National Statistics of carbon dioxide emissions for local authority areas for 2005-2011, have been produced on behalf of DECC by Ricardo-AEA. The purpose of these estimates is to assist those using local emissions accounting as a tool in developing emissions reduction strategies, and also for raising awareness generally of the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the important improvements made each year, these estimates are not perfect. They stretch the information available to the limit in order to provide estimates for each authority. Some of the limitations of the 2011 estimates include: 1. Unallocated electricity where electricity sales within the sub-national dataset cannot be successfully allocated to specific LAs, due to lack of information. 2. Transport emission estimates rely on national traffic statistics, and distribution of traffic on minor roads has had to be imputed at local level from regional level data 3. The local distribution of emissions from sources other than gas, electricity generation or transport (these residual sources are about 20 per cent of total emissions) largely has to be estimated from proxy information such as population or employment data 4. Some of the key sources used for mapping emissions do not cover the whole of the UK, and therefore alternative methods have had to be used for authorities in Northern Ireland. Further details on data quality and the methods used are available in the Technical Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-emissions-estimates It is also very important to bear in mind that circumstances vary enormously between authorities, and also that local authorities have relatively little influence over some types of emissions. In some cases more accurate data may be obtainable from locally available information, on which DECC would welcome feedback. For all these reasons, these statistics should be interpreted with caution. However, used with care they can provide help in setting priorities. In particular, the dataset is sufficiently robust to set a baseline against which to monitor action on climate change at a local level. It should be noted that the results at regional level are much more robust. Most of the difficulties in allocating data to local authorities have little impact at regional level. Problems of interpretation, such as economic activity or transport taking place across boundaries, still exist but are less acute at the regional level than at the local level.
Further information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-emissions-estimates
Citation
Identification Number: PE170
Authoring Entity: Ricardo-AEA
Copyright: Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)
Date of Production: 2013-09-04
