Climate action plans in the spotlight

Both North and South Lanarkshire councils have had their climate action plans scored by a group of climate campaigners.

Climate Emergency UK has been working with local authorities since 2019 to share best practices about what councils can do to tackle the ecological emergency.

It has published details rating the climate action plan of every council in the UK. These plans detail the strategic framework for measuring, planning, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and related climatic impacts.

The group used 28 questions to assess all UK councils’climate Action Plans published online before September 20 last year.

North Lanarkshire recorded a higher score than its near neighbour, with a rating of 52 per cent, compared with South Lanarkshire’s 44 per cent. Scotland’s average score was 46 per cent, with the highest awarded to Glasgow City Council with 75 per cent.

Isaac Beevor, from CE UK, said:“councils may be doing good things which aren’t reflected in their Action Plan. That is why next year we will be assessing all councils on what they are actually doing.

“Local authorities can help to deliver 30 per cent of the cuts in carbon emissions needed to get to net zero, according to the sixth UK Carbon Budget published a year ago, so it is vital that councils do as much as they can.

“This year’s scorecards are just the start of the process.

“It has been an important exercise to understand what makes a good council Climate Action Plan and we hope that it will help councils learn from each other and up their game.”