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Orkney Islands Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on May 14, 2019.

Climate pledges

We couldn’t find any climate pledges from this council. If you’ve found one, let us know!

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

SectionOrkney Islands CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score11%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
7/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
1/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
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 reduction projects

Local authorities in Scotland are required to publish yearly data on their compliance with their climate change duties – including the emissions reduction projects they are undertaking.

See all of Orkney Islands Council’s projects

12

Projects

0.1 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£1,260,000

Total capital cost

Emissions data

110.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.9 tCO2

per person

0.1 ktCO2

per km2

33%

Domestic

31%

Agriculture

24%

Transport

7%

Industry

3%

Commercial

2%

Public Sector

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 Orkney Islands 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
Shetland Islands Council69%YesNo targetJan. 22, 2020
Scottish Borders Council63%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
Dumfries and Galloway Council61%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Powys County Council55%No2030July 30, 2020
Richmondshire District Council54%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Aberdeenshire Council53%No2045No
Ceredigion County Council52%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Argyll and Bute Council52%Yes2045No
East Ayrshire Council52%No2030No
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar52%YesNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Orkney Islands 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
Thanet District Council68%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Torridge District Council62%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Ceredigion County Council60%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Dumfries and Galloway Council58%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Powys County Council56%No2030July 30, 2020
Shetland Islands Council55%YesNo targetJan. 22, 2020
Scottish Borders Council53%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
Carmarthenshire County Council51%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
West Devon Borough Council49%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council49%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
The Moray Council82%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Aberdeenshire Council79%No2045No
Shetland Islands Council78%YesNo targetJan. 22, 2020
Aberdeen City Council77%Yes2045No
The Highland Council76%No2025May 9, 2019
Angus Council74%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Dundee City Council71%Yes2045June 24, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council71%No2045No
Fife Council68%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council66%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Orkney Islands 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
Huntingdonshire District Council98%No2040No
Melton Borough Council98%No2030July 17, 2019
Wiltshire Council98%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council98%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Selby District Council97%Yes2030No
South Norfolk District Council97%NoNo targetNo
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council97%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council97%No2030July 16, 2019
South Staffordshire Council97%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019
New Forest District Council96%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Orkney Islands 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
Shetland Islands Council98%YesNo targetJan. 22, 2020
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar98%YesNo targetNo
Powys County Council87%No2030July 30, 2020
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council83%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
North Norfolk District Council82%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Mid Ulster District Council80%NoNo targetNo
West Devon Borough Council79%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Ceredigion County Council79%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Argyll and Bute Council79%Yes2045No
Scottish Borders Council78%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020

Powers & Responsibilities

Orkney Islands 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

    orkney.gov.uk
    Orkney Islands Council’s official homepage.
    @Orkneycouncil
    Orkney Islands Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Orkney Islands Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Orkney Islands Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/orkney-islands-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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