Back to all councils

Suffolk County Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on March 21, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Committed to working with partners across the county and region (including the LEP and the Public Sector Leaders) towards making Suffolk carbon neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
The Suffolk Climate Emergency Plan Our Journey To Carbon Neutrality

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Whole Area
Suffolk County Council Summary Document

HTML · Approved · Whole Area

Are these plans out of date?

Fill in this form to let us know where to find the latest plans from this council.

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

SectionSuffolk County CouncilAverage county council
Total score53%40%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
13/21
8.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
6.6/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/5
2.7/5
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.4/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.2/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
1.7/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.5/4

Emissions data

3313.6 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.4 tCO2

per person

0.9 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Transport

32%

Domestic

16%

Industry

11%

Commercial

3%

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. Data has been combined from constituent local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Suffolk County 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
Lincolnshire County Council88%Yes2050No
Norfolk County Council88%No2030No
Bedford Borough Council86%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Rugby Borough Council86%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Warwickshire County Council85%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Nottinghamshire County Council85%No2030May 27, 2021
East Suffolk Council84%No2030July 24, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council83%NoNo targetNo
Essex County Council83%Yes2030No
East Staffordshire Borough Council82%Yes2040Aug. 17, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Suffolk County 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
Norfolk County Council92%No2030No
Nottinghamshire County Council91%No2030May 27, 2021
East Staffordshire Borough Council91%Yes2040Aug. 17, 2020
Rugby Borough Council90%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Staffordshire County Council89%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council86%No2030April 3, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council86%Yes2030No
Tendring District Council85%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Warwickshire County Council85%Yes2030July 25, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council84%NoNo targetNo

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Huntingdonshire District Council98%No2040No
Fenland District Council97%NoNo targetNo
Peterborough City Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Cambridgeshire County Council97%Yes2050May 14, 2019
South Holland District Council95%NoNo targetNo
South Cambridgeshire District Council95%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
Cambridge City Council95%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council94%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Bedford Borough Council93%Yes2030March 5, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council93%Yes2030July 28, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Suffolk County 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
The Highland Council97%No2025May 9, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council97%Yes2045No
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council97%No2030April 3, 2019
East Suffolk Council97%No2030July 24, 2019
Falkirk Council96%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council96%Yes2050No
West Lothian Council94%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
South Ayrshire Council94%No2045No
Ashford Borough Council94%Yes2030No
North Warwickshire Borough Council94%No2030Oct. 22, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Suffolk County 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
Bassetlaw District Council97%NoNo targetNo
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council97%NoNo targetNo
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council96%NoNo targetNo
East Suffolk Council96%No2030July 24, 2019
West Berkshire Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
Sedgemoor District Council95%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Wealden District Council94%Yes2050July 24, 2019
West Suffolk Council94%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
East Hampshire District Council94%No2050July 18, 2019
Monmouthshire County Council94%Yes2030May 16, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Suffolk County Council is a County Council, 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
    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.

    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.

    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 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

    suffolk.gov.uk
    Suffolk County Council’s official homepage.

    What do you want from Climate Action Plans?

    Help us improve this page by answering our short survey about who uses this service, and what makes action plans useful to you.

    Open survey

    Don’t have time right now? Let us know your email address, and we’ll send you a link to the survey in a few days.

    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Suffolk County Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/suffolk-county-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

    Alpha

    This is a new service – your feedback will help us improve it.