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Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 25, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2038

“In June 2019, Kingston Council declared a Climate Emergency and has committed to deliver carbon neutrality in council operations by 2038. ”

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

SectionRoyal Borough of Kingston upon ThamesAverage single tier council
Total score54%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
7/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
17/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

530.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.0 tCO2

per person

14.2 ktCO2

per km2

41%

Domestic

39%

Transport

11%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

4%

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 Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 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
London Borough of Sutton89%No2045July 22, 2019
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames84%Yes2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Barnet81%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Merton81%No2030July 10, 2019
London Borough of Bexley80%NoNo targetNo
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council80%Yes2035July 23, 2019
London Borough of Bromley79%Yes2027No
London Borough of Harrow79%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Fareham Borough Council79%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council78%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 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
Rushmoor Borough Council90%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council90%Yes2030July 16, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow89%Yes2030No
Milton Keynes88%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Enfield88%No2030July 8, 2019
Brighton and Hove City Council88%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
London Borough of Ealing88%Yes2030April 2, 2019
West Midlands Combined Authority88%No2041June 28, 2019
Watford Borough Council88%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Croydon87%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council99%Yes2035July 23, 2019
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames99%Yes2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Merton99%No2030July 10, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council99%No2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Sutton98%No2045July 22, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow98%Yes2030No
London Borough of Wandsworth98%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham98%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Ealing98%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea98%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 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 Sutton86%No2045July 22, 2019
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames86%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council80%Yes2035July 23, 2019
London Borough of Bromley77%Yes2027No
Eastleigh Borough Council77%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Cambridge City Council77%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Cheltenham Borough Council76%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Woking Borough Council76%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Fareham Borough Council75%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council74%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 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
Leicester City Council100%Yes2030Feb. 1, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow100%Yes2030No
Manchester City Council100%Yes2038July 10, 2019
London Borough of Sutton99%No2045July 22, 2019
Luton Borough Council99%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Harrow99%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Southampton City Council98%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Watford Borough Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Barnet98%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
Slough Borough Council98%YesNo targetNo

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a London Borough, 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.

    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

    kingston.gov.uk
    Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames’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 Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/royal-borough-of-kingston-upon-thames/ [Accessed 24 Mar 2023].

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