 Islington88%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Hackney86%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Southwark76%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth76%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham72%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Westminster City Council68%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea67%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
London Borough of Newham67%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth66%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham65%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Tower Hamlets 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 Southwark83%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Hackney81%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Islington81%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Southampton City Council81%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Exeter City Council78%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Manchester City Council77%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich76%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Portsmouth City Council76%No2030March 19, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority76%Yes2050No
Bristol City Council75%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Hackney99%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Southwark99%No2050March 27, 2019
City of London99%No2027No
London Borough of Lewisham99%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Newham99%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest99%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Islington99%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Greater London Authority99%YesDec. 1, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich99%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth99%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Tower Hamlets 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 Islington92%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Hackney87%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Camden74%Yes2030April 8, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham73%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth72%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Westminster City Council72%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
London Borough of Southwark71%No2050March 27, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea71%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
London Borough of Newham64%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Haringey62%Yes2027March 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Tower Hamlets 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 Islington100%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Hackney91%Yes2040June 28, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea83%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Westminster City Council82%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
London Borough of Camden81%Yes2030April 8, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth78%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham76%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Southwark73%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Newham68%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth67%Yes2050July 17, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

London Borough of Tower Hamlets 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/london-borough-of-tower-hamlets/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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