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Renfrewshire Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 27, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“In June 2019, there was cross-party support for a council motion which declared a climate emergency in Renfrewshire and a working group was set up with members of all political parties to make recommendations on how to make Renfrewshire carbon neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

We couldn’t find any climate action plans for this council.

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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

Renfrewshire 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.

SectionRenfrewshire 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 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 Renfrewshire Council’s projects

14

Projects

1,076.6 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£13,726,000

Total capital cost

Emissions data

648.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

2.4 ktCO2

per km2

38%

Domestic

32%

Transport

12%

Industry

11%

Commercial

5%

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 Renfrewshire 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
North Lanarkshire Council88%Yes2030June 20, 2019
West Lothian Council87%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council84%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Falkirk Council83%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
Midlothian Council81%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority80%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council77%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Lancaster City Council77%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Chorley Council76%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council76%Yes2038July 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Renfrewshire 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
Dacorum Council93%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Midlothian Council92%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Burnley Borough Council92%Yes2030July 10, 2019
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council90%Yes2030July 16, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority90%No2038June 27, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council90%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Chesterfield Borough Council89%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Bedford Borough Council89%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Swansea City Council88%No2030June 27, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
West Dunbartonshire Council98%Yes2045May 29, 2019
Inverclyde Council97%NoNo targetNo
East Renfrewshire Council97%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Glasgow City Council96%Yes2030May 16, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045No
East Ayrshire Council94%No2030No
Stirling Council94%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
North Ayrshire Council94%No2030June 25, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council92%Yes2030June 20, 2019
South Ayrshire Council91%No2045No

These councils are the most similar to Renfrewshire 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
Lancashire County Council95%No2030Feb. 28, 2019
Swansea City Council91%No2030June 27, 2019
Redditch Borough Council91%No2050Sept. 23, 2019
Fife Council91%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council91%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council91%YesNo targetNo
East Staffordshire Borough Council90%Yes2040Aug. 17, 2020
North Lincolnshire Council90%Yes2030No
Wyre Council89%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Nottinghamshire County Council89%No2030May 27, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Renfrewshire 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
Darlington Borough Council99%Yes2050July 18, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council98%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council97%Yes2045No
Pendle Borough Council97%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Canterbury City Council97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council96%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Wokingham Borough Council96%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Swansea City Council96%No2030June 27, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council96%No2040Aug. 13, 2020

Powers & Responsibilities

Renfrewshire 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

    renfrewshire.gov.uk
    Renfrewshire Council’s official homepage.
    @RenCouncil
    Renfrewshire Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Renfrewshire 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: Renfrewshire Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/renfrewshire-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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