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Newport City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Nov. 23, 2021.

Council only pledge for 2030

“I will continue to work closely with the community, partner organisations, elected members and officers to ensure the council continues to work towards our challenging but exciting and achievable vision of becoming a net carbon neutral organisation 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

SectionNewport City CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score13%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
1/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
1/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
1/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
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

709.9 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.5 tCO2

per person

3.3 ktCO2

per km2

32%

Industry

29%

Transport

29%

Domestic

7%

Commercial

2%

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 Newport City 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
Torfaen County Borough Council84%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council84%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council83%No2030July 22, 2022
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council83%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council81%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Telford & Wrekin Council81%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council80%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council80%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority80%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Pendle Borough Council79%Yes2030July 11, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Newport City 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
Swale Borough Council90%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council89%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council87%No2030July 22, 2022
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council87%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council87%No2030April 3, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council86%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council86%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Amber Valley Borough Council84%Yes2030July 24, 2019
East Suffolk Council84%No2030July 24, 2019
Derbyshire County Council84%Yes2032No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Torfaen County Borough Council97%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Monmouthshire County Council96%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Bristol City Council96%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
North Somerset Council96%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Cardiff Council96%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Devon County Council96%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council96%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council95%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Sedgemoor District Council93%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council93%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Newport City 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
West Yorkshire Combined Authority97%No2038June 27, 2019
Redcar and Cleveland Council97%Yes2030March 28, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority96%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council96%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
North Ayrshire Council94%No2030June 25, 2019
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council93%No2037July 16, 2019
Sheffield City Council92%Yes2050Feb. 6, 2019
Mansfield District Council92%No2040March 5, 2019
Leeds City Council91%No2030March 27, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council91%No2040Sept. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Newport City 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 Council98%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
North East Lincolnshire Council98%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council97%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Torfaen County Borough Council97%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Warrington Borough Council97%Yes2030June 7, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council96%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Thurrock Council96%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Kirklees Council96%Yes2038Jan. 16, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council96%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Newport City 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

    newport.gov.uk
    Newport City Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Newport City 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 Newport City Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Newport City Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/newport-city-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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