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Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Oct. 8, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“The Council has committed to becoming ‘net zero carbon’ by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Net Zero Action Plan: Report, November 2021

Action Plan · PDF · Draft

Show more action plan documents
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Action Plan

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

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils.

SectionSolihull Metropolitan Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Top performer Total score85%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
16/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
15/18
9.0/18
Section 3 · Top performer Commitment and integration
7/7
4.1/7
Section 4 · Top performer Community, engagement and communications
9/9
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
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 · Top performer Education, skills and training
5/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

855.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.9 tCO2

per person

4.8 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Domestic

34%

Transport

14%

Industry

12%

Commercial

3%

Public Sector

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 Solihull Metropolitan 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
Swindon Borough Council89%Yes2030No
Warrington Borough Council88%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Milton Keynes87%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council85%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council84%No2030March 28, 2019
Worcestershire County Council84%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Erewash Borough Council83%No2050No
Hampshire County Council83%No2050June 17, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council83%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019
North Somerset Council83%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Solihull Metropolitan 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
Hampshire County Council93%No2050June 17, 2019
West Sussex County Council92%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Essex County Council92%Yes2030No
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council92%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council92%Yes2030July 16, 2019
City of York Council91%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council91%YesNo targetNo
St Albans City and District Council91%No2030July 9, 2019
Lewes District Council90%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council90%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Birmingham City Council97%No2030June 11, 2019
North Warwickshire Borough Council97%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
Warwick District Council97%No2030June 26, 2019
Coventry City Council96%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Tamworth Borough Council96%No2050Oct. 19, 2019
Redditch Borough Council95%No2050Sept. 23, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council95%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council95%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council95%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019
Lichfield District Council95%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Solihull Metropolitan 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
Swindon Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Warrington Borough Council96%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Cheshire West and Chester Council93%Yes2030May 21, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council91%NoNo targetNo
Vale of Glamorgan Council91%Yes2030July 29, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council91%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Milton Keynes91%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Canterbury City Council91%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Chorley Council90%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
West of England Combined Authority89%Yes2030July 1, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Solihull Metropolitan 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
Warrington Borough Council99%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Kirklees Council99%Yes2038Jan. 16, 2019
Cannock Chase District Council98%No2030July 17, 2019
Medway Council98%Yes2050April 25, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority97%No2038June 27, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council97%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council97%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
Dartford Borough Council97%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council97%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Swindon Borough Council97%Yes2030No

Powers & Responsibilities

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is a Metropolitan District, 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/solihull-metropolitan-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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