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Harlow Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 11, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Aim to make London borough of Harrow carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption of emissions.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Report To: Cabinet Overview Working Group Date: 15 August 2019 Title: Climate Change Strategy

Climate Strategy · PDF · · Council Only
Next Steps To Net Zero Carbon Reduction Plan April 2021 – March 2026

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Council Only

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

SectionHarlow CouncilAverage district council
Total score6%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
2/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

316.0 ktCO2

Total 2019 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

10.3 ktCO2

per km2

17%

Commercial

34%

Domestic

18%

Industry

5%

Public Sector

26%

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 Harlow 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
Stevenage Borough Council88%No2030June 12, 2019
Slough Borough Council84%YesNo targetNo
London Borough of Ealing82%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Brent82%No2030July 8, 2019
Crawley Borough Council81%Yes2040July 17, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham79%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow78%Yes2030No
London Borough of Waltham Forest78%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich77%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Portsmouth City Council76%No2030March 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Harlow 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
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council87%No2030March 10, 2020
Dover District Council84%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
London Borough of Ealing83%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Isle of Wight Council83%No2030July 24, 2019
Eastbourne Borough Council82%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council81%No2028July 17, 2019
Torbay Council81%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council81%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
London Borough of Haringey81%Yes2027March 18, 2019
Stevenage Borough Council81%No2030June 12, 2019

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

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Epping Forest District Council99%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council98%Yes2030No
Essex County Council95%No2030No

These councils are the most similar to Harlow 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
Stevenage Borough Council98%No2030June 12, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow92%Yes2030No
Slough Borough Council92%YesNo targetNo
Crawley Borough Council89%Yes2040July 17, 2019
Cornwall Council (Unitary)82%Yes2030Jan. 22, 2019
Isle of Wight Council82%No2030July 24, 2019
Boston Borough Council81%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
North Norfolk District Council81%Yes2030April 24, 2019
London Borough of Waltham Forest81%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth81%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Harlow 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
Exeter City Council100%Yes2030July 23, 2019
City of Lincoln Council100%No2030July 23, 2019
Stoke-on-Trent City Council100%NoNo targetJuly 4, 2019
Salford City Council100%No2038July 17, 2019
Worcester City Council100%No2030July 16, 2019
Middlesbrough Borough Council100%No2029Sept. 4, 2019
Cambridge City Council100%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Hastings Borough Council100%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Gloucester City Council100%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Crawley Borough Council100%Yes2040July 17, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Harlow 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

    harlow.gov.uk
    Harlow Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Harlow 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 Harlow 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: Harlow Council. Available at: http://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/harlow-council/ [Accessed 22 May 2022].

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