2023 Action Scorecards

About us

Know more about CE UK and the Scorecards

Climate Emergency UK (CE UK) was set up in response to the climate emergency declarations that councils started making from the end of 2018. CE UK began by collecting these declarations, and the Climate Action Plans that followed, on its website. We published the Council Climate Plan Scorecards in January 2022, measuring the strength of councils’ written climate action plans. We have published our first Council Climate Action Scorecards this year, measuring actual completed action towards net zero from all UK councils.

Click here to read our press release on the launch of the Council Climate Action Scorecards.

For interviews, data and further analysis please contact press@climateermergency.uk

Click here to buy the data that is available on this website in spreadsheet (.csv) format.

History of the Scorecards

CE UK worked with longstanding civic tech NGO mySociety to create CAPE, the Climate Action Plan Explorer. This took the plans collected by CE UK and placed them into a database, allowing users to easily locate and read their council’s Climate Action Plan, if it has one, and search across all councils' plans.

At around the same time, CE UK created the Climate Action Plan Checklist with the support of Friends of the Earth, Ashden, the Centre for Alternative Technology and APSE Energy. This extensively researched document outlines the elements of a strong Climate Action Plan and highlights best practice from councils all over the world. Using CAPE and the Checklist, CE UK assessed the quality of all UK councils’ written climate action plan, publishing the Council Climate Plan Scorecards in January 2022. You can find out more about the Plan Scorecards and see the full results here.

Once the Plan Scorecards were published, CE UK moved on to working out how to measure and assess councils on actual, completed climate action. We created a completely new methodology and marking system, with input from over 90 different organisations and individuals across the sector and from an Advisory Group. You can find out more about how we developed the Action Scorecard methodology here.

Why did we create the Action Scorecards?

According to the Climate Change Committee’s Local Authorities and the Sixth Carbon Budget Report, “More than half of the emissions cuts needed rely on people and businesses taking up low-carbon solutions – decisions that are made at a local and individual level. Many of these decisions depend on having supporting infrastructure and systems in place. Local authorities have powers or influence over roughly a third of emissions in their local areas.”

At Climate Emergency UK we believe there is so much that local authorities can do to support the transition to net-zero. That’s why we’ve assessed every UK councils’ on their climate action.

The Council Climate Action Scorecards will:

  • Effectively hold councils to account on their claimed climate action and provides credible and transparent data on council climate action in the UK.
  • Allow councils to use the results of the Council Climate Action Scorecards to improve their current Climate Action Plans and implement effective policies to help them reach net-zero in a just way within their current constraints.
  • Allow campaigners, through increased citizen knowledge from the Scorecards, use the results of the Council Climate Action Scorecards to hold their councils to account and lobby for specific and targeted policy improvements and win further climate action.
  • Be used by CE UK and other organisations in the sector to win national government changes (from the UK Parliament and the devolved nations) that support councils to take further climate action.

We also hope that these Scorecards highlight just how hard some councils are working despite lack of support from the national government, as well as encouraging councils who are not performing as well to take more action by seeing what is possible.

Our volunteers

The Council Climate Action Scorecards couldn’t have happened without our volunteers. They took a leap of faith along with us in this pilot project and have been instrumental in making it happen. Our volunteers were trained and helped mark and audit all 388 councils. The first phase of marking alone took over 5,000 volunteer hours! We are incredibly grateful for all the hard work and dedication that they have put into this project, especially those that were volunteering with us a second time, having already helped with the Plan Scorecards. It is always a pleasure to work with so many dedicated and thorough people.

As a small thank you, we're listing our volunteers below.

Auditors

Our auditors were a small, elite group of volunteers who took on the mammoth task of awarding the final marks for every question marked by FOI request or volunteer research - taking into account the First Mark and Right of Reply. These volunteer heroes were:

Bel L Beverley M Imogen AJ Michael R Myla M Sudhansu M Dorothy B Bill C Marcus A Vivian T David T Tilly A Di L Danielle T Mat A Bethany N Dan C Jia R Meriam W Deborah P Janet M Olivia N William B Alan S Dunsin A Fiona H Deborah C Jenny P John C Rachel B Riona S Sebastian T Aiden H Celia H Cathy D Robert C Faisal K Irina Y Sara L Amanda D Michael F Lisa O Nina J Helen C. J Bonni J Judith B Sarah W Maria R Orah E Sara T Sam T Terry J Wilf W Penny R

First Markers

Marking 388 councils is no small feat. We are so grateful to each team of volunteers that marked each section, giving up their spare time, evening and weekends to search for answers and evidence throughout council web pages and documents. From those in the Policy Programmes to the Volunteer Markers we thank you so much!

Jennifer A Dunsin A Marcus A Kazi A Kate A Imogen A J Matilda A Sally B Amy B Caroline B Lily B Kerry B Louis B Harriet B Carla B Rob B william Katherine B Deborah C Thembi C bill Ethny C Helen C J Robert C John C Kiran C Linda C Nick D Monica D Robert D Andrew D Sara E Ken F Natasha F Matthew G Emily G Les G Semeli H Lucy H Fiona H Aimee H Tristan H Chanelle H D Jason H Lily H Imogen J Catriona J Kezia J Austin L David L Jacqueline (Jacky) L Alex L Maud L Sara L Eunice L Bel L Ricky L Di L Philip M Donna M C Nancy M Jean M N Myla M Heather M Merlin M Jeanie M Meghan M Lynda M Jacqueline M Jessica N Thi N Sarah N Audrey N Marie-Louise O H Otto O Lisa O Jessica O Thomas P Jenny P Thomas P George P Jenna P Zia Q John Q John R Rod R Jia R Michael R Ellie S Keith S Lucy S Ludi S Sue S Cathy S Laura S Alan S Laurence SH Sara T Danielle T Kara T M Samuel T Vivian T Ann T Hannah W Oliver W Lily W Kiran W Wilf W Sarah W Shaheena Y Dave S Agnes R Aiden H Aleksandra L Alyssa O Amanda D Andrea M Andrew R Angela H Annabel R Annie D Annie G Ben O O Bethany N Bethany A Beverley M Bianca W Bonni J Cathy D Celia H Chloe M Daniel C David T Deborah P Diana M Dorothy B Dylan F Ella R Eloise W D Emily C Esther O Faisal K Hafsa N Hali P Helen W Ina B Irina Y Izzy R Jackie K James L Janet M Jen G Jenn P-B Jennifer P Jessica G Joshua W Judith B Judy B Libby A Maria R Martin M Mat A Maud B Megan C Meriam W Mia T Michael F Michelle C Natalie P Nina J Orah E Oyinkansola B Rachel R M Rachel B Rahul N Ramya V Raul G Reethu V R Riona S Rionesa S Risa K Roula K A Rowan H Ruby H Sean D Sebastian T Sharif Mustapha W Sudhanshu M Ted R Terry J Tim H Jamie O D Edem A Aaron Pete A Rebecca C Rebecca C Peter D Fiona D Hazel G Maria H Jess M Anke P Russell R Sarah S Kristina S Rebecca S D Leisa T Megan W Penny R

Our funders

Climate Emergency UK is funded primarily through Grants, as well as individual donations. Special thank you to Sally Pickering and one other unnamed donor from our Crowdfunder in 2022 to help make the Scorecards happen.

You can find out more about who funds us on Climate Emergency UK’s organisation website.