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West Dunbartonshire Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on May 29, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2045

“In order to achieve net zero by 2045 in line with national interim targets set by Scottish Government, the Council will adopt the following: An interim target of 61% reduction required by 2030/31 financial year; An interim target of 87% reduction required by 2040/41 financial year; and Net zero by end of 2045/46 financial year. ”

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

West Dunbartonshire Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Commitment and integration section.

SectionWest Dunbartonshire CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score55%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
11/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
9.0/18
Section 3 · Top performer Commitment and integration
7/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
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 West Dunbartonshire Council’s projects

54

Projects

5.5 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£10,273,650

Total capital cost

Emissions data

319.0 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

1.7 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Domestic

35%

Transport

11%

Public Sector

10%

Industry

7%

Commercial

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 West Dunbartonshire 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
Preston City Council76%No2030April 18, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council76%Yes2030April 3, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council75%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Renfrewshire Council73%No2030June 27, 2019
Glasgow City Council73%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council72%Yes2030May 23, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority72%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Leeds City Council72%No2030March 27, 2019
Salford City Council71%No2038July 17, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority71%Yes2040April 28, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Dunbartonshire 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
Aberdeen City Council89%Yes2045No
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council87%Yes2030April 3, 2019
Canterbury City Council86%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Runnymede Borough Council85%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council82%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
Preston City Council81%No2030April 18, 2019
Birmingham City Council79%No2030June 11, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council79%No2030April 2, 2019
Derby City Council79%Yes2050May 23, 2019
Cheltenham Borough Council78%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Renfrewshire Council98%No2030June 27, 2019
Inverclyde Council97%NoNo targetNo
East Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045No
Glasgow City Council96%Yes2030May 16, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council96%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Stirling Council96%NoNo targetOct. 3, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council93%Yes2030June 20, 2019
East Ayrshire Council92%No2030No
North Ayrshire Council92%No2030June 25, 2019
Falkirk Council91%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Dunbartonshire 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
North East Combined Authority96%NoNo targetNov. 5, 2019
Peterborough City Council95%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council92%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council92%No2030May 23, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority91%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority89%No2038June 27, 2019
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Newport City Council88%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Mansfield District Council88%No2040March 5, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Dunbartonshire 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
South Ribble Borough Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Erewash Borough Council96%No2050No
Burnley Borough Council96%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Rossendale Borough Council96%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Hartlepool Borough Council96%NoNo targetNo
Bracknell Forest Council96%Yes2050No
Runnymede Borough Council96%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Ashfield District Council96%NoNo targetNo
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council95%YesNo targetNo

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

West Dunbartonshire 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

    west-dunbarton.gov.uk
    West Dunbartonshire Council’s official homepage.
    @WDCouncil
    West Dunbartonshire Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check West Dunbartonshire 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: West Dunbartonshire Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/west-dunbartonshire-council/ [Accessed 27 May 2023].

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