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Shetland Islands Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Jan. 22, 2020.

Climate pledges

We couldn’t find any climate pledges from this council. If you’ve found one, let us know!

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

Shetland Islands 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.

SectionShetland Islands 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 Shetland Islands Council’s projects

65

Projects

1.8 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£8,464,529

Total capital cost

Emissions data

118.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.2 tCO2

per person

0.1 ktCO2

per km2

34%

Transport

29%

Domestic

16%

Industry

15%

Agriculture

3%

Commercial

3%

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 Shetland Islands 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
Orkney Islands Council67%YesNo targetMay 14, 2019
Aberdeenshire Council66%No2045No
Scottish Borders Council63%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
The Highland Council61%No2025May 9, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council59%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
The Moray Council58%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council57%No2045No
East Lothian Council57%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Angus Council57%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Ribble Valley Borough Council56%No2030No

These councils are the most similar to Shetland Islands 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
East Ayrshire Council65%No2030No
Epping Forest District Council65%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
Melton Borough Council63%No2030July 17, 2019
Inverclyde Council63%NoNo targetNo
Maldon District Council63%Yes2030Feb. 4, 2021
North Devon Council61%Yes2030July 24, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council61%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Herefordshire Council60%Yes2030March 8, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council60%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
East Devon District Council60%Yes2040July 24, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Orkney Islands Council81%YesNo targetMay 14, 2019
Aberdeen City Council67%Yes2045No
The Moray Council67%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Aberdeenshire Council67%No2045No
Angus Council61%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
The Highland Council60%No2025May 9, 2019
Dundee City Council59%Yes2045June 24, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council56%No2045No
Fife Council56%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
East Lothian Council54%No2045Aug. 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Shetland Islands 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
Test Valley Borough Council98%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Leicestershire County Council98%No2030May 15, 2019
Lichfield District Council97%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Wealden District Council97%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Chelmsford City Council97%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council97%Yes2030No
Central Bedfordshire Council96%No2030July 19, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council96%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Warwick District Council96%No2030June 26, 2019
Derbyshire Dales District Council95%No2030May 30, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Shetland Islands 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
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar99%YesNo targetNo
Orkney Islands Council98%YesNo targetMay 14, 2019
Powys County Council86%No2030July 30, 2020
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council82%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Mid Ulster District Council81%NoNo targetNo
North Norfolk District Council80%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Ceredigion County Council80%Yes2030March 5, 2020
West Devon Borough Council79%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council78%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Scottish Borders Council77%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020

Powers & Responsibilities

Shetland Islands 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

    shetland.gov.uk
    Shetland Islands Council’s official homepage.
    @ShetIslandsCLL
    Shetland Islands Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Shetland Islands 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: Shetland Islands Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/shetland-islands-council/ [Accessed 27 May 2023].

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