Our emissions
Contents
Emissions monitoring
We worked with the Carbon Trust to calculate its baseline emissions in 2018/19. This is the base we will be working from to reduce our emissions to net-zero by 2030. These reports give greater detail on the breakdown of these emissions.
Council operational emissions report (PDF, 1.42MB)
Emissions modelling and indirect emissions report (PDF, 1.65MB)
The table below sets out the Council’s emissions since the baseline year of 2018/19. This table will be updated annually to show our progress in reducing our emissions. We report on our emissions in terms of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). All emissions have varying impacts on climate change (known as their global warming potential), but for simplicity, we equilibrate and report on our emissions in the terms of if they were all CO2 (as this is the predominant emission).
Find out more about global warming potential and carbon dioxide equivalent.
Emission source | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scope 1 | |||||
Gas consumption – | 2884 | 2874 | 2334.54 | 2446.71 | 2674.86 |
Petrol and diesel consumption – Fleet - Tonnes of CO2e | 1387.9 | 1384.65 | 1456.58 | 1490.30 | 1346.19 |
Refrigerant gases - Tonnes of CO2e | Not measured | Not measured | Not measured | Not measured | 23.46 |
Scope 2 | |||||
Electricity consumption* - Tonnes of CO2e | 1229.45 | 895.05 | 829.61 | 924.02 | 837.72 |
Scope 3 | |||||
Electricity (Transmision & Distribution losses) - Tonnes of CO2e | 104.81 | 75.99 | 72.92 | 83.38 | 76.63 |
Working from Home - Tonnes of CO2e | Not Measured | Not Measured | 304.19 | 267.39 | 233.18 |
Staff commuting - Tonnes of CO2e | 369.50 | 363.20 | 30.78 | 44.70 | 41.62 |
Staff business travel - Tonnes of CO2e | 49.80 | 50.90 | 23.12 | 22.00 | 26.66 |
Waste production - Tonnes of CO2e | 43.40 | 90.94 | 113.46 | 377.62 | 254.63 |
Water consumption - Tonnes of CO2e | 127.40 | 93.50 | 68.87 | 39.30 | 32.32 |
Total emissions within the Council’s carbon neutral target - Tonnes of CO2e | 6196.26 | 5828.23 | 5234.09 | 5695.60 | 5547.28 |
*From financial year 2022/23, electricity consumption was associated with Council buildings, as well as that used in electric and hybrid vehicles.
During 2020/21, many of our staff moved from mainly working in the office to working from home. We recognised that emissions associated with people working from home would not be captured under normal emissions reporting.
For more details on our most recent greenhouse gas emission figures please click on the below report:
Greenhouse Gas Report Financial Year 2022/23
To see Council emissions from past years, you can view the emissions archive
Working from home
During 2020/21, many of our staff moved from mainly working in the office to working from home. We recognised that emissions associated with people working from home would not be captured under normal emissions reporting.
Instead, using a methodology developed by international climate consultancy EcoAct, we estimated emissions created by staff working from home and included these emissions in our reporting.
From 2020/21 onwards, the Council will calculate its emissions associated with staff working from home as this becomes a bigger part of the way that staff work at the Council.
Find out more about the Council's emissions calculations for 2020/21
Carbon Management Plan
We also produce a Carbon Management Plan. The purpose of the Carbon Management Plan is to set out the actions we will take to reduce our emissions, and the specific emission reduction each action will produce. This enables us to stay on track to reach our carbon neutral emissions target by 2030. A new Carbon Management Plan is currently being produced and will be uploaded once it is available.
Carbon Management Plan 2016-2020 (PDF, 2.07MB)
If you need any of this information provided in another format, contact climate.change@colchester.gov.uk.
Page last reviewed: 9 August 2021