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St Albans City and District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 9, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Our aim is to do all that we can to reduce emissions across the District to net zero by 2030.”

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

SectionSt Albans City and District CouncilAverage district council
Total score53%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
12/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
12/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

506.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.4 tCO2

per person

3.1 ktCO2

per km2

45%

Domestic

35%

Transport

10%

Commercial

6%

Industry

3%

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 St Albans City and 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
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead94%No2050June 26, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council90%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Surrey County Council89%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Rochford District Council88%Yes2030No
Mid Sussex District Council88%YesNo targetNo
Wokingham Borough Council87%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council86%No2030July 17, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council86%Yes2030No
Three Rivers District Council85%No2030May 21, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council85%Yes2030May 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to St Albans City and 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
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead92%No2050June 26, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council92%No2050No
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council91%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council90%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council90%No2030March 28, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council89%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council89%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Hertsmere Borough Council89%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Castle Point Borough Council89%NoNo targetNo
Rochford District Council88%Yes2030No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Hertsmere Borough Council98%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Watford Borough Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council98%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Luton Borough Council98%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Three Rivers District Council98%No2030May 21, 2019
London Borough of Harrow97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Dacorum Council97%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Stevenage Borough Council97%No2030June 12, 2019
London Borough of Barnet97%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Brent97%No2030July 8, 2019

These councils are the most similar to St Albans City and 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
Surrey Heath Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead97%No2050June 26, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council96%No2030July 17, 2019
Fareham Borough Council96%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council95%YesNo targetNo
West Berkshire Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council95%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Uttlesford District Council94%Yes2030July 30, 2019
West Oxfordshire District Council94%Yes2030June 26, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council94%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to St Albans City and 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
Tees Valley Combined Authority98%NoNo targetNo
West Yorkshire Combined Authority98%No2038June 27, 2019
Swindon Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council98%Yes2030June 19, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority97%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Kirklees Council97%Yes2038Jan. 16, 2019
Cannock Chase District Council97%No2030July 17, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council96%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council96%No2030Oct. 30, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

St Albans City and 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

    stalbans.gov.uk
    St Albans City and District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check St Albans City and 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 St Albans City and District Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: St Albans City and District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/st-albans-city-and-district-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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