Data on public sector emissions
End-user emissions for the public administrative estate in the UK in 2009 were 17.7 Mt CO2e, or 3% of the UK’s total emissions as a whole. This data highlights the scale of emissions from the public sector as end-user in the UK. In order to supplement this information, in 2011 DECC commissioned research to understand the level of emissions from the public sector in England and the potential for emissions reductions by 2014-15, as well as an analysis of trends in Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for public sector buildings.
The research was undertaken by Camco and was split into three elements:
Workstream 1: Re-assessment of public sector emissions
This is an assessment of public sector estates emissions covering scopes 1, 2 and scope 3 business travel emissions using data from 09-10 or as close to that year as possible. The aim was to select the most robust datasets with the best available energy and floor area data while also obtaining an estimate of the upper limit of public sector emissions using estimates of maximum floor area for each sector and multiplying that by the baseline energy intensity figures.
Workstream 2: Detailed assessment of abatement potential
This is an analysis of cost-effective and non-cost-effective carbon abatement in the public sector applied evenly to each sub-sector or as a top-level target achieved using the most cost effective measures regardless of sub-sector distribution. The modelling is bottom-up using data from the Carbon Trust’s close-out database, listing measures recommended to public sector bodies through its carbon management plans.
Workstream 3: Display Energy Certificate analysis
This is an analysis of the latest extract from the DEC registry to investigate overall public sector and sub-sectoral trends in building energy and carbon emissions performance.
Headline findings from this research are summarised below:
- For public sector emissions in England, the research estimated emissions from the public sector in England, including available transport data, was 16.7MtCO2e, with an associated cost of approx £2.5bn for building energy and £1.2bn on owned-vehicle fuel.
- Across the public sector estate in England, an investment of £1.66bn for cost-effective carbon reduction could deliver annual carbon and cost savings of 3.4MtCO2e, and £729m (21 MtCO2e and £4.9bn over the lifetime of measures), or a marginal abatement cost of -£155/tCO2. This marginal abatement cost varies across different parts of the public sector.
- Examining DEC data across public sector buildings showed that 83% of public sector buildings have A-E ratings (with 57% having a rating <100 – or better than the benchmark). It also indicated that across the DEC dataset as a whole, almost 40% of buildings had not obtained a DEC renewal. There was a slight improvement in the year-on-year performance of DECs across the public sector of -0.4%.
- Wider public sector emissions reduction potential research
- Wider public sector emissions reduction potential research: non-technical summary