ACCORDING to data published today by Climate Emergency UK, Swansea Council has scored 39% in the Council Climate Action Scorecards, the first holistic analysis of UK council’s climate action. This is the highest score of any council in Wales, although it falls short of 62%, the highest score for Westminster City Council, the highest scoring Single-Tier council in the UK.
The scores vary in Wales, with Merthyr Tydfil council scoring the lowest on 16% and Newport Council scoring the second highest, on 38%. The average score across Wales was 30%, while the average across Scotland was 34% and in England it was 32%. All scores can be viewed at https://councilclimatescorecards.uk/.
The Scorecards questions were created after 9 months of research and consultation with over 80 organisations and experts individuals within the climate sector such as Friends of the Earth, Ashden, councillors and council staff and mySociety (Scorecard partners). Councils are assessed according to a 3 stage marking process using primarily publicly available data from council websites, as well as national data and FOI responses from councils.
The Council Climate Action Scorecards cover 7 sections and 91 questions. The Scorecards questions cover actions that councils have control or influence over, which have a big impact on carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.
Four years on from when councils started declaring climate emergencies, CE UK found that most, 89%, of UK councils scored under 50% overall in their 2023 Action Scorecards. But some councils score well in specific sections. For example, Vale of Glamorgan Council scored 88% in the Waste Reduction & Food section, Monmouthshire Council scored 73% and Cardiff Council scored 64% in the Collaboration & Engagement section.
At the other end of the Scorecard results, 127 councils across the UK scored negatively, including Torfaen Council who scored negative points in the Transport section. The Scorecards included four penalty marked questions where councils lose marks for actions that increase emissions, such as investing in airports, expanding or building new roads, or approving planning permission for oil or gas infrastructure.
Annie Pickering, co-Director of Climate Emergency UK stated, “The low scores across Wales show that there are national barriers for local authorities that make it harder for most councils to deliver the necessary climate action, which is reflected in the Scorecards results. The Welsh government is taking consistent climate action and has a net-zero by 2030 target for the welsh public sector. However, our results suggest that Welsh councils seem to be prioritising internal emission reductions, rather than focusing on the more effective area-wide climate action to drive change in Welsh communities. Yet the national landscape alone cannot explain every low score as some councils are scoring well in certain sections, which shows that other local factors, such as political will and ambition, are at play in determining the action councils are taking to combat climate change.”
The Action Scorecards were created in 2023 using a three stage marking process, which involved over 200 volunteers completing the first mark and then all councils being able to comment on their first mark in the Right of Reply. The final stage of the marking was carried out by a small team of auditors, who awarded the final marks. The data used to create the Scorecards is compiled from three main sources, volunteer research of publicly available information, national data from the UK and devolved governments and national organisations and Freedom of Information requests sent to councils, which can be found here.
Annie Pickering continued, “These Scorecards are an essential tool for councils and campaigners alike to show them what is possible for local climate action and encourage them to go further to mitigate and adapt to the climate and ecological crises we are facing. Councils in Wales generally score lower than in other nations so there is a lot of room for improvement. The Scorecards provide an easy way to understand councils’ climate action, so residents should use them to encourage councils to implement their climate actions plans and encourage their councils to take stronger climate action.”
The Scorecard website – https://councilclimatescorecards.uk – enables you to filter the scores by various factors to see which council scored best. Filters include current political control of a council, how urban or rural the council is, whether a council is district, unitary, borough, county etc., and by each question and section. This will help councils to learn from each other about specific climate action they could take.
