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Cambridge City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 21, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“In the new Climate Change Strategy, we have set a target to reduce the Council’s direct carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. ”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Change Strategy

Climate Strategy · PDF · · Whole Area
Climate Change Strategy - Cambridge City Council

Summary Document · HTML · ·
Climate Change Strategy Action Plan, 2021–2026

Action Plan · PDF · · Whole Area
Carbon Management Plan, 2021–2026

Action Plan · PDF · · 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

SectionCambridge City CouncilAverage district council
Total score64%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
13/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
3/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

478.8 ktCO2

Total 2019 emissions

3.8 tCO2

per person

11.8 ktCO2

per km2

23%

Commercial

33%

Domestic

7%

Industry

19%

Public Sector

18%

Transport

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 Cambridge 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
Oxford City Council87%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Westminster City Council82%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
London Borough of Camden72%Yes2030April 8, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea71%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
City of London66%No2027No
Runnymede Borough Council65%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
City of Lincoln Council63%No2030July 23, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council62%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
Gloucester City Council62%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Exeter City Council62%Yes2030July 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cambridge 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 Council88%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Westminster City Council81%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Glasgow City Council78%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Dundee City Council67%Yes2045June 24, 2019
London Borough of Camden66%Yes2030April 8, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council65%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council64%Yes2030April 3, 2019
Manchester City Council63%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea63%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Liverpool City Council63%Yes2030July 17, 2019

These councils grographically border or overlap with Cambridge City Council. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
South Cambridgeshire District Council99%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
Cambridgeshire County Council98%Yes2050May 14, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority97%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Cambridge 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
Dacorum Council96%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council96%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Broxtowe Borough Council96%Yes2027July 17, 2019
Kent County Council94%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council94%No2030No
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council93%No2030July 16, 2019
North West Leicestershire District Council93%Yes2030June 25, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council92%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council92%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council92%Yes2030July 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cambridge 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
Worcester City Council100%No2030July 16, 2019
Hastings Borough Council100%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Gloucester City Council100%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Plymouth City Council100%Yes2030March 18, 2019
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council100%NoNo targetJuly 6, 2020
Derby City Council100%No2050May 23, 2019
Exeter City Council100%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Harlow Council100%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Worthing Borough Council100%YesJuly 18, 2019
City of Lincoln Council100%No2030July 23, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan

Powers & Responsibilities

Cambridge City 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2022). Climate Action Plan Explorer: Cambridge City Council. Available at: http://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/cambridge-city-council/ [Accessed 25 Jun 2022].

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