While the mapping services we’re most well known for are FixMyStreet, MapIt, and the Local Intelligence Hub, we do occasionally get the opportunity to collaborate with other organisations that share our ethos and could benefit from our expertise building flexible, easy-to-use data maps, for their internal teams or external supporters to use. One such example is a project we’ve just wrapped up with the Social Investment Business (SIB).

SIB is one of the UK’s largest social investors, coordinating over £800m in loans and grants to over 6,000 charities and social enterprises since 2002. Two of their core priorities are strengthening community assets and unlocking energy resilience, which got them thinking: what if some of the organisations they’ve previously funded could participate in energy flexibility schemes, to not only contribute to a greener electricity grid, but make a financial return that could be reinvested into their communities?

mySociety has previously explored energy flexibility. But for those unfamiliar with it, the concept is simple: the companies that operate the UK’s electricity network offer to pay organisations if they’re able to “flex” their electricity use (using less—or sometimes more—electricity) over certain periods of time. Any organisation is free to bid for these “flex tenders”, but typically they’d need to have large energy-consuming assets like industrial refrigerators, data centres, or heated swimming pools, which they could turn on or off, to really provide the “flex capacity” the network operators require.

The thing is, with more community organisations adopting new technologies like solar panels, heat pumps, electric vehicles, and battery storage, the barrier for participation in these flex tenders has dropped. Now your local community centre, or church, or school might be able to take part. We’ve even seen community organisations act as aggregators, utilising not just the flexibility of their own electrical assets, but also those of nearby householders who are willing to take part.

SIB has a built-in network of such community organisations. But the challenge is finding the sweet spots – the right organisations with the right equipment to offer the required flex capacity in a given tender area. And that’s where mySociety’s developers came in.

Over the course of a few weeks we built a tool that helps SIB identify organisations in their network who might have flex capacity, and who are based in one of the thousands of flex tender areas coming up in the UK over the next few years. Our tool also allowed SIB’s analysts to overlay data on energy poverty and deprivation, on nearby data centres, and nearby Warm Welcome spaces.

As with any data-heavy project like this, most of the difficult work was in finding and collating all of the data to populate the map. There is no one source of all flex tenders in the UK, so we had to collect listings from the six Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) individually. Some of these DNOs provided clean, structured data on the estimated geographical boundaries of each tender, while others provided only lists of postcodes, for which we then had to estimate rough boundaries, using the open data work of our much-loved former colleague Mark Longair. Add to this the complexity of each tender potentially having subtly different boundaries, or conversely, sharing identical boundaries, and we started to see why nobody had done this before.

But once the data was collected, and then mapped with some of the tips we’d learned through building the Local Intelligence Hub, SIB’s analysts were able to see exactly where their network overlaps with flex tender areas, and even identify the specific community organisations they could contact to explore the potential for participating in flex tenders.

More generally, the map also provides SIB with a persuasive policy tool – demonstrating the untapped potential for the UK’s third sector to support the country’s transition to a modern energy network, and the benefit that could be unlocked if this grassroots movement were to be supported by forward-thinking funding and regulation from central government.

Thomas Crabtree, Energy Analyst at SIB, said: “It’s been great to work with mySociety on this mapping project. Energy flexibility will play a big role in bringing cheaper, greener energy to the UK, and we want the community sector to lead this transition. This map represents an important first step in this work.”

We’re looking forward to seeing how our tool can contribute to the democratisation of the UK’s electricity network. In the meantime, if you have any similar projects you’d like to explore with us, just get in touch!

Photo: Kristian Buus / 10 10, CC BY 2.0, via Climate Visuals

As we’ve seen in our recent case studies, the Council Climate Action Scorecards — a joint project between Climate Emergency UK (CE UK) and mySociety — rely on the power and energy of volunteers. 

Most volunteers get their start when they help to mark councils’ climate action for the Scorecards; and then some, it seems, get the bug and go on to become even more deeply engaged.

These keen folk are known as Ambassadors. We’ve heard from Lucy, who told us that working with the Scorecards had given her a deeper appreciation of the hard work councils have to do; and Mat, who’s used the Scorecards to communicate with both the public and his own council. Now let’s meet Helen John, a very active campaigner based in Sutton.

Helen did, indeed, begin as a marker, helping to score councils’ action over the summer of 2024: her work fed into the 2025 Scorecards. Then, in November 2024, she joined CE UK’s Local Climate Academy, a six-week training course in which CE UK train participants in how to use the Scorecards to win further support for climate action. 

Helen has taken that advice and run with it, which is a win for climate; also, because Helen is happy to share her experiences, it’s a win for anyone who might want to do more but doesn’t know where to begin.  

For example, shortly after the new results were published, Helen submitted a public question at Sutton council’s Local Committee meeting, asking: 

“What is Sutton Council going to take away from the launch of the 2025 Council Climate Action Scorecards, and what actions are going to be taken to make sure climate action is reprioritised across the whole of the council?”

And you could do the same! Here is Helen’s advice on how to get started:

“Get on your local council’s mailing list, so you’ll be notified when meetings are happening. Usually you can sign up via a page on their website called “Local Democracy”, or similar, and then you should also find a section called something like “Have your say at meetings”.

“This is a right for every resident of every council — anyone can ask a question at a committee meeting (usually one main question, and then a follow-up). Generally, between the notification of the meeting and the deadline for submitting a question, which you have to give in advance, you’ll have around 48 hours. 

“They’ll locate the right person to answer your question, which can take a little time; I find they tend to give you an initial response 24 hours before the meeting. This gives you the time to prepare your follow-up question.” 

And if the response is not as enthusiastic as you might like it to be, or fails to commit to any activity? Helen sees the wider picture: 

“You need to continue to ask as many questions as possible to the council. If you’re a member of a campaign group, you can take it in turns. It shows that there is an interest, and a continued scrutiny of the council’s action.”

Sutton council’s reply stated that it “recognises that there’s still more work to do”, and, as Helen sees it, that created an opportunity. She has been working with Sutton’s sustainability team, holding a workshop on how to improve their Scorecards results; and has given a presentation to the Environment and Sustainable Transport committee, as well as a wider group of councillors.

We have the feeling this is just the beginning — because, as made clear by Helen’s nuanced view of how climate work fits into the council’s other priorities, communication doesn’t need to take place solely with the staff who have a climate remit.

“When they surveyed Sutton residents about their priorities, health provision came out top. But let’s not forget that decarbonisation is also something that has a positive impact on health across the board — I’m really keen to push that more holistic way of seeing things.”

Thank you so much to Helen for the ideas, not to mention the practical advice on using the Scorecards to push for better climate action at the local level. We hope that it gives our readers the inspiration to do something similar.

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Image: Ian Simpson

When we consider the impacts of a project like the Council Climate Action Scorecards, the obvious benefits are those we see in UK councils as they step up their efforts to decarbonise. On this blog, we’ve also frequently noted tangential effects too, such as better understanding and communication between local authorities and residents.

There’s a third, less obvious benefit, though, as organisations across the world become aware of the project, and are inspired to do something similar. We saw it happen in Canada, and now The Climate Reality Project Europe has taken the idea and adapted it for their own community.

In this post, Gosia Rychlik, a branch manager at the organisation, explains what effects the Scorecards, a joint project between Climate Emergency UK and mySociety, have sparked in Europe.

At The Climate Reality Project Europe, we work with a network of over 5,500 Climate Reality Leaders across the continent, supporting them to turn knowledge into local climate action. While covering the topic of climate emergency declarations and designing tools to help our community engage in the topic more effectively, we came across Climate Emergency UK’s work.

One of the projects was The Council Climate Action Scorecards: they immediately stood out as a transparent, methodic and very practical way to make local climate governance visible and accessible to citizens. The clarity of the methodology and the commitment to accountability deeply resonated with our mission. The project shows how citizens can help assess and encourage local climate action as informed citizens. 

A guidebook adapted for Europe

Inspired by Climate Emergency UK’s work, we created the City Climate Action Assessment Guidebook, launched in autumn 2025 as part of our Citizens for Clean Energy programme. The guidebook takes the idea behind the Scorecards and adapts it for cities across Europe. Despite the differences between datasets and local government systems, the need for transparency and accountability is the same everywhere.

The guidebook provides a clear and simple framework to help citizens see what their cities are doing and where more action is needed. We cover eight key areas: climate commitments, energy, transport, nature, community engagement, governance, and finance. It invites residents to observe, look for information, and start conversations with local councils. Our intention is to encourage citizens to take the first simple step toward better understanding and meaningful local action.

We launched the guidebook with a series of public webinars featuring Climate Emergency UK, Beyond Fossil Fuels and Climate-KIC, reaching Climate Reality Leaders and community organisers from across Europe. 

What we’ve learned and what’s next

From the Scorecards, we learned that transparency and accessibility are key to accelerating local climate progress. We want to encourage citizens to start noticing climate policies (or lack thereof) in the real world and hope this will make them more likely to get involved, when they understand how to interpret their city’s plans and see where gaps exist.

We also learned that local engagement doesn’t always require large-scale campaigns — sometimes it begins with a few citizens paying attention, asking the right questions, and connecting dots between policies and lived experience.

Looking ahead, we hope that more members of our network take the first steps of local climate action with our Guidebook. Ultimately, our goal is the same as the one that inspired us: to empower citizens to hold councils accountable, celebrate progress, and accelerate the transition to climate-neutral, resilient communities.

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Thanks very much to Gosia for sharing these insights: we hope the guidebook has long-lasting and tangible effects.

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Image: Nuno Marques

Campaigning organisation and lobbying group the RBWM Climate Emergency Coalition (CEC), located in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, have been putting the Council Climate Action Scorecards to really good use.

Overall, 14 separate groups make up the CEC, who convene with a shared interest in mitigating climate change and/or protecting and restoring nature. The coalition holds the borough council to account in its stated goal to achieve net zero by 2050 and keep within its carbon budget, and we were pleased to hear all about it from someone involved from the very beginning, Paul Hinton.

Getting things started

First, he told us how the group had come into being:

“In March 2019, a local resident organised a series of climate protests at the town hall in Maidenhead, in response to Greta Thunberg’s solo school strikes outside the Swedish parliament and the establishment of the Fridays for Future movement.

“I attended the first protest with a copy of the Green Party toolkit ‘in my back pocket’, and suggested to some of the others present that we organise a campaign asking the council to declare a climate emergency. That’s how the CEC came into being.

“The campaign was a success. The climate emergency was declared in June 2019, although with a target of net zero by 2050 rather than the 2030 that we had campaigned for, and the borough’s first environment and climate strategy was adopted in December 2020, to run for five years to the end of 2025.

“The council is now developing the second version of its environment and climate strategy, to run until the end of 2035. The CEC is working hard to ensure that the new version is as ambitious as possible.”

Around the same time, Climate Emergency UK was just starting up, initially with the aim of collecting together every UK council’s climate declarations (out of which came CAPE, a joint project from CE UK and mySociety) — so there was an obvious shared interest right away, as Paul explains:

“Members of the CEC attended the first Climate Emergency Conference in Lancaster in March 2019 when it was a grassroots initiative led by Councillor Kevin Frea. We kept informed about CE UK’s activities, and were very pleased to see the genesis of the 2021 Scorecards, even though we didn’t make as much use of them as we might have.”

A long term relationship

There is value in understanding that campaigning for climate action may mean a long-term relationship with your local council. That’s not only because your message might take time to be heard; the campaigners themselves may be learning skills and knowledge. Paul explained that CEC have seen both successes and challenges, due to a number of different factors:

“The Scorecards have become extremely useful as we have gained experience and a better understanding of how to use them. In 2023, we produced an analysis of the RBWM’s climate performance for the newly elected Liberal Democrat council, based on the second iteration of the Scorecards; but there seemed to be no appetite to revisit the 2020-2025 strategy and the resulting action plan, and sadly this had very little impact.

“In 2025 we produced another analysis and report, this time based on the 2021, 2023 and 2025 Scorecards. This report has been extremely impactful for two main reasons. First, the analysis was based on three separate Scorecards results, and a clear trend was emerging so our arguments were stronger. Secondly, we shared the analysis more widely so that the message was more difficult to ignore.

“The report was shared with key cabinet members including the leader and deputy leader of the council. It was also shared with the steering group of the Climate Partnership (CP), a joint council/community organisation set up by the council to further the council’s net zero and nature recovery ambitions in the community. The CP were going to be involved in developing the new environment and climate strategy 2026-2035, and following receipt of the report became fully aware of how the borough’s climate action performance measured up against similar local authorities and what level of ambition would be required to reach their net zero target.

The CEC have played a long game, through changes of leadership and council majorities, seeing changes along the way:

“There have been frustrations over the years with the apparent lack of urgency and recognition of the scale of interventions needed across all council departments, but we have been pleased to see the council’s sustainability team grow, and whilst we recognise the challenges they face in terms of budgets, limited national government support, and perceived lack of a strong public mandate for climate action, we strongly believe that the new strategy should allow for a more ambitious approach, championing action, and providing the borough with clear goals commensurate with addressing the climate crisis.

“The CEC has a greater voice now than perhaps at any time since 2019, and it has been invited to a number of discussions and meetings with the current administration who appear to be much more receptive to the CEC’s input; this includes an upcoming dedicated workshop with council officers to input into developing the strategy and action plans.”

Press coverage

Paul mentioned that part of the CEC’s outreach activities involved sharing the report with the Maidenhead Advertiser, resulting in the publication of an in-depth article. We were interested to hear more about this, and how useful the group had found it to get coverage in the local press.

Paul explained, “The council is developing the second version of its environment and climate strategy, to run until the end of 2035, and we knew that we had to garner wider public awareness and support if they were going to recognise the need to create an ambitious, measurable and impactful strategy which would result in significantly increasing the pace and scale of the actions taken.

“The Maidenhead Advertiser was one of our chosen routes as we made a conscious effort to share our report widely and strategically. We shared a copy with the Editor and chief reporter, and they then wrote the story with one round of consultation with us.”

We wondered whether the CEC would advise other groups across the UK to try for coverage in the local press as a good campaign strategy. Paul thinks so:

“We’ve had no shortage of letters and articles published in the Advertiser, but for some reason a news story seems to have much more impact. The press provides us with the opportunity to inform the public when the council is not meeting the targets it has set itself; even while we continue to work constructively together with councillors and officers.

“Coverage in the local press should always form part of a good campaign strategy, but is even more impactful if used as one of a number of options and routes for getting the message out. Some of the data in the Scorecards is quite technical, and so difficult for those less familiar with it to fully appreciate, so in future we’d also look at issuing a press release in addition to the report itself, covering the main points.”

Thanks to all the CEC’s activity, their report has been shared far and wide — but it had a secondary effect: the council also saw how useful the Scorecards could be in their own work. Paul says that the council have adopted them at community workshops to highlight priority areas for action.

We are glad to hear it — and grateful to the RBWM CEC’s great efforts in putting the Scorecards to good use. Thank you to Paul for sharing his experiences.

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Image: Tom Bastin (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Our partner organisation Climate Emergency UK put us in touch with Mat Allen, based in Northern Ireland. They described him as “one of our most dedicated Scorecards volunteers” — and when we heard what he’s been up to, we could certainly see why.

Volunteering for CE UK is, for many, an opportunity to do something tangible and impactful around climate action. “Getting busy and doing something useful can counter the effects of negative stories,” Mat told us.

So how did it all begin? He explains: “My wife forwarded me a link to an article about CE UK, and I was struck by the importance of somebody taking oversight of the action taking place to address that a third of greenhouse gas emissions that can be influenced by our councils. 

“That is a bit niche, but addressing the climate emergency requires so many things to be done at the local level that I thought this could be something I could usefully contribute to.”

Volunteering as a marker

So Mat got involved. “I signed up to be a marker for CE UK’s 2023 survey, and was assigned a batch of UK councils to score against the criteria laid out in the Buildings and Heating section.” 

There’s no denying that the marking work can be complex, so how did Mat find it? 

“The process was well documented”, he says, “with support from the small CE UK team, and other volunteers available to give guidance when needed. While searching the internet for the evidence that allows marks to be awarded, I found inspiring things happening in councils all over the UK, pockets of brilliance! Some I recommended for inclusion in the Best Practices section of the CE UK website for others to enjoy, and perhaps replicate in their own areas!”

Once the 2023 Scorecards, based on those marks, were published, Mat was able to assess his own region. “The challenge in Northern Ireland became apparent, with much lower scores than the rest of the UK. Our eleven Northern Ireland councils have many challenges — as do all UK councils — with the cost of living crisis putting immense pressure on service delivery, and the level of rates chargeable (yes, we still have rates over here!).

“I made useful contact with my own council, Mid and East Antrim, who gave consideration to our recommended ‘easy wins’ — the actions that can have greatest benefit with least expenditure. They were facing huge financial challenges that year.”

Coming back for more

That was enough to bring Mat back for the next round of work — and this time, he got even more involved!

“I was properly hooked by the time CE UK was seeking volunteers for the 2025 survey, and I signed up as a marker and an auditor, this time in the Transport section. 

“As an auditor, I reviewed the Right to Reply responses made by councils to their initially assigned marks, to determine if scores should be changed based on the new evidence they supplied. This was more challenging, often requiring further online research, and comparison with other councils, to ensure scores were  fair.”

One perhaps unexpected result that we hear from many volunteers is how assessing councils’ climate action can lead to a better understanding of the challenges they face. Mat feels this too:

“I’ve learned a lot while marking and auditing, both about the complexity of council operations, and about successful climate action. The council staff involved are trying their best to do the right things, but surrounded by challenges of understanding and prioritisation. I feel for them, as they try and do right by their ratepayers and the planet!”

Getting the word out there

A small organisation like CE UK doesn’t have a big marketing budget, so anything that helps spread the word is useful, especially from those on the ground who can forge links with their own councils. Mat was able to assist here, too:

“As the release date for the results of the 2025 survey approached, I wanted to get more impact locally than we achieved with the results of the 2023 survey. I signed up as an ambassador for Climate Emergency UK (have yet to be offered a Ferrero Rocher!). 

“Along with my daughter, we decided to act locally, trying to gain traction with my own and the other two County Antrim councils (Antrim and Newtownabbey, and Causeway Coast and Glens), by holding a public launch meeting in Ballymena to publicise our initiative.

“With help and support from CE UK and Friends of the Earth, we held that meeting in June 2025 in Ballymena. The climate change teams from Antrim and Newtownabbey and Mid and East Antrim Councils joined us, as well as Councillor Quigley and residents from all three target council areas. 

“Thanks to the efforts of Councillor McShane from Causeway Coast and Glens Council, we made contact with their newly appointed Climate Change Manager the following day on a Zoom call, and we look forward to ongoing useful engagement with CCC&G! 

“We were pleased to award the ‘Most Improved NI Council’ award to Antrim and Newtownabbey in the presence of our local newspaper, The Ballymena and Antrim Guardian.

“The meeting was worthwhile, helping us at CE UK better understand the challenges these motivated climate teams face, and I hope introducing those folks to useful case studies and information about best practice we can offer.”

Looking to the future

Mat is a great believer in communication, saying, “Perhaps the greatest challenge we all face, and more so in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK, is public engagement, and our councils are important players as they have those everyday interactions and influence with residents and communities.

“The work goes on in councils all over Northern Ireland, and at CE UK we are taking stock and thinking of how we can best help our eleven councils progress essential actions to reduce emissions, bringing communities with them, and prioritising the needs of the vulnerable.”

Mat has found something valuable in CE UK, beyond the ability to get out and do something: a set of data that backs it all up:

“Taking effective action — in anything — is helped by objective measures and targets. Climate Emergency UK is the only organisation offering such measures in the UK, and we research and publish these measures for all councils for free!”

Finally, he says, “We hope to continue engagement with our three Country Antrim councils, and would like to make contact with, and help the other eight Northern Ireland councils add more objectivity, breadth and substance to their climate action plans. 

“We would welcome contacts from the Climate Change Teams and councillors across the province, and we hope to invite more councils to an event to launch the 2027 CE UK Council Climate Action Scorecards!

If you are reading this and you are one of those councils, do drop CE UK an email at declare@climateemergency.uk. 

Many thanks to Mat for sharing his journey as a CE UK Scorecards volunteer — we hope it will inspire others who are wondering how to play their part! CE UK are not currently recruiting for volunteers, but when the next round of activity starts up, you’ll be able to see opportunities on this page.

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Image: K. Mitch Hodge

The Council Climate Action Scorecards are only possible thanks to the work of volunteers, who attend training from Climate Emergency UK before going off to gather the multitude of data required to assess the climate action of every council in the UK.

We’re always keen to hear from volunteers about what motivates them, and any other results that have come from their enhanced understanding of councils and climate action.

And so we were pleased to hear from Lucy Bramley, who first explained how she had come across the Scorecards project. As with so many of the volunteers, Lucy was already involved in climate action, and saw the opportunity to do more.

“I am a Climate Ambassador for the Women’s Institute. We have periodic team calls, and on one of them Don from Climate Emergency UK popped in to tell us about the Action Scorecards.

“I was really keen to find out more, so I asked him to lead a call with others who are also interested in climate change and biodiversity issues in my area. That session made me realise the gulf that exists between councils and residents, even when the residents are environmental activists… and that made me keen to volunteer to support the work of CE UK in shining a light on what our councils are doing — good and bad.”

Lucy took what she learned still further, though, and had a useful route through which to do so:

“I deliver Carbon Literacy training to local authorities for a public sector non-profit. I’m not a full-time employee, but whenever I get to deliver a course, I mention the fact that councils can gauge their own success in their quest to decarbonise, and use their influence to encourage others to do so, by engaging with the Scorecards.

“In fact, most councils seem to have some awareness of the Scorecards, and usually the Climate Change Leaders are most knowledgeable. I have seen the discussion on the Scorecards spark actions which hopefully continue outside the course!”

When asked about longterm outcomes, Lucy says, “I have a much deeper appreciation for the complex and difficult nature of the work that councils have to do.

“I have been frustrated by the impression I get that councils do not seem to work together to share successful strategies, but over time networks do seem to be building.

“The Scorecards are flexible in terms of taking these burgeoning networks on board, and sharing their stories to help amplify local authority challenges and successes. I’d very much like to continue to get as many people as possible to understand and use the Scorecards.”

Many thanks to Lucy for sharing her valuable thoughts and experiences.

Scorecards are a joint project from Climate Emergency UK and mySociety.

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Image: Daria S

Here at mySociety, we’ve built a number of tools around data and the climate: CAPE, the Climate Action Plans Explorer; the Council Climate Action Scorecards, and, most recently, Local Intelligence Hub, which allows you to look at climate-relevant data in your own area and compare it with the nation as a whole.

All these sites are designed to equip users with the information they need to hold their representatives accountable over action for the environment and nature. But what does that look like in practice?

We had the opportunity to see for ourselves this month, thanks to the Mass Lobby, organised by The Climate Coalition (TCC), in which more than 5,000 highly motivated constituents made the journey to Westminster to have in-person conversations with their MPs and stress the importance of action.

For those who were wondering what on earth they would say once they were face to face with their reps, our own Zarino and Julia were on hand, ready to tap each person’s postcode into Local Intelligence Hub and furnish them with some pertinent facts and figures to get the conversation rolling.

Thanks to Local Intelligence Hub’s broad coverage of factors such as MPs’ stances, public opinion, and local demographics, Julia and Zarino could even ask each person what they cared about most, or what was the big environmental issue on their own turf, and find the most relevant information around it.

In fact, many of the charities and campaigns that make up TCC had shared the link to the Hub beforehand, so a good quantity of constituents turned up with their homework already done. Either way, it was amazing to see the site — which we run in partnership with TCC, supported by Green Alliance — being used for the exact reason we’d built it.

With Hope for the Future at the next table, specialising in how to speak to MPs in a way that will actually change their minds, lobbyists went into the room extremely well prepared!

Over the day there were meetings with around 200 MPs, usually with around 5 -10 constituents in each. Unfortunately, an important set of votes took place in Parliament that day, meaning that some were unexpectedly called away, but it’s fair to say that a lot of MPs were given a lot of useful data from a lot of informed constituents that day. We hope it will motivate them to do the right thing when it comes to climate and nature.

The 2025 Scorecards launch today

Wondering how your local council’s doing around climate? With today’s launch of the 2025 Council Climate Action Scorecards, you can check their progress right now. 

And because this is the second edition of Scorecards, you can check not just your council’s scores, but also how they compare with last time. Are they doing better or worse in each of the vital 93 areas for meeting the challenges of the climate crisis?

Today, you can:

• Search for your council by name
• See at a glance how their overall score compares with others across the UK, overall and within each section of activity
• Click through for an in-depth breakdown of every question and how they scored
• See at every level of the Scorecards how their performance compares with the 2023 assessment.

What next?

Great — so you’re up to speed on the areas where your council’s doing well on climate action, and where it could be doing better. 

Start a conversation If you have thoughts about these, you can use the Scorecards to open up conversations with your local councillors — our website WriteToThem makes that super easy. (Want more data? Type your postcode into Local Intelligence Hub for lots more climate-related local info!)

Use Scorecards in your work If you’re a council climate officer or councillor yourself, we hope the Scorecards will show where you could be making improvements — and give you an idea of which other councils are doing well in those areas. You can even get in touch and swap notes! Take a look at our case studies to see how councils have been using Scorecards to learn and improve.

Help us do more

Scorecards are a joint project from Climate Emergency UK and mySociety.
If you value the work that we do to make it easier to hold authorities to account for climate action, please consider making a donation.

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Image: Alastair Johnstone / Climate Visuals

If you’re someone who’s concerned about the climate but not really sure what to do about it, this webinar is definitely a good place to start.

Our event this week brought together investigative journalist Lucas Amin of Democracy for Sale; Anne Friel, Head of Just Societies at Client Earth; and Joschi Wolf of the German transparency project Frag Den Staat – all sharing their knowledge around Freedom of Information as an invaluable tool for tackling the climate crisis.

It was very encouraging to hear practical tips and thoughts that made FOI-based activism seem within reach, even to the beginner. And all from your own desk!

Watch the webinar on YouTube. We’ve also compiled the responses to the questions from the audience that there wasn’t time to answer during the session: you can see those here.

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Image: Matteo Miliddi

The Council Climate Action Scorecards are helping climate officers across the UK to understand which elements of their path to Net Zero are working well, and which areas need improvement.

Marina Ebbage, Procurement Policy Officer at Norfolk County Council, explained the many ways in which Scorecards have helped the authority’s Climate Hub team in their work. She began by explaining how the council came to understand that a council taking climate action is one thing; while communicating that action is something else.

“We first came across the Scorecards following Climate Emergency UK’s assessment in 2021, and through the subsequent publicity which usefully highlighted the areas of work where our actions were not publicly communicated”, says Marina.  

“We’ve found the independent and external assessment of our council’s climate action not only allows us to systematically mark our progress in tackling climate change, but helps us to maintain and strengthen our accountability to the public. 

“The Scorecards have helped us strive for greater transparency and accessibility in our climate action efforts. Following that initial assessment, we realised that a lot of information about the work we were doing was not readily available to the public – hence our initial low score. 

“A key example is our Climate Action Plan, which draws all the information we are doing together on climate-related work and is now publicly available in one place on a dedicated part of the council’s website. Previously, information was in committee papers which are publicly available but often not easy to find, or knowledge was internal rather than shared publicly.

“Since then, we’ve brought together this information and evidence on the council website, making it available and accessible to Norfolk’s citizens and businesses, and indeed more widely.” 

The benefits go more widely than communication, though — they resonate through many aspects of the council’s work, as Marina explains: “We’ve found the Scorecards valuable as a way to check the comprehensiveness of our Action Plan, ensuring that we’re taking a well-rounded approach to addressing climate change. 

“At a senior management level, the Scorecards provide an overarching view of our climate action and comparative performance, which our Climate Board has integrated into its review process, using them to assess our actions and identify areas for improvement.”  

Talking of comparative performance, Marina adds, “We benchmark our performance against other councils. This comparison helps us identify areas where we need to improve and informs discussions with other councils on what further actions we can take.” 

And the bottom line? “Ultimately, the Scorecards have provided a useful means to review and benchmark our climate actions and provided a stimulus to improve the way we communicate what we do to the public.” 

That’s great to hear — and as we near the publication of the 2025 Scorecards, we were gratified to learn that Norfolk see their use into the future: “We plan to continue using the Scorecards as a monitoring tool, ensuring that our climate action remains ambitious, transparent, and effective.”

Thanks very much to Marina for sharing Norfolk County Council’s experience with the Scorecards, which are a joint project between Climate Emergency UK and mySociety.

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Image: Nathan Nelson