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Powys County Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 30, 2020.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Powys County Council declared a climate emergency on 24th September 2020. This included an ambition to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero, in line with the Welsh public sector target of 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: Jan. 30, 2023

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

Powys County Council scored zero points in this assessment. This is because the council either didn’t have any published plans at the time of the assessment, or the plans didn’t qualify.

SectionPowys County CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score0%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
0/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
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

734.8 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.5 tCO2

per person

0.1 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Transport

33%

Domestic

16%

Agriculture

10%

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 Powys 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
Ceredigion County Council82%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Dumfries and Galloway Council77%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Scottish Borders Council75%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
West Devon Borough Council74%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council72%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Carmarthenshire County Council68%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council67%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary64%No2030May 16, 2019
Mid Devon District Council64%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Torridge District Council64%Yes2030July 1, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Powys 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
Ceredigion County Council89%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Dumfries and Galloway Council81%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Scottish Borders Council78%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
Carmarthenshire County Council74%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
West Devon Borough Council74%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council69%No2030May 2, 2020
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council66%Yes2040July 2, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council66%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Torridge District Council66%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council57%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council88%Yes2030No
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council88%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Ceredigion County Council87%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Herefordshire Council87%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council86%Yes2050No
Caerphilly County Borough Council86%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council86%NoNo targetJune 25, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary86%No2030May 16, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council85%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Monmouthshire County Council85%Yes2030May 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Powys 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
Devon County Council97%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary97%No2030May 16, 2019
Mid Devon District Council94%Yes2030June 26, 2019
North Warwickshire Borough Council93%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
Somerset Council93%NoNo
Arun District Council92%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
West Suffolk Council92%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council91%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Teignbridge District Council91%Yes2025April 18, 2019
The Highland Council90%No2025May 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Powys 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
West Devon Borough Council92%Yes2030May 21, 2019
North Norfolk District Council91%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council91%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council91%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Scottish Borders Council90%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
Mid Suffolk District Council88%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Derbyshire Dales District Council87%No2030May 30, 2019
Orkney Islands Council85%YesNo targetMay 14, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council85%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Dumfries and Galloway Council84%Yes2025June 27, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Powys County 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

    powys.gov.uk
    Powys County Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Powys County 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 Powys County Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Powys County Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/powys-county-council/ [Accessed 27 May 2023].

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