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London Borough of Waltham Forest

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on April 25, 2019.

Whole area pledge

“Over the last ten years Waltham Forest has successfully met the carbon reduction targets set out in the 2008 Climate Change Strategy, which set an overall target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050.”

Climate documents

London Borough of Waltham Forest Meeting Minutes

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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

London Borough of Waltham Forest scored zero points in this assessment. This is because the council either didn’t have any published plans at the time of the assessment, or the plans didn’t qualify.

SectionLondon Borough of Waltham ForestAverage single tier council
Total score0%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
0/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

644.5 ktCO2e

2019 emissions

2.3 tCO2e

per capita

16.6 ktCO2e

per km2

Latest CO2 estimates from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. County and combined authority data combined from constituent authorities.

These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Waltham Forest 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 Brent91%Yes2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham89%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow89%Yes2030No
London Borough of Islington87%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Slough Borough Council87%YesNo targetNo
Royal Borough of Greenwich85%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth85%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Ealing84%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Luton Borough Council81%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Portsmouth City Council80%Yes2030March 19, 2019
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These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Waltham Forest 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
London Borough of Redbridge90%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Enfield89%Yes2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Brent89%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Luton Borough Council89%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Ipswich Borough Council88%Yes2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham88%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
Brighton and Hove City Council87%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
Gosport Borough Council87%Yes2050No
London Borough of Hounslow87%Yes2030No
Hastings Borough Council87%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
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These councils grographically border or overlap with London Borough of Waltham Forest. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Hackney99%Yes2040June 28, 2019
London Borough of Newham99%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge99%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Haringey99%Yes2027March 18, 2019
London Borough of Enfield99%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Greater London Authority98%YesDec. 1, 2019
Epping Forest District Council97%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
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These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Waltham Forest 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 Lambeth96%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Brent91%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Slough Borough Council90%YesNo targetNo
London Borough of Newham90%Yes2050April 15, 2019
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council88%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Islington88%Yes2030June 27, 2019
London Borough of Southwark87%Yes2050March 27, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham87%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow87%Yes2030No
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council87%NoNo targetNo
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These councils are the most similar to London Borough of Waltham Forest 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 Brent100%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Royal Borough of Greenwich100%Yes2030June 26, 2019
London Borough of Ealing100%Yes2030April 2, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham100%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham100%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2020
London Borough of Haringey100%Yes2027March 18, 2019
London Borough of Wandsworth100%Yes2050July 17, 2019
London Borough of Newham100%Yes2050April 15, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge100%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Merton100%Yes2030July 10, 2019
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Powers & Responsibilities

London Borough of Waltham Forest 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.

    Social housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • prioritising energy efficiency when building new council-operated social housing schemes – for example, through the Passivhaus standard
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock, through loans from the local authority

    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

    walthamforest.gov.uk
    London Borough of Waltham Forest’s official homepage.
    @wfcouncil
    London Borough of Waltham Forest’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check London Borough of Waltham Forest’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 London Borough of Waltham Forest’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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