Climate Emergency UK to release Council Climate Action Scorecards results

WHAT, WHERE and WHEN: On 17th June, Climate Emergency UK will release the full results of the 2025 Council Climate Action Scorecards at: https://councilclimatescorecards.uk/

Climate Emergency UK, working with a team of trained volunteers, has assessed all UK councils across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on their progress toward net zero, the only assessment of its kind. The assessment covers 93 questions on climate action across every function of a local authority, created in consultation with over 90 organisations and individuals including Friends of the Earth, Ashden and mySociety.

The 2025 Council Climate Action Scorecards allow for the first ever comparison of council climate action over time, following the release of the 2023 Action Scorecards.

Full results to follow on 17th June 2025.

On 17th June we will send localised press releases, covering the Scorecard results for your local councils and area.

Some of the headlines will include:

• Only 62 UK councils score 50% or more in the Council Climate Action Scorecards

• The average score across all councils is 38%

• Since 2023, councils have on average improved their overall score by 6 percentage points

• The scores in individual sections range from less than 0% to 100%

The Action Scorecard methodology covers 93 questions in 7 sections, which are: 

• Buildings & Heating

• Transport

• Planning & Land Use

• Governance & Finance

• Collaboration & Engagement

• Waste Reduction & Food

• Biodiversity

WHY: Climate Emergency UK have assessed councils as according to the Climate Change Committee’s Local Authorities & Sixth Carbon Budget report up to a third of area emissions are within the scope of influence of local councils. Therefore it is vital that councils do all that they can to deliver effective climate action.

QUOTE: 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. 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 at the emergency pace needed by providing increased funding, powers and guidance to cash-strapped councils tackle the climate and cost of living crisis.”

WHO: Climate Emergency UK (CE UK) began collating the climate emergency declarations of councils 6 years ago and released the first ever Council Climate Action Scorecards in October 2023. CE UK exists to equip the council climate movement with the information and guidance needed for structural change and accelerating the work of local campaigns for climate action. The Scorecards project has been conducted in partnership with mySociety, who provided expertise in data collection, Freedom of Information Requests and built the Scorecards website.