Winchester City Council marked as the ‘top performing’ district council in the country for their work on the climate crisis
Climate Emergency UK has scored all UK councils on their performance in addressing the climate crisis, with Winchester City Council being awarded a score of 68% overall (an increase of 19% compared to the last score card in 2023.) It leads the way by far in Hampshire with a 22% higher score than the next highest performing council in the county.
The Climate Action Scorecard system was devised by Climate Emergency UK to rank councils on how they’re tackling climate change. It makes an assessment based on seven areas:
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Building and heating
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Transport
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Planning and land use
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Governance and finance
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Biodiversity
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Collaboration and engagement
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Waste reduction and food
The City Council scored particularly highly in in the categories of Buildings & Heating and Planning & Land Use, reflecting both their work to increase the energy efficiency of their buildings and housing stock and the carbon reduction policies in their emerging local plan. Collaboration and engagement was also recognised as a particular strength of the council – visible in the collaborative work they are doing with partners, businesses and organisations to be a carbon neutral district by 2030.
Councillor Kelsie Learney, Cabinet Member for the Climate Emergency said:
‘Clearly, we’re delighted to be recognised in this way for our work in tackling the climate emergency. We are committed to going greener faster and being categorised as a ‘top performer’ is testament to the work and dedication of the council, alongside our partners, businesses and residents.
The work doesn’t stop here, we have plans in place to reduce carbon emissions and improve our score even further, such as our food waste recycling service , and our nature improvement plan to increase biodiversity, both launching this autumn.
Collective effort is needed from all levels of government to truly tackle the climate emergency. However, I am pleased to see the city council and its residents and businesses recognised in this way for taking a leadership role in tackling the climate emergency.’
The council declared a climate emergency in June 2019 and developed a Carbon Neutrality Action Plan focussing on priority areas. The plan sets out a series of actions that look to achieve a carbon neutral district by 2030. This includes measures to reduce the councils own carbon emissions, which has already resulted in a forecast 96% reduction.