NEWS RELEASE
Date: 18 September 2008
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Local Authorities Take Up The Fight Against Climate Change
The Government today published statistics for the 2006 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions at Local Authority and Government Office Region level.
The figures represent all UK emissions allocated to Local Authority areas on an end-user basis, incorporating all business, household and transport emissions, so that they are distributed according to the location of energy consumption.
Up until now these statistics have been “experimental” but this is the first year that allows a meaningful year on year comparison of CO2 emissions in local areas.
Local Authorities have risen to the challenge of climate change as demonstrated by the widespread commitment to include climate change targets in their Local Area Agreements (LAAs). Significantly, the majority of LAAs contain targets against National Indicator 186 on reducing per capita emissions of CO2 in their areas, of between four and 15 per cent of the 2005 baseline.
Climate Change Minister Phil Woolas said:
“Climate change is a global issue, but the only way to fight it effectively is if people make positive choices and work together to make a difference in their local community. Local Authorities are not only ideally placed to enable this positive work, but also, through their own hard work and dedication, are able to set a good example through their own actions.
“We are already beginning to see the fight against climate change becoming a part of our daily lives, and it is Local Authorities who are making this happen by putting infrastructure in place to make green actions the easy choice as well as the right choice.”
The statistics assign emissions to end users. For example, the emissions created by a power plant are assigned to the users of the electricity rather than to the plant itself.
The statistics showed that:
- Overall, 46 per cent of end-user emissions assigned to Local Authority areas were attributed to the industrial and commercial sector, 29 per cent to the domestic sector, and 25 per cent to road transport.
- The industrial and commercial sector had the highest share of end-user emissions in 48 per cent of authorities. The road transport sector had the highest share in 23 per cent and the domestic sector the highest share in 28 per cent of authorities. The road transport sector had the lowest share in 56 per cent of authorities.
- In 2006, about 47 per cent of domestic end-user emissions come from gas use and 43 per cent are due to electricity consumption, showing little change from 2005 when the figures were 48 and 42 per cent respectively.
- n 2006, domestic end-user emissions were less than two tonnes per person in one per cent of Local Authorities, between two and 2.5 tonnes per person in 37 per cent, between 2.5 and three tonnes per person in 52 per cent and above three tonnes per person in nine per cent.
Notes to editors
- Under the terms of the National Statistics Code of Practice, these results are classified as full National Statistics for the first time. In previous years they have been labelled as experimental National Statistics, indicating that they were still under development. The National Statistician has now given approval that the statistics are of sufficiently high quality to no longer need the experimental label.
- The official estimates of carbon dioxide emissions for the UK are produced on behalf of Defra and the Devolved Administrations by AEA as part of the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. The full inventory estimates for the UK were published in January, while separate figures for the Devolved Administrations, covering emissions by source rather than end-user, are also published today. This project to estimate local CO2 emissions is designed to be as consistent as possible with the national inventories – it does not supersede any of the official national estimates previously published.
- These estimates are an improvement on the previous datasets for 2003, 2004 and 2005 all of which were published as “experimental statistics”. The experimental label was used to indicate that they were still under development and were not comparable from year to year. However, the 2006 dataset, together with the revised 2005 dataset, which is being published at the same time, is now classified as full National Statistics owing to improvements in accuracy. The 2005 and 2006 datasets are now comparable with each other, allowing meaningful comparisons for the first time.
- Further information for Local Authorities who have National Indicator NI186 included in their Local Area Agreement, together with the dataset to use in connection with this indicator, can be found at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localgovindicators/ni186.htm
- Local Authorities should note that this dataset differs from the main dataset in that it excludes emissions which are considered to fall outside the scope of the indicator.
- A summary, together with the full report and data tables are available from the e-Digest of Environmental Statistics on the Defra web site at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/globatmos/galocalghg.htm
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Page published: 18 September 2008