Track Edinburgh's progress to net zero

Track Council emissions

As signatories of the Edinburgh Climate Compact we have committed to track and publish Council emissions. We report each year on how we meet the Public Bodies Climate Change Duties (PBCCD). This is under the terms of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Our latest report on Council emissions covers activity for 2020-21. It shows that in the past year our emissions fell by 11% based on 2019/20 levels.

Council emissions by source

Source: energy

This covers

  • fuels used to heat and power the Council’s operational buildings
  • street lighting
  • other uses such as
    • flood lighting
    • Christmas lighting.

Emissions per year from energy

  • 2014/2015: 97,723 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2015/2016: 88,439 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2016/2017: 80,979 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2017/2018: 74,967 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2018/2019: 62,657 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2019/2020: 58,297 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2020/2021: 52,663 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

Source: fleet

This covers fuels used by the Council vehicles (including hire vehicles), ranging from small cars to bin lorries.

Emissions per year from fleet

  • 2014/2015: 7,058 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2015/2016: 7,025 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2016/2017: 7,046 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2017/2018: 6,713 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2018/2019: 8,519 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2019/2020: 6,671 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2020/2021: 6,287 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

Staff travel

This covers staff mileage travelled for

  • business travel
  • taxis
  • rail
  • air travel.

Emissions per year from staff travel

  • 2014/2015: 1,648 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2015/2016: 1,260 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2016/2017: 1,194 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2017/2018: 1,247 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2018/2019: 1,462 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2019/2020: 1,956 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2020/2021: 612 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

Waste

This covers all waste collected by the Council including household waste.

  • 2014/2015: 36,977 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2015/2016: 52,575 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2016/2017: 49,612 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2017/2018: 67,842 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2018/2019: 48,050 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2019/2020: 5,843 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2020/2021: 5,949 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

Water

This covers the supply and treatment of water used by the Council.

  • 2014/2015: 658 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2015/2016: 568 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2016/2017: 574 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2017/2018: 575 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2018/2019: 824 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2019/2020: 736 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2020/2021: 157 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

Total emissions from all sources per year

  • 2014/2015: 144,063 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2015/2016: 149,868 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2016/2017: 139,405 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2017/2018: 151,344 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2018/2019: 121,513 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2019/2020: 73,503 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • 2020/2021: 65,647 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

You can find more information about this in our Council Emissions Reduction Plan and on the Council’s Public Bodies Climate Change Duties report.