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West Midlands Combined Authority

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 28, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2041

“It is also clear that achieving our climate goals will require an unprecedented reduction in emissions, which is why WMCA has set a realistic timeframe for its zero carbon target, for 2041.”

Climate documents

Last update: Sept. 27, 2021

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 Midlands Combined Authority was a top performer amongst combined authority councils.

SectionWest Midlands Combined AuthorityAverage combined authority council
Top performer Total score89%48%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
18/21
9.5/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
17/18
9.4/18
Section 3 · Top performer Commitment and integration
5/5
2.2/5
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.0/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
3.0/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
2.6/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
4/5
1.1/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
4/5
2.5/5
Section 9 · Top performer Ecological emergency
4/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

9203.9 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.1 tCO2

per person

10.2 ktCO2

per km2

38%

Domestic

31%

Transport

16%

Industry

9%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

0%

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 West Midlands Combined Authority 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
Sheffield City Council95%Yes2050Feb. 6, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority94%No2038July 26, 2019
Harlow Council93%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council92%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council92%No2028July 17, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council91%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Gloucester City Council90%Yes2030July 11, 2019
London Borough of Ealing90%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Leicester City Council90%Yes2030Feb. 1, 2019
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council89%NoNo targetJuly 6, 2020

These councils are the most similar to West Midlands Combined Authority 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
Salford City Council93%No2038July 17, 2019
South Tyneside Council92%No2030July 18, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council89%No2028July 17, 2019
Stoke-on-Trent City Council89%NoNo targetJuly 4, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority88%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Norwich City Council88%Yes2030Jan. 29, 2019
Glasgow City Council88%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council88%No2038Feb. 24, 2020
Hastings Borough Council87%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Kingston-upon-Hull City Council86%No2030March 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Midlands Combined Authority 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
Oxford City Council100%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Plymouth City Council99%Yes2030March 18, 2019
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council99%NoNo targetJuly 6, 2020
Derby City Council99%Yes2050May 23, 2019
Gloucester City Council99%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Worthing Borough Council99%YesJuly 18, 2019
Gosport Borough Council99%Yes2050No
Stevenage Borough Council99%No2030June 12, 2019
Ipswich Borough Council98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Hastings Borough Council98%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

West Midlands Combined Authority is a Combined 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
    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

    Read more about English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    westmidlandscombinedauthority.org.uk
    West Midlands Combined Authority’s official homepage.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: West Midlands Combined Authority. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/west-midlands-combined-authority/ [Accessed 24 Mar 2023].

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