Plymouth's carbon footprint reduced again
Plymouth’s citywide carbon footprint has fallen to a new low – an announcement welcomed by the city’s Climate Change Commission and confirmed by the recent release of the Department of Energy & Climate Change’s national ‘emissions estimates’ for 2011.
Despite a small ‘blip’ in the figures for 2010, attributed to the impact of a very cold winter, emissions for the city have now fallen by 17.35% since 2005 and we are now back on target to meet a reduction of 20% by the end of 2013.
Encouragingly, and despite the recession, Plymouth’s industrial carbon footprint has fallen to 469,800 tCO2 - a 19.92% reduction since 2005 and only 0.08% off the 2013 target. This year the outcome is thought to reflect the number of local companies that are already applying positive carbon management plans economy.to save money and resources.
Despite an increase in Plymouth’s population, two citywide sectors have already met the target. Households and individuals have reduced their footprint by 20.96% and 20.34% respectively; with each resident’s personal footprint falling to a commendable 4.7 tonnes per person. This compares very favourably with a footprint of 6.5 tonnes person in the South West as a whole and 6.9 tonnes person for the UK.
However, Plymouth needs to ensure that this low footprint doesn’t reflect hidden problems such as the impact of rising energy prices and the number of families in fuel poverty.
Roger Higman, Chair of Plymouth’s Climate Change Commission said “ The continued reduction in Plymouth’s carbon footprint is welcome news but we do need to ensure that local communities are not losing out.
"Recently announced projects, such as the plans to insulate 10,000 local homes with the help of Plymouth Community Homes, the City Council and British Gas and the City Council’s Energy Community co-operative are vitally important for saving residents money and cutting emissions.”
1. The Governments emissions estimates, prepared for the Department of Energy & Climate Change by Ricardo-AEA, can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-emissions-est...
2. These tables give the carbon footprint figures for all of the local authority areas in the UK; breaking the data down in to results for the industrial, domestic and transport sectors as well as the totals and the outcomes for the per capita (per person) carbon footprints.
3. Plymouth’s Climate Change Commission is a group of experts in climate change policy, science, law and practice drawn from the public, private, education and community sectors, whose aim is to share expertise, raise awareness and support decision-making to enable Plymouth to grow its economy sustainably, be resilient to the challenges of a changing climate and at the forefront of the transition to a UK low carbon economy.
4. The Figures :
a. Plymouth’s Climate Change Framework 2009 established the ambitious reduction targets of 20% of the 2005 baseline by 2013, 60% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. At present we are on track to meet the 2013 target. The 2020 target could be a challenge but, like the 2050 target it is equally subject to national action on energy management.
b. The national figures are always published with a two year time delay so the full extent of local action will not be reflected until the Summer of 2015.
c. Between 2005 and 2011 the city’s overall carbon footprint fell by 255,000 tCO2 or 17.35%.
d. The reduction in the per capita (personal) carbon footprint over the same time was recorded as 20.34% from 5.9 tonnes per capita (tpc) to 4.7tpc.
e. The domestic or household carbon footprint dropped from 523,600 tCO2 in 2005 to 413,900 tCO2 in 2011; a drop of 20.96%
f. The industrial carbon footprint dropped from 586,600 tCO2 in 2005 to 469,800 tCO2 in 2011; a 19.92% drop.
g. The city’s transport carbon footprint is not faring so well with only an 8.45% drop recorded between 2005 and 2009 (357,800 tCO2 to 327,60 tCO2).
