Belfast
Climate Action Plan

Nationally, the UK has a legally binding target to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. Many local councils have more ambitious targets. There are nearly 400 principal councils across the country: the majority have a net-zero target of 2030. Further information from the Council.

Local net-zero target date

Not known

Plan published

June 2020

Plan scope

Plan covers entire local area

Climate emergency declared

October 2019

Working together

We use data on Climate Action Plans fromĀ data.climateemergency.uk

If you have more recent Climate Action Plan information for this area, please contact mySociety atĀ [email protected]

CO2 emissions

It's hard to visualise CO2 emissions. The data talks about 'tonnes of CO2' - but what does a tonne of gas look like? Well, imagine a typical large hot air balloon (almost 3,000 cubic metres in volume). One tonne of CO2 would fill one of these hot air balloons.

Additional local carbon emissions

Carbon emissions embedded in the imported goods we consume locally are typically not counted. However, these goods are produced and then transported here because of our consumer demands. Imported emissions are so big they should not be hidden*.

* Note: Imported emissions are estimated based on the Total UK Goods & Services Greenhouse Gases imported emissions (Defra UK's Carbon Footprint 2016: 353mt CO2 eq) pro-rated based on Local Authority population size and assumed equal per capita consumption of imported goods and services across all Local Authorities.

CO2 emissions in total

1,406,973 tonnes

People in the local area

342,560

CO2 per person per year

4.1 tonnes

Additional local carbon emissions

1,825,969 tonnes

Source: BEIS Local Authority territorial CO2 emissions within the scope of influence of Local Authorities (2020).

Local carbon emissions by sector

In getting to net zero as quickly as possible, we need to look at how we do things differently in every sector.

(000t)

2018
2019
2020

High-impact, low-carbon initiatives

Total published on Carbon Copy across the UK: 1044 See all Initiatives

There are some amazing collaborations between local councils, communities and companies. Some examples in/around Belfast:

Titanic Belfast

Reducing carbon with Judith Owens from Titanic Belfast on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Waste
  • Built Environment
  • Energy

Nichola Mallon

Reducing carbon with Nichola Mallon from Northern Ireland Executive on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Energy

COP26 One Step Greener

Reducing carbon with Emer Rafferty on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Excessive consumption
  • Greater fairness
  • Biodiversity & Nature

Queen's University Belfast

Reducing carbon with Chloe McDonnell on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Energy

Belfast Met College

Reducing carbon with Paul McCormack on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Air pollution
  • Carbon emissions
  • Energy

Danske Bank

Reducing carbon with Chris Martin from Danske Bank on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Finance

Hearty Growers

Reducing carbon with Terry Vaz from Hearty Growers on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Food security & supply
  • Waste
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture
  • Biodiversity & Nature
  • Circular Economy

RE[act] Sustainable Finance

Strengthening Northern Ireland's sustainable economy.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Excessive consumption
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Finance
  • Circular Economy

RE[act] Cafe

Offering city young people a voice in the transition towards a greener city.

Belfast
  • Greater fairness
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Circular Economy

RE[act] Green Building

Demonstrating the value of a green city built environment.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Built Environment
  • Energy

RE[act] Active Travel Event

Building active transport in the city centre.

Belfast
  • Air pollution
  • Carbon emissions
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Transport
  • Built Environment
  • Circular Economy

RE[act] Festival Launch

Creating a sustainable Belfast City.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Circular Economy
  • Built Environment
  • Transport

Ten Stories About Food Waste

Raising awareness of the environmental impact of food waste and how to stop it.

Belfast
  • Excessive consumption
  • Food security & supply
  • Waste
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture
  • Biodiversity & Nature

RE[act] Festival

Creating a sustainable Belfast.

Belfast
  • Greater fairness
  • Finance
  • Circular Economy

True Cost

Raising awareness of environmental damage caused by the global fashion and textiles industry.

Belfast
  • Excessive consumption
  • Greater fairness
  • Waste
  • Circular Economy

Business Breakfast

Enabling businesses to see the impact made through circular economy within the waste industry.

Belfast
  • Carbon emissions
  • Excessive consumption
  • Waste
  • Circular Economy

Lennoxvale Tree Nursery

Creating a tree nursery in southern Belfast to grow native trees for planting in the community.

Belfast
  • Air pollution
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Carbon emissions
  • Biodiversity & Nature
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture

Forests For Our Future

Planting 18 million trees by 2030 to create 9,000 hectares of new woodland.

Antrim and Newtownabbey
  • Air pollution
  • Biodiversity & Nature

Translink

Reducing carbon with Chris Conway from Translink on the Zero Carbon Tour.

Belfast
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Carbon emissions
  • Transport
  • Biodiversity & Nature

NI Water Hydrogen Project

Quantifying the benefits of co-locating an electrolyser at a wastewater treatment works.

Belfast
  • Flooding & drought
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture
  • Circular Economy

Restorify

Enabling Belfast's citizens to tell their own tree planting story while reforesting their city.

Belfast
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Carbon emissions
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Biodiversity & Nature
  • Built Environment
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture

Parliament Buildings Apiary

Introducing native black bees to the Stormont Estate.

Belfast
  • Air pollution
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Biodiversity & Nature
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture

Glas-na-Bradan Woodland Creation

Transforming the Belfast Hills into new native woodland with help from the local community.

Antrim and Newtownabbey
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Carbon emissions
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Biodiversity & Nature

Recycling Wind Turbine Blades

Recycling disused turbine blades to help develop green projects.

Belfast
  • Waste
  • Transport
  • Built Environment

The Ogham Grove

Exploring our relationship with our native woodland and environment through a spectacular artwork.

Belfast
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Waste
  • Circular Economy
  • Biodiversity & Nature
  • Built Environment

GenComm

Validating and modelling the renewable H2 value chain and adapting to need.

Antrim and Newtownabbey
  • Air pollution
  • Carbon emissions
  • Tech & Innovation
  • Energy
  • Transport

Native Oyster Restoration

Deploying native oyster nurseries to enhance biodiversity in Northern Ireland.

Antrim and Newtownabbey
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Carbon emissions
  • Biodiversity & Nature

Belfast City: One Million Trees

Working with schools, community groups and businesses to make Belfast City a greener place.

Belfast
  • Air pollution
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Carbon emissions
  • Biodiversity & Nature
  • Land Use, Food & Agriculture