Climate change chart: CO2 data for East Midlands region’s local authorities

Em_upper_tier_ni186_05_08

Just put this chart together from the data released by AEA through DECC.

The data is *not* for total emissions in each area, but is adjusted to take out large point sources of emissions (power stations, cement works and the like) and motorways. The emissions remaining (basically domestic, transport and commercial) are those used for National Indicator 186, which is reported on by all local authorities and is a ‘core’ indicator for the Local Area Agreements in seven out of the nine upper tier authorities (Derby, Derbyshire, Leicester, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Rutland).

At the moment that the authorities are largely heading in the right direction; all but Derby reduced their emissions between 2007 and 2008. In the coming days, I’ll be putting up a more detailed comparison with the LAA targets as well as a breakdown of the district councils in the five counties.

CAVEAT 1: eagle-eyed readers will notice these are 2008 figures, yet have only just been released. That’s because there’s a 21-month time delay in the CO2 figures being released (at local authority level anyway, national figures came out in February). While Local Area Agreements end in March 2011, statistics covering that period won’t be available for another couple of years yet.

CAVEAT 2: anyone following these statistics closely should be aware that the baseline year figures (2005) have been adjusted (again) with this data release. All the data in this release (and the chart above) is based on the same methodology, but if you’ve seen any data in previous years this might look a bit different.

New CO2 statistics for East Midlands…which is which?

Originally posted at http://regenerationem.wordpress.com/

UPDATE: The NI186 figures were revised in November 2009 – more details here.

A new dataset for carbon dioxide emissions by local authority has just been released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Actually, make that two datasets. It’s fair to say that there is potential for confusion between the two, so here is a quick guide to clear up what to use when.

The statistics given most prominence by DECC are for total emissions by local authority area for 2007 (local figures are only available after a two year gap). These figures cover all emissions on an ‘end-user’ basis; that is, only those associated with energy usage within homes and businesses. The emissions from the region’s power stations are allocated to those using the energy being produced (useful for the region as it is a net exporter of energy). The figures for total emissions give the most accurate picture available of how the actions of people within the region are contributing to climate change.

However, this picture includes some sources over which local government has little control; namely transport emissions from motorways and large emitters who belong to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). To reflect this, DECC have removed these sources for a parallel set of statistics released in line with National Indicator 186 (NI186)  guidelines. NI186 is a requirement for districts to reduce their per capita emissions which is included in the majority of the region’s Local Area Agreements.

So total figures reflect the scope of the overall problem, but for a focus on local and regional policy it’s the NI186 figures that are the key.

Intelligence East Midlands is working with new data to present some visualisations for the new Climate East Midlands website currently in development. 2007 is the third year of data made available at the local level, so offers an opportunity to begin to study change over time. I’ll be checking back in on the blog once we’ve looked over the figures more carefully. OK, that’s enough of the abstract here’s the latest ‘Act On Co2′ ad from DECC; certainly doesn’t pull any punches…