Cities, like Plymouth, consume the lion’s share of the world’s energy and produce more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN’s World Economic Forum. As a city then, we can start by understanding our carbon footprint and in particular the carbon emissions that we are directly responsible for.
The government publishes figures for carbon emissions for the entire country, which are broken down at a local authority level. Analysis of this data tells us about the carbon emissions that we’re directly putting into the atmosphere in Plymouth. It breaks down as follows:
SOURCE
Plymouth Emissions Report 2025 See the report here
Around a third of our GHG emissions (35%) come from transport. And 99% of that comes from our roads; from the journeys we make on a daily basis. This may be commuting to work, dropping the kids to school and doing the shopping or going out in our cars and vans. It also includes commercial journeys, delivering goods and services as well as lorries and vehicles working in industry and building new homes and developments.
25% of our carbon emissions are released through our buildings. This is mostly from our gas and oil boilers burning fossil fuels to heat our homes and work places and provide hot water. When buildings are not energy efficient, we burn more fuel as we have to make up for the heat that is lost through poor insulation and draughty windows among other things. And while 18 degrees is the recommended temperature to maintain a home for most healthy people, many of us have got used to temperatures of more than 20 degrees, which takes even more energy to heat!
SOURCE
What is the ideal home temperature? British Gas – (www.britishgas.co.uk)
A further 15% of our emissions comes from creating the energy (electricity) that we use to power our homes, businesses and buildings: our lights, machines, dishwashers, washing machines, power tools and so on. In the UK, our electricity is generated from lots of fuel sources. The good news is 55.9% of it was generated from renewable or nuclear sources in 2023/24, but we still have some way to go to move away from the 41.3% generated by burning coal or gas.
SOURCE
Fuel mix disclosure data table GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The carbon emissions in the city from waste (15%) are from how we dispose of our waste There are two primary sources from our solid waste (our rubbish); the methane that is produced from our landfill sites that hold our waste from over the years and the greenhouse gas emissions from our Energy from Waste plant.
The third source is from our waste water, which we refer to as sewage.
7% of our carbon is linked to industrial sources where GHGs are emitted in the manufacturing process.
Most of the f-gases released in Plymouth (2%) are from refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps containing f-gases that can leak out from coolants over time.
We are also responsible for many indirect carbon emissions. These are all the carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere in the place where products are made or food is grown. Often referred to as consumption emissions, they represent the emissions from the stuff we consume.
It’s easy to forget about these – out of sight, out of mind! In fact you’ll often hear people say ‘but what about China?’ The truth is China does have a large carbon footprint, but one of the reasons for that is they produce many of the products that we consume. Internal standards for reporting carbon mean that we count the carbon emissions in the country where it occurs.
The carbon footprint of flying is recorded where the flight takes place or by your personal carbon footprint, which will usually capture all your emissions, based on answering a set of questions. Do you know your individual carbon footprint?
The food system is responsible for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions! This includes livestock and fisheries, crop production (fertilising land and using powered machinery) changing land use (removing trees, burning savannah and cultivating soil) and the supply chain (processing and transporting the food around the world). And every time we waste food, we waste all the associated carbon that goes with it.
Everything we buy from our clothing, to our pots and pans in the kitchen, our appliances and all round general ‘stuff’ has a carbon footprint. This is calculated by looking at the whole life of a product from its raw materials to where it ends up when we’re finished with it. Our consumption emissions include everything that we buy so if we buy a new phone every year or five new tops a month, our carbon footprint will be much higher than if we purchase a refurbished phone once every few years or one quality piece of clothing that lasts for years.
Imagine a mug. The mug’s carbon footprint includes:
It’s a complex process for each product. If you want to weigh up whether a product is low carbon or not, think about the materials used to make it and how it is made primarily. Where it was made influences the miles it has to travel and associated carbon emissions, but this proportion is often much lower than the energy used in the materials and manufacturing process.
In short – yes we can. But this isn’t a one man band type response. If we’re going to tackle climate change and create a greener, healthier, more prosperous future, we need to respond as a city...
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