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Welwyn Hatfield Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 19, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“To reduce carbon emissions from our own estate and operations to net zero by 2030, or a justification for a later date if the review finds this unachievable.”

Climate documents

Last update: Jan. 10, 2022
Welwyn Hatfield Council Climate Strategy

HTML · Approved · Council Only
Welwyn Hatfield Council Action Plan

XLSX · 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

SectionWelwyn Hatfield CouncilAverage district council
Total score27%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
9/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
3/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
2/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
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
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

451.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

3.5 ktCO2

per km2

35%

Domestic

27%

Transport

16%

Commercial

14%

Industry

7%

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 Welwyn Hatfield 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
Dacorum Council87%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council86%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Milton Keynes84%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council83%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council83%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Canterbury City Council83%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Spelthorne Borough Council81%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
Bracknell Forest Council81%Yes2050No
Charnwood Borough Council81%Yes2030No
Erewash Borough Council80%No2050No

These councils are the most similar to Welwyn Hatfield 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
Salford City Council92%No2038July 17, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority91%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council90%Yes2050No
Wolverhampton City Council88%No2028July 17, 2019
Leeds City Council88%No2030March 27, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council88%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council88%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority88%No2038July 26, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council87%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Liverpool City Council87%Yes2030July 17, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Hertsmere Borough Council98%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Stevenage Borough Council98%No2030June 12, 2019
St Albans City and District Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
Broxbourne Borough Council98%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Barnet98%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Enfield98%No2030July 8, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council97%Yes2030May 21, 2019
London Borough of Haringey97%Yes2027March 18, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council97%Yes2030No
London Borough of Brent97%No2030July 8, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Welwyn Hatfield 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
Gedling Borough Council97%Yes2030Nov. 20, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council97%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Rugby Borough Council94%Yes2030July 18, 2019
West Sussex County Council94%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Dacorum Council94%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Babergh District Council94%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Epping Forest District Council93%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
Lewes District Council93%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Maldon District Council93%No2030Feb. 4, 2021
Monmouthshire County Council93%Yes2030May 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Welwyn Hatfield 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
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead98%No2050June 26, 2019
St Albans City and District Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority97%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Tees Valley Combined Authority97%NoNo targetNo
Hertfordshire County Council97%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Swindon Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Milton Keynes96%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Surrey County Council96%Yes2030July 9, 2019
West of England Combined Authority96%Yes2030July 1, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Welwyn Hatfield 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

    welhat.gov.uk
    Welwyn Hatfield Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Welwyn Hatfield 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 Welwyn Hatfield Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Welwyn Hatfield Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/welwyn-hatfield-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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