A fifth of councils have not published a plan to tackle climate change despite many declaring a climate emergency, new research has uncovered.

The council climate plan scorecards, published by Climate Emergency (CE) UK, showed 84 councils have no published plan.

Only 86 councils have an area-wide net-zero target of 2030 or earlier.

The research also rated the quality and ambition of the plans, considering aspects such as whether climate actions were costed, whether the actions have a clear goal and whether they went beyond just cutting the council's own emissions.

Councils in England and Scotland scored an average of 46%, with this dropping to 31% for Welsh councils and 25% for those in Northern Ireland.

Campaigns and policy officer at CE UK, Annie Pickering, said: 'Local authorities can help to deliver 30% of the cuts in carbon emissions needed to get to net zero so it is vital that councils do as much as they can.'