Greenhouse Gas emissions
Each year Plymouth receives a report outlining our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a city. Since 2019, the Centre for Energy and the Environment at the University of Exeter has provided this annual report to help Plymouth assess progress towards net zero using data from 2008 onwards.
Emissions Categories
The emissions in Plymouth are broken down into eight categories.
Travel
Travel emissions come from how people, goods and services move around the city, including road and rail transport, but not shipping or aviation. GHGs come from burning fossil fuels to power our vehicles.
Buildings
Our building emissions come from how we heat and provide hot water for our homes, work spaces and places. This is mostly from our boilers which burn fossil fuels (gas and oil) to create heat.
Energy
Our energy emissions come from the electricity we use to power our homes, buildings, items, and electric vehicles.
Waste
Our waste emissions come from how we dispose of our rubbish and sewage.
Industry
Our emissions from industry come from the CO2e produced during manufacturing processes and other uses of fuel at industrial sites.
F-Gases
These emissions come from the leakage of fluorinated gases used in coolants for fridges, air conditioning and heat pumps. F-gases have a much higher global warming potential than CO2.
Agriculture
These emissions come from the agricultural sector from farming livestock and from the application of manure and fertilisers to land used to grow goods.
Land Use
These emissions come from how we use our land or change its use, from adding or removing plant matter.
A Breakdown of Plymouth's Carbon Footprint
The table below shows our annual emissions of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in tonnes. This has been taken from the 2025 report which uses data from 2023 due to the two year lag in data collection.
To give you a relative idea 995,322 tonnes of CO2e is roughly the same weight as 99 Eiffel Towers or enough CO2e to fill up Tinside Lido 1241 times!
| Sector | Tonnes CO2e | |
|---|---|---|
| Transport | 339,598 | |
| Buildings | 237,453 | |
| Power | 143,311 | |
| Waste | 143,587 | |
| Industry | 68,223 | |
| F-gas | 19,212 | |
| Agriculture | 7,895 | |
| Land use | 186 | |
| Total | 959,464 |
The pie chart below shows us the breakdown of the carbon emissions that we’re directly putting into the atmosphere in Plymouth.
Split into the eight emissions categories we can see in more detail which areas are contributing most to Plymouth's emissions count.
We can see that transport (specifically from our roads) and buildings (mainly residential) are where most of our greenhouse gas emissions come from, highlighting the areas where we most need to focus.
It is also important not to forget about our indirect emissions. These can be described as consumption emissions and are made up of the things we consume or buy. Stuff! For example, food, clothes, electronics, cars or white goods.
Plymouth’s annual emissions reports
Browse through Plymouth’s annual emissions reports to explore the data in more detail.
UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021
The Food Waste Index Report aims to provide data on global food waste.
Plymouth Emissions Report 2025
This report details Plymouth's green house gas emissions. It is prepared independently for Plymouth by the University of
Plymouth Emissions Report 2024
This report details Plymouth's green house gas emissions. It is prepared independently for Plymouth by the University of Exeter.
Plymouth Emissions Report 2023
This report compiled in 2023 details Plymouth's green house gas emissions. It is prepared independently for Plymouth by the University of Exeter.
Plymouth Emissions Report 2022
This report compiled in 2022 details Plymouth's green house gas emissions. It also measures Plymouth's progress towards net zero based on indicators such as the number of retrofitted homes, number...