Measuring Carbon Emissions
Like all local authorities, Lambeth has had a statutory duty to report annually on our Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). In our 2017/18 CRC we reported that CO2 emissions from Lambeth council’s operations were 7,672 tonnes. This figure included emissions from corporate sites, street lighting, housing management and grounds maintenance, but did not include emissions from:
- Vehicles used by council employees
- Partners delivering services on our behalf, such as waste collection, parking enforcement
- Our suppliers providing goods and services to Lambeth, such as our contractors resurfacing roads
Fig. 1 – Summary of Lambeth Carbon Reduction Commitment Emissions
| Reporting Period | Emissions (tonnes of CO2) | Scope of emissions |
|---|---|---|
| 2010/11 | 31,328 | Street lighting, corporate sites, schools |
| 2011/12 | 25,872 | Street lighting, corporate sites |
| 2012/13 | 27,722 | Corporate sites, schools |
| 2013/14 | 25,253 | Corporate sites, schools |
| 2014/15 | 12,172 | Corporate sites, street lighting |
| 2015/16 | 11,992 | Corporate sites, street lighting, Housing management |
| 2016/17 | 9,902 | Corporate sites, street lighting, Housing management, grounds maintenance |
| 2017/18 | 7,672 | Corporate sites, street lighting, Housing management, grounds maintenance |
| 2018/19 | Final figure TBC July 2019 * | Corporate sites, street lighting, Housing management, grounds maintenance |
*Town Hall and the Civic Centre supplies were not on board in full during 2017/18.
To make sure Lambeth Council’s operations are carbon neutral by 2030 we need solid data. Starting in 2019/20, in addition to the annual CRC, we will monitor emissions from all corporate council operations.
We will do this by:
- All council teams will be asked to calculate their carbon emissions from work journeys by using the National Energy Foundation’s carbon calculator
- We will explore appropriate measures for monitoring carbon emissions associated with our wider property portfolio and council owned housing.
- At present our partners and suppliers have no contractual duty to report to us their carbon emissions; but we will make this a standard condition in future procurement. However, we will write to all existing partners and suppliers regardless explaining our commitment to be carbon neutral and ask them to work with us by starting to report their CO2 emissions to us as soon as possible
- Create a consistent reporting process
This data will be published annually and will help us to:
- Identify whether this plan needs to be amended as our actions are not strong enough to fully tackle the problem
- Forecast an emissions timetable to follow and to check we are on target to hit our 2030 deadline
- Ensure this plan is followed and we see a year-on-year reduction in emissions
This document is just the start of our commitment to corporately make Lambeth carbon neutral. This document will be examined again in July 2020 to address what changes need to be made.