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South Cambridgeshire District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Nov. 28, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2050

“Our Zero Carbon Strategy [PDF, 5.5MB] was adopted on 21 May 2020. It outlines how we are supporting the district to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and reduce them to zero by 2050, including delivering a reduction in our own carbon footprint of at least 45% by 2025, (on a 2019 baseline), and at least 75% by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: June 21, 2022
South Cambridgeshire District Council Progress Report

PDF
Zero Carbon And Doubling Nature Action Plan 2020-25 (2021-22 Revision)

Action Plan · PDF
Zero Carbon Strategy And Action Plan | South Cambs District Council

Summary Document · HTML
South Cambridgeshire District Council Climate Strategy

PDF · Approved · Council Only

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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

SectionSouth Cambridgeshire District CouncilAverage district council
Total score39%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
7/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
5/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

855.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.3 tCO2

per person

0.9 ktCO2

per km2

45%

Transport

28%

Domestic

15%

Industry

9%

Commercial

2%

Public Sector

2%

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 South Cambridgeshire District 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
Uttlesford District Council87%Yes2030July 30, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council83%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council80%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Cotswold District Council79%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Harborough District Council78%No2030June 24, 2019
Horsham District Council78%Yes2050June 26, 2019
Huntingdonshire District Council76%No2040No
Vale of White Horse District Council75%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
North Kesteven District Council74%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Cambridgeshire County Council72%Yes2050May 14, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Cambridgeshire District 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 Cambridgeshire District Council88%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Uttlesford District Council84%Yes2030July 30, 2019
Lichfield District Council84%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council83%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Test Valley Borough Council83%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Mid Suffolk District Council81%Yes2030July 25, 2019
North Warwickshire Borough Council80%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
East Hampshire District Council80%No2050July 18, 2019
South Derbyshire District Council80%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Breckland District Council79%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Cambridge City Council99%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Cambridgeshire County Council98%Yes2050May 14, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council96%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Uttlesford District Council96%Yes2030July 30, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council95%Yes2030No
North Hertfordshire District Council95%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Suffolk County Council95%Yes2030March 21, 2019
Huntingdonshire District Council95%No2040No
Stevenage Borough Council95%No2030June 12, 2019
Fenland District Council94%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to South Cambridgeshire District 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
East Hertfordshire District Council98%Yes2030No
West Oxfordshire District Council97%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Uttlesford District Council97%Yes2030July 30, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council97%YesNo targetNo
South Oxfordshire District Council96%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Waverley Borough Council95%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Harborough District Council95%No2030June 24, 2019
West Berkshire Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
Rushcliffe Borough Council94%Yes2030March 7, 2019
Rutland County Council94%No2050No

These councils are the most similar to South Cambridgeshire District 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
North Warwickshire Borough Council98%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council97%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Allerdale Borough Council89%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Copeland Borough Council86%Yes2050No
Stratford-on-Avon District Council86%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council86%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021
Horsham District Council85%Yes2050June 26, 2019
Selby District Council84%Yes2030No
Uttlesford District Council83%Yes2030July 30, 2019
Harborough District Council82%No2030June 24, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Clear communication

Powers & Responsibilities

South Cambridgeshire District Council is a Non-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.

    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.

    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
    Waste collection

    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

    scambs.gov.uk
    South Cambridgeshire District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check South Cambridgeshire District 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 South Cambridgeshire District Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: South Cambridgeshire District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/south-cambridgeshire-district-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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