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Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

We don’t think this council has declared a climate emergency – let us know if it has!

Council only pledge for 2050

“Tackling climate change remains a priority of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council as it continues its commitment to become a ‘Carbon-Free Council’ by 2050. ”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Tackling Climate Change In Rhondda Cynon Taf (2021- 2025)

Action Plan · PDF · Draft · Council Only

Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Document

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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

SectionRhondda Cynon Taf County Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score43%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
6/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
12/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

883.9 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.7 tCO2

per person

2.1 ktCO2

per km2

39%

Domestic

36%

Transport

14%

Industry

7%

Commercial

4%

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 Rhondda Cynon Taf County 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
Caerphilly County Borough Council86%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council85%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council83%No2030July 22, 2022
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council83%Yes2030No
Torfaen County Borough Council81%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Newport City Council79%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Swansea City Council78%No2030June 27, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council78%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council78%No2030May 9, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council77%No2030April 3, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Rhondda Cynon Taf County 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
North Lanarkshire Council93%Yes2030June 20, 2019
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council91%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Leicestershire County Council91%No2030May 15, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council89%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Staffordshire County Council89%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council89%No2030July 19, 2019
Lancashire County Council89%No2030Feb. 28, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2038July 10, 2019
East Sussex County Council89%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council89%No2030April 3, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Bridgend County Borough Council97%No2030July 22, 2022
Vale of Glamorgan Council96%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council96%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council95%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Cardiff Council95%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council95%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Devon County Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council93%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Newport City Council92%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Rhondda Cynon Taf County 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
Torfaen County Borough Council96%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Swale Borough Council96%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Durham County Council94%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council93%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
East Lindsey District Council92%Yes2040No
Ashfield District Council92%NoNo targetNo
Scarborough Borough Council91%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council91%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Tendring District Council91%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council90%Yes2030June 4, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Rhondda Cynon Taf County 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
Redcar and Cleveland Council91%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council91%Yes2030June 4, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council90%Yes2030July 28, 2021
North East Combined Authority90%NoNo targetNov. 5, 2019
Blaby District Council90%Yes2030No
Great Yarmouth Borough Council89%NoNo targetNo
Colchester Borough Council89%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council89%No2030July 22, 2022
Isle of Wight Council89%No2030July 24, 2019
Nottinghamshire County Council88%No2030May 27, 2021

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Rhondda Cynon Taf County 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 local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

    rctcbc.gov.uk
    Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Rhondda Cynon Taf County 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 Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/rhondda-cynon-taf-county-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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