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Westminster City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 18, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Westminster has declared a climate emergency – our commitment to becoming a carbon neutral council by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2040

“Westminster has declared a climate emergency – our commitment to becoming a carbon neutral council by 2030 and carbon neutral city by 2040. ”

Climate documents

Last update: May 31, 2022
Zero Carbon City 2040: Westminster Climate Emergency Action Plan

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Whole Area

Show more action plan documents
Westminster City Council Action Plan

PDF · Approved · Whole Area

Westminster City Council Summary Document

PDF · Approved · Whole Area

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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

SectionWestminster City CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score57%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
11/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

1415.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.2 tCO2

per person

64.3 ktCO2

per km2

43%

Commercial

19%

Domestic

18%

Transport

12%

Public Sector

8%

Industry

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.

These councils are the most similar to Westminster City 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
London Borough of Camden88%Yes2030April 8, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham79%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Southwark75%No2050March 27, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea74%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth72%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth69%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Tower Hamlets66%No2025July 17, 2019
London Borough of Islington63%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Hackney62%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Brent62%No2030July 8, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Westminster City 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
Oxford City Council86%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
City of London82%No2027No
London Borough of Camden81%Yes2030April 8, 2019
Nottingham City Council77%Yes2028Jan. 21, 2019
Cambridge City Council77%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham71%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Cheltenham Borough Council70%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council70%Yes2030April 3, 2019
London Borough of Southwark70%No2050March 27, 2019
Aberdeen City Council68%Yes2045No

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Camden100%Yes2030April 8, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea100%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Greater London Authority99%YesDec. 1, 2019
London Borough of Islington99%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham99%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth99%Yes2050July 17, 2019
City of London99%No2027No
London Borough of Lambeth99%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Haringey99%Yes2027March 18, 2019
London Borough of Southwark99%No2050March 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Westminster City 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
London Borough of Camden93%Yes2030April 8, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea91%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham80%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth77%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Southwark67%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Haringey63%Yes2027March 18, 2019
London Borough of Tower Hamlets62%No2025July 17, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth60%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Hackney57%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Islington57%Yes2030June 27, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Westminster City 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
London Borough of Camden99%Yes2030April 8, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea99%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth95%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham92%Yes2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Southwark90%No2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Hackney89%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Newham84%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth83%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Islington80%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Tower Hamlets79%No2025July 17, 2019

Features

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

Comprehensive plan for mitigation Clear communication Good on green jobs, skills & training

Powers & Responsibilities

Westminster City Council is a London Borough, 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.

    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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    westminster.gov.uk
    Westminster City Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Westminster City 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 Westminster City Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Westminster City Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/westminster-city-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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