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Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

We don’t think this council has declared a climate emergency – let us know if it has!

Council only pledge for 2030

“We are also working with an Energy Specialist to help prepare a Council plan and road map that will enable us to play our role in the Welsh Public Sector becoming 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

SectionMerthyr Tydfil County Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score9%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
2/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
1/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
2/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
1/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
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
0/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

230.8 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.8 tCO2

per person

2.1 ktCO2

per km2

39%

Domestic

29%

Transport

22%

Industry

6%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

1%

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 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 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
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council83%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Caerphilly County Borough Council83%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council81%Yes2050No
Torfaen County Borough Council80%NoNo targetJune 25, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council79%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Pendle Borough Council77%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Newport City Council77%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council77%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Ashfield District Council76%NoNo targetNo
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council75%No2030Oct. 30, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 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
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Bolsover District Council89%YesNo targetNo
Erewash Borough Council87%No2050No
Fife Council87%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council87%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Woking Borough Council87%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council86%No2030July 22, 2022
Lancashire County Council85%No2030Feb. 28, 2019
Pendle Borough Council85%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Darlington Borough Council84%Yes2050July 18, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council98%Yes2050No
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council97%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Caerphilly County Borough Council97%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Cardiff Council95%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council95%NoNo targetJune 25, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council95%No2030July 22, 2022
Vale of Glamorgan Council95%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Devon County Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council93%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Newport City Council93%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 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
Tendring District Council95%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
East Lindsey District Council89%Yes2040No
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council88%NoNo targetNo
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council88%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council87%NoNo targetSept. 9, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council86%NoNo targetNo
Thanet District Council84%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council84%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council83%Yes2050No
Swale Borough Council82%Yes2025June 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 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
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council99%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Newport City Council97%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
East Renfrewshire Council96%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Torfaen County Borough Council96%NoNo targetJune 25, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council95%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council95%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
Thurrock Council95%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
City of York Council95%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Inverclyde Council95%NoNo targetNo
Hertsmere Borough Council94%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is a Unitary Authority, 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.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    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 local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

    merthyr.gov.uk
    Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council’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 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/merthyr-tydfil-county-borough-council/ [Accessed 28 May 2023].

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