The Council’s Carbon Footprint
How we monitor progress with the Council’s Carbon Footprint
Each year, the Council reports its ‘Greenhouse Gas Inventory’ or ‘Carbon Footprint’ - an assessment of its climate change impact as an organisation, measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). The tCO2e is based on the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of different greenhouse gases over a 100-year period in comparison to carbon dioxide (CO2).
How is the report done?
Footprint assessments have been carried out independently by the Centre for Energy and Environment at the University of Exeter using internationally accepted methods, and cover Scopes 1, 2, and 3. Please note: a consistent methodological approach, combined with changes to official reference sources such as emissions factors may result in changes made in retrospect to figures published for previous years.
What are the results?
Here are the results for each year's report. The ‘baseline’ year was April 2018 - March 2019. Gross figures exclude offsets, such as solar power that we have exported off site. Nett emissions are calculated based on achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions linked to e.g. generating renewable energy.
The Nett Carbon Footprint (tCO2e) each year.
|
Financial Year |
Nett Carbon Footprint (tCO2e) |
Link to report |
|
2018/19 |
18491 |
April 2018 - March 2019 |
|
2019/20 |
17726 |
April 2019 - March 2020 |
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2020/21 |
16144 |
April 2020 - March 2021 |
|
2021/22 |
18104 |
April 2021 - March 2022 |
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2022/23 |
20134 |
April 2022 - March 2023 |
|
2023/24 |
18053 |
April 2023 - March 2024 |
|
2024/25 |
18494 |
April 2024 - March 2025 |
|
2025/26 |
21057 |
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Figure 4: Breakdown of emissions by headline alternative categories. Taken from the 25/26 report. |
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Notes on the latest analysis
Total net emissions for the 2025/26 period were 21,057 tCO2e. This was 14% higher than in the previous year.
The main changes:
Procurement: emissions increased by 2,631 tCO2e (31%) driven mainly by significantly higher emissions from activities assigned to a construction category (£19.3 million of spend in 2024/25 rose to £30.6 million in 2025/26).
Social Housing: the footprint decreased by 192 tCO2e mainly due to a drop in the electricity emission factor.
Offsets: decreased by 62 tCO2e mainly due to the change in grid emission factor (the offsetting value of 1 kWh of electricity was greater in 2024/25 compared to 2025/26). The Council also exports some of its solar power.
Buildings excluding housing: impact increased by 41 tCO2e (3%) as rises at Exe Valley and Lords Meadow outweighed the drop at Culm Valley.
Transport: emissions increased by 21 tCO2e (1%) compared to the previous year mainly due to increased fuel consumption by the fleet (in particular refuse collection and kerbside recycling).
Net emissions for areas in the Council’s direct control (comprising Council Offices and Facilities; Transport; and Offsets) amounted to just under 8% of the overall total footprint. The 1,650 tCO2e net impact for 2025/26 is circa 32% lower than the 2,427 tCO2e figure for 2018/19 baseline year. (777 tCO2e less.)