The group Climate Emergency published the second edition of its Council Climate Action Scorecards on 17 June, which attempt to assess all UK councils on their progress towards net zero.
Average scores have risen by just 6 percentage points since 2023, to an average of 38%, says the group. This indicates that most UK councils are not doing half of the actions assessed in the Action Scorecards, to improve their community and adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change. These actions, created in consultation with over 90 experts, include raising funds for retrofitting homes, improving public transport and green spaces and supporting sustainable food provision.
Only 62 of the 391 local and combined authorities that Climate Emergency UK assessed scored above 50% overall (21 more than 2023). This slow progress across the UK from under-funded councils shows that they are not on track to meet their own, self-declared 2030 or later net zero target dates and improve lives for residents.
The Scorecards are created by assessing councils according to a three stage marking process using primarily publicly available data from council websites, available before November 2024, as well as national data and Freedom Of Information responses from councils from Autumn 2024.
This is the second time that Climate Emergency UK has undertaken this holistic assessment of what councils are doing for climate action, providing insight on what they can do to lower carbon emissions, cut residents’ energy bills, protect our green spaces and provide better public transport — overall, a list of more than 90 indicators.
Isaac Beevor, Partnerships Director at Climate Emergency UK said: “We’re pleased to see councils using the Scorecards to improve, especially as the effects of climate change hit closer to home with wildfires already happening and a predicted drought this summer in the UK. However, the UK Government must make climate action a fully-funded legal duty for all UK councils to remove the national barriers councils face. This would support councils to step up their climate action by more than 6 percentage points over almost 2 years and at the emergency pace needed by providing increased funding, powers and guidance to cash-strapped councils tackle the climate and cost of living crisis.”
The 2025 highest scores are mostly seen in London council where the Greater London Assembly already has a legal duty to act on climate action. Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Winchester City Council and Bristol City Council are also top scorers.
At the other end of the scale, of the 19 councils that scored under 20% overall, all are English or Northern Irish. The Northern Irish councils scored the lowest on average, at 23%, Wales 36% and Scottish and English councils both on 38%.
Mr Beevor said “The continuing lower scores in England further show the need for a legal duty for climate action for councils. Scotland and Wales already have this requirement in some form, and we’re pleased to see Northern Irish councils have to start reporting on their climate action later this year too. With devolution set to change council powers, we want to see a legal duty to tackle climate change embedded in the new regional mayoral authorities, as the Greater London Authority already has. Doing this would ensure councils will have the funds and powers to protect residents from flooding, air pollution and rising energy prices that we know that residents care about, and allow councils to work beyond the next election cycle.”
Cllr Richard Clewer, from Wiltshire, who sits on the Advisory Group to create the Action Scorecards, said “The Government may have a target for net zero by 2050, but these Scorecards results show that they are not doing enough to support communities and councils across the UK with sorely needed funding and powers to deliver the change needed, such as cheaper and frequent public transport, well-insulated homes and affordable local food and rent. These Scorecards show where councils need real investment from the National Government, and show the difference this can make, as seen where no Scottish council scores below 27%”.
Councils run by different political parties (Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and in No Overall Control) all saw their scores increase, showing commitment to cutting costs and improving the lives of residents by tackling the climate emergency. This aligns with residents, the most recent poll in the UK showed that 72% of people, up 8 percentage points since 2022 are concerned about the impacts of climate change.
The full results and methodology can be found at: https://councilclimatescorecards.uk/.
