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Oxfordshire County Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on April 2, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Our commitment to be a zero carbon organization by 2030, and fully playing our part in creating a zero carbon Oxfordshire.”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“Enable a net-zero Carbon Oxfordshire by 2050.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
2020 Climate Action Framework For A Thriving Oxfordshire

Summary Document · PDF · Whole Area
Climate Action In Oxfordshire | Oxfordshire County Council

Document · HTML

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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

SectionOxfordshire County CouncilAverage county council
Total score43%40%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
8.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
8/18
6.6/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/5
2.7/5
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
5/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.4/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.2/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
4/5
1.7/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.5/4

Emissions data

3083.6 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.4 tCO2

per person

1.2 ktCO2

per km2

34%

Transport

32%

Domestic

16%

Industry

9%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

2%

Agriculture

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities. Data has been combined from constituent local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Oxfordshire County 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
West Berkshire Council87%No2030July 2, 2019
Stafford Borough Council86%No2040July 23, 2019
Gloucestershire County Council85%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Cherwell District Council83%No2030July 22, 2019
Guildford Borough Council83%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council83%No2050No
Leicestershire County Council82%No2030May 15, 2019
Wiltshire Council82%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council82%Yes2030No
Hampshire County Council81%No2050June 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Oxfordshire County 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
North of Tyne Combined Authority88%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Stafford Borough Council86%No2040July 23, 2019
East Lothian Council86%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Winchester City Council84%Yes2024June 5, 2019
West Oxfordshire District Council84%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Swansea City Council84%No2030June 27, 2019
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council84%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Wiltshire Council83%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
Gloucestershire County Council82%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Derby City Council82%Yes2050May 23, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Cherwell District Council99%No2030July 22, 2019
Oxford City Council95%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council95%NoNo targetNo
West Oxfordshire District Council95%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Rugby Borough Council94%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council93%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Warwickshire County Council93%Yes2030July 25, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council93%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Warwick District Council93%No2030June 26, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council93%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Oxfordshire County 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
Rochford District Council97%Yes2030No
East Dunbartonshire Council97%Yes2045No
Harrogate Borough Council97%No2038April 10, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council96%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Mole Valley District Council96%No2030June 18, 2019
East Hampshire District Council96%No2050July 18, 2019
Aberdeenshire Council95%No2045No
City of York Council95%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council95%No2050No
Guildford Borough Council95%Yes2030July 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Oxfordshire County 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
Fife Council98%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
East Hampshire District Council97%No2050July 18, 2019
West Berkshire Council97%No2030July 2, 2019
Bedford Borough Council96%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council96%NoNo targetNo
Scarborough Borough Council96%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Hart District Council96%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Warwickshire County Council96%Yes2030July 25, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council96%NoNo targetNo
Buckinghamshire Council95%No2050No

Features

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

Good on green jobs, skills & training

Powers & Responsibilities

Oxfordshire County Council is a County Council, 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
    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.

    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.

    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 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

    oxfordshire.gov.uk
    Oxfordshire County Council’s official homepage.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Oxfordshire County Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/oxfordshire-county-council/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

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