LGA Sustainability Roundtable Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Reporting on its greenhouse gas emissions is potentially the single biggest sustainability metric for a council. However, in England there is no specification or standard setting out what councils must report on. Instead, each council can decide if it wishes to report its greenhouse gas emissions, and if so, how it to go about this.

Collecting accurate data, which is available, consistently, year after year is important for allowing any reported emissions to be both true to real world activity and to allow for trends to be identified. Data collection can, however, be harder and more time consuming in practice than it may initially appear to be.

This roundtable event will provide councillors and officers an opportunity to discuss their experience and practice of reporting greenhouse gas emissions, including experience of collecting underlying data. The session will include introductory presentations on the topic, followed by the opportunity to participate in roundtable discussions with peers.
This will include the opportunity to see a demonstration of LGA’s free GHG Accounting Tool and the associated Waste Emissions Calculator, along with a council that has been delivering a comprehensive programme of emission measurement; Cambridgeshire County Council.
The session is suitable for both councillors and officers, will not be recorded and will operate under Chatham House Rules.

This roundtable is suitable for councillors and council officers involved in:

• sustainability and climate action
• greenhouse gas measurement and reporting
• collecting corporate or waste emissions data
• setting or reviewing reporting boundaries and baselines

It will provide an opportunity for both councillors and officers to share experiences and learn from approaches being taken by other councils.

Local Partnerships hosts two free tools to support consistent and accurate emissions reporting by local authorities.

The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tool helps councils calculate their carbon baseline and report annual emissions.

The accompanying Waste Emissions Calculator supports councils in measuring emissions arising from waste management and treatment activities.

Download the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tool

Download the Waste Emissions Calculator