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Reading Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 26, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“This Council commits to playing as full a role as possible – leading by example as well as by exhortation – in achieving a carbon neutral Reading 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

SectionReading Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score74%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
14/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
16/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
3/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
4/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

448.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.8 tCO2

per person

11.1 ktCO2

per km2

44%

Domestic

22%

Transport

18%

Commercial

8%

Public Sector

8%

Industry

0%

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 Reading 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
Watford Borough Council89%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Croydon88%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Greater London Authority87%YesDec. 1, 2019
Worthing Borough Council85%YesJuly 18, 2019
London Borough of Barnet85%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
Brighton and Hove City Council84%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
Coventry City Council83%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Gosport Borough Council83%Yes2050No
London Borough of Redbridge83%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow83%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Reading 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
London Borough of Wandsworth92%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Ipswich Borough Council91%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Watford Borough Council91%No2030July 9, 2019
Greater London Authority90%YesDec. 1, 2019
London Borough of Brent89%No2030July 8, 2019
Norwich City Council89%Yes2030Jan. 29, 2019
Worcester City Council89%Yes2030July 16, 2019
London Borough of Barnet89%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
Brighton and Hove City Council88%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
Bristol City Council88%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Wokingham Borough Council98%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Hart District Council97%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council97%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council96%Yes2050No
Hertfordshire County Council96%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council96%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead96%No2050June 26, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council96%Yes2030June 20, 2019
West Berkshire Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council95%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Reading 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
London Borough of Hillingdon87%Yes2030Jan. 16, 2020
London Borough of Croydon86%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge85%Yes2050June 20, 2019
City of London84%No2027No
Greater London Authority83%YesDec. 1, 2019
Worthing Borough Council83%YesJuly 18, 2019
Watford Borough Council81%No2030July 9, 2019
Broxbourne Borough Council81%NoNo targetNo
Eastbourne Borough Council79%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Tamworth Borough Council79%No2050Oct. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Reading 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
Blackpool Borough Council100%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Bexley99%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Enfield99%No2030July 8, 2019
Coventry City Council99%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council99%No2028July 17, 2019
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council99%No2030March 10, 2020
Bristol City Council98%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
Birmingham City Council98%No2030June 11, 2019
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council98%No2030July 18, 2019
City of London97%No2027No

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Reading 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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    reading.gov.uk
    Reading Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Reading 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 Reading Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Reading Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/reading-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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