One in five Scottish Councils have no climate action plan

Seven Scottish local authorities have no climate action plan, despite most of them declaring a Climate Emergency over two years ago according to analysis by the not-for-profit campaigning organisation Climate Emergency UK.

The report is based on responses to 28 questions including governance and funding, mitigation and adaptation, education, community engagement and communication.

Each council was marked against set criteria and given a right to reply before the scores underwent a final audit. This work was completed between June and December 2021.

The City of Edinburgh tops the list at 82% with Glasgow City second at 75%. However, two thirds of local authorities score less than 50%.

The seven local authorities with nil points are Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Highland, Renfrewshire and Shetland.

Local authorities such as Dumfries and Galloway Council and Inverclyde Council are also performing badly with scores as low as 20%.

A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion Scotland said: “Clearly the vast majority of Scottish local authorities are not taking the Climate Emergency seriously.  Councils responded quickly and effectively to the coronavirus pandemic, but not having a plan to address the Climate Emergency is simply not acceptable. We need to act now and act fast at all levels of government.”