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Carbon Dioxide Emissions

 

Indicator

The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in Worcestershire.

 

Status

CO₂ emissions in the County are bad and getting worse.

 

Overview

Data on carbon dioxide emissions, along with a number of other gases, is collected nationally in order to monitor progress towards UK targets (set under the Climate Change Act) to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) by 26% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.  Worcestershire has committed to a 9% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2011 through a combination of National and Local measures.

Local infrastructure influences the levels of carbon dioxide emissions from industry and commerce, domestic use and road transport.

There is a strong belief amongst the scientific community that rising concentrations of greenhouses gases, such as Carbon Dioxide, from the burning of fossil fuels in homes, power stations, vehicles, business and industry, are contributing to Climate change. Climate change is a global phenomena, but it can be felt locally. In Worcestershire, over the last century there has been a lengthening in the growing season by a month, and over the last few decades there have been more incidences of severe flooding and drought, causing damage to property and habitats alike. These trends are set to accelerate unless action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Data for this indicator is available through DEFRA at a two-year time lag, so the data used in the 2009 update represents the situation as it was in 2006. The data for this indicator is the same as that used to report on progress towards meeting national indicator 186, 'per capita reductions in CO₂ emissions for the local authority area', targets. This data does therefore not include emissions from motorways.

Data has also been obtained relating to the types of fuel used by each district in 2006. This should provide insight into levels of CO₂ emissions seen in some districts.

In Worcestershire, the Worcestershire Partnership Climate Change Strategy sets out ways in which the County can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Through the National Indicator set, the Worcestershire Partnership have committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the local area by the inclusion of NI 186, 'per capita reduction in CO₂ emissions in the LA area', in the Local Area Agreement.

 

Performance

Using the 2005 and 2006 CO₂ emission data provided by DEFRA for reporting on progress with NI 186 it shows that CO₂ emissions tonnes per capita for Worcestershire have increased by 3%.

All Worcestershire districts have shown a percentage decrease in emissions from road transport with the greatest reductions in Wyre Forest and Wychavon (3.3% and 3% reductions respectively).  In the domestic sector, all districts increased their CO₂ emissions with the largest percentage increases from Redditch and Bromsgrove.  By far the greatest percentage changes between 2005 and 2006 have been seen in the industry and commerce sectors of Worcestershire with districts such as Malvern Hills having a percentage increase of over 20% between the years.

Worcester was the only district to reduce CO₂ emissions between the two years (figure 1) having achieved a 6% reduction in their industry and commerce sectors and 2% decreases in road transport emissions with a reduction overall of almost 3%.

In Worcestershire the highest CO₂ concentrations can be found around urban centres and along the motorway links (figure 2).

Breaking down Worcestershire's CO₂ emissions for 2006 by sector and district shows that Redditch, Worcester and Wychavon have their greatest emissions from the industry and commerce sector, while for Bromsgrove and Malvern Hills this sector accounts for the smallest emissions (figure 3). Wyre Forest, Bromsgrove and Malvern Hills all show the domestic sector as their highest emitters of CO₂.

CO₂ emissions are in part dependant on the type of fuel used to supply energy for aspects of transport, industry and for domestic use. Figure four indicates that petrol and natural gas accounts for 98% of Worcestershire's fuel use.

From Worcestershire's total energy usage, 60% of this is accounted for through the use of petroleum fuels (figure 4) of which the majority is used for road transport rather than domestic or industry uses.  The greatest demand for road transport fuels came from Wychavon (32%) in 2006 with the least from Redditch (5%).

Redditch and Wychavon appear to have the largest industry sectors for energy demand in the County which could partly explain why both districts have the highest CO₂ emissions in 2006 as combined they use 69% of Worcestershire's coal energy usage.

 

Geographical Context

From the latest available data (2006) we can see that Worcestershire emits 0.2 tonnes per capita more CO2 than the West Midlands average but is 0.1 tonnes per capita below the UK average (figure 1 above).  Although Worcestershire's CO₂ emissions are high (7.3 tonnes per capita), there are larger emitters in the West Midlands region including Herefordshire (9.5 tonnes per capita), North Warwickshire (11.1 tonnes per capita) and Bridgnorth (10.0 tonnes per capita).

For the UK the total fuel use for producing electricity rose by 10% between 1990 and 2007.  The use of coal for energy production has fallen by 39% over this period while the use of gas has risen by 31%.  For the UK, renewable energy use has been steadily increasing with 5% of the total electricity demand being produced in 2007 (DEFRA 2008).

 

Actions

A number of projects in Worcestershire hope to be able to contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions for the County.

The Worcestershire Partnership have updated their Climate Change Strategy.  The strategy includes details relating to reducing CO₂ emissions for Worcestershire and will be accompanied by actions for the future.  Actions around reducing CO₂ emissions will be focused on a variety of activities including aspects of improving home energy efficiency through the promotion of campaigns such as the 'Warmer Worcestershire' project.

The 'Warmer Worcestershire' campaign not only aims to help tackle fuel poverty, but also to reduce CO₂ emissions by highlighting areas of heat loss from homes and providing advice about grants to improve home energy efficiency.

An annual 'Switch it Off' campaign has been running since 2006 with a focus on getting people across the County and partner areas to not waste electricity and hopefully reduce CO₂ emissions. This campaign is continuing in 2009 with the 'Switch it Off' week in November.  The 'Big Switch Off' at the end of the week-long campaign is monitored by Central Networks so a reduction figure can be assigned. The 2008 campaign saved 22MW of electricity in Worcestershire, resulting in a saving of 11,814kg  of CO₂.  Across the three 'Switch it Off' regions (Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Coventry) the campaign saved 52,626 kg of CO₂.

New build projects such as Worcester Library and History Centre are being designed to BREEAM standards to have low CO₂ emissions.  The number of credits achieved for CO₂ reduction is dependant on renewable energy technologies and energy conservation measures.

The Local Area Agreement delivery plan for NI 186, per capita CO₂ emissions outlines actions which will help to deliver the 9% CO₂ emission reduction target for Worcestershire.

Planned actions include further work with schools around improving lighting efficiency and installing smart meters.

 

Further Information

For further information about CO₂ emissions data visit the DEFRA web pages.

For further information about energy visit Department for Energy and Climate Change

For details about UK energy use:

DEFRA (2008) 'The environment in your pocket 2008', DEFRA Publications: Norwich.

 

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This page was last reviewed 24 December 2009 at 10:26 by Jane Ridgley.