Peterborough council's net carbon emissions increase by more than 2,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas in a year

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) net carbon footprint has increased by more than 2,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas in a year.

The authority reports net emissions of 7,389 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide or equivalent) in the 2022/23 financial year, up from 4,813 tonnes in 2021/22.

It says its decision to revert from buying electricity using a green tariff to a standard tariff has impacted the figures.

In 2020, the council began buying energy from Total Power and Gas which was offset by energy produced by renewable sources, but this ended in 2022.

It now draws electricity from the National Grid, but because this increasingly provides energy from renewable sources itself, the council’s total emissions (as opposed to net emissions) have actually decreased.

In 2022/23 it emitted 7,867 tonnes of CO2e in total, its smallest figure since it declared a climate emergency in 2019 and began tracking its carbon footprint.

PCC still aims to reduce its net emissions to zero by 2030 as it did in 2019, but pushed back its target for the whole city to become net zero from 2030 to 2040 in January.

'Three planets' worth of resources would be needed if everyone earth lived like a Peterborian'

Currently, if every person on earth lived like the average person does in Peterborough, we would need nearly three planets’ worth of resources to sustain us, according to PCC, based on the food we eat, waste we produce, travel we undertake and energy, goods and services we consume.

Meanwhile, the “impact of climate change is also being seen locally”, it continues in a report on its emissions, with temperatures of almost 40°C recorded in Wittering in 2022 and intense periods of rainfall impacting Ferry Meadows and people’s homes in recent years.

PCC is currently producing a ‘roadmap’ to net zero, expected to be complete in summer.

After this, it will announce new climate initiatives, it says, but in the meantime has several underway.

Council staff no longer given phone chargers and provided guidance on sustainable travel routes home

Some of these are relatively small and localised, such as no longer issuing chargers with mobile phones to its staff “as individuals will already have their own” and replacing laptops as needed rather than on a default three to four year cycle.

New starters are also being offered a “personalised route plan” detailing ways home from Sand Martin House, the council’s offices in Fletton Quays, involving walking, cycling and public transport.

Other, larger, schemes include installing LED lighting at the Bushfield Sports Centre, Jack Hunt Sports Centre and Museum.

LEDs will also be installed at Hampton Library, Key Theatre, Premier Fitness, and Bretton Library in future. The LED scheme replaces plans to install solar panels on four council buildings.

The council also plans to plant thousands of new trees, establish more electric vehicle chargers and install smart metres in council buildings.

Council buildings responsible for more than half of its emissions

Its buildings accounted for 56 per cent of its total emissions in 2022/23, while transport accounted for 27 per cent and infrastructure 17 per cent.

Buildings don’t just include the Town Hall and Sand Martin House, though, but leisure facilities its company Peterborough Limited operates, as well as libraries, community building, cemeteries, crematoriums and more.

In future, it will also factor in emissions from council-owned buildings it doesn’t operate as well as goods and services it purchases.

PCC’s climate committee will discuss its latest emissions report at a meeting on Wednesday, 13th March.