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The Moray Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 27, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“We have worked to build a strategy that is both ambitious and achievable, that will create a pathway for the Council to reach net-zero carbon by 2030 and to help shape ongoing alliances with partners and the wider Moray community.”

Climate documents

Last update: May 23, 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

SectionThe Moray CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score38%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
9/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
4/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
5/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
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 The Moray Council’s projects

39

Projects

2.7 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£6,107,603

Total capital cost

Emissions data

611.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

6.4 tCO2

per person

0.3 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Industry

26%

Domestic

22%

Transport

7%

Agriculture

5%

Commercial

5%

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 The Moray 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
Angus Council69%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Stirling Council68%NoNo targetOct. 3, 2019
The Highland Council67%No2025May 9, 2019
East Lothian Council67%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
North Yorkshire Council66%NoNo
Argyll and Bute Council64%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Westmorland and Furness Council64%NoNo
Scottish Borders Council63%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
West Lancashire Borough Council63%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council62%No2045No

These councils are the most similar to The Moray 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
Rutland County Council71%No2050No
Derry City and Strabane District Council67%Yes2045June 27, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council60%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Stirling Council56%NoNo targetOct. 3, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council56%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
North Yorkshire Council56%NoNo
Westmorland and Furness Council56%NoNo
East Riding of Yorkshire Council56%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
North East Lincolnshire Council56%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Cumberland Council55%NoNo
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Aberdeenshire Council92%No2045No
Angus Council89%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Aberdeen City Council87%Yes2045No
Dundee City Council86%Yes2045June 24, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council86%No2045No
Fife Council83%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
The Highland Council83%No2025May 9, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council81%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021
Stirling Council79%NoNo targetOct. 3, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council79%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019

These councils are the most similar to The Moray 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
Maldon District Council98%Yes2030Feb. 4, 2021
Babergh District Council97%Yes2030July 23, 2019
West Sussex County Council97%Yes2030April 5, 2019
East Devon District Council95%Yes2040July 24, 2019
Dacorum Council95%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Mid Suffolk District Council95%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Rugby Borough Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
South Norfolk District Council94%NoNo targetNo
South Derbyshire District Council94%No2030June 27, 2019
South Hams District Council93%Yes2030July 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to The Moray 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
Forest of Dean District Council97%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
Dumfries and Galloway Council93%Yes2025June 27, 2019
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council93%Yes2050Feb. 4, 2020
Breckland District Council93%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council92%No2045No
Wychavon District Council92%Yes2050No
East Lindsey District Council92%Yes2040No
South Norfolk District Council91%NoNo targetNo
South Holland District Council90%NoNo targetNo
The Highland Council90%No2025May 9, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

The Moray 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

    moray.gov.uk
    The Moray Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check The Moray 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: The Moray Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/the-moray-council/ [Accessed 28 May 2023].

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