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Government Departments: Carbon Emissions

Volume 506: debated on Monday 1 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many tonnes of equivalent carbon dioxide were offset by each member of the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, according to outturn figures, in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 in respect of (i) domestic, (ii) short haul and (iii) long haul flights. (318345)

The total figures for the Government Carbon Offsetting Facility are available on the DECC website at:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/co2_offsetting/gov_offsetting/gov_data/gov_data.aspx

The following table breaks these data down by domestic, short-haul and long-haul flights where DECC holds these data.

Where the total number of certified emissions reductions (CERs) purchased is higher than the sum of the domestic, short-haul and long-haul flights data, this is due to offsetting of other travel such as rail and road travel. One CER is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Government Carbon Offsetting Facility—Phase I (April 2007 to March 2009): Purchases of Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs)

CERs purchased under GCOF I by domestic, short-haul and long-haul

Total CERs purchased

Domestic

Short-haul

Long-haul

Public sector organisation

2007-08

2008-091

2007-08

2008-091

2007-08

2008-091

2007-08

2008-091

Total

British-American Parliamentary Group (BAPG)

42.95

75.24

42.95

75.24

118.19

Cabinet Office (including No. 10 Downing street; 2006-07 Figures also include figures for 2005-06)

50.85

2

3,386.95

2

914.27

2

4,352.07

4,500.00

8,852.07

Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS)

2

2

2

2

2

2

190.00

190.00

380.00

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) (including Energy section of DECC from 3 October 2008)

512.97

2

1,280.94

2

4,135.27

2

5,929.17

5,200.00

11,129.17

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)

82.18

43.64

82.44

33.46

235.49

145.67

400.10

222.76

622.86

Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

27.34

20.01

135.96

101.20

72.58

146.88

235.88

268.08

503.96

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

2

2

2

2

2

2

350.00

350.00

700.00

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (including the Climate Change section of DECC from 3 October 2008 onwards)

1,001.14

2

1,137.56

2

1,928.22

2

5,093.92

5,100.00

10,193.92

Department for International Development (DFID)

677.28

705.25

1,796.76

681.10

15,619.98

20,659.02

18,145.10

22,123.38

40,268.48

Department for Transport (DFT)

192.43

194.75

375.90

227.85

718.84

900.43

1,287.16

1,323.03

2,610.19

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

2,169.94

2,055.25

297.64

250.51

321.62

455.61

2,789.21

2,761.37

5,550.58

Department of Health (DH)

114.71

2

263.72

2

539.77

2

918.19

920.00

1,838.19

Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD)

1.06

2

42.42

2

134.20

2

190.91

180.00

370.91

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) (for part of financial year 2007-08. 2006-07 was offset through a separate contract. The remainder of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 emissions will be offset through GCOF II)

2

2

2

2

2

2

26,598.89

2

26,598.89

Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA)

3

3

3

3

3

3

1,969.80

2,125.00

4,094.80

Greater London Authority (GLA)

2.43

35.37

11.06

210.32

202.08

248.12

213.14

461.26

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

3,827.49

5,186.53

862.96

646.59

902.78

1,139.42

5,593.23

6,972.54

12,565.77

HM Treasury

435.01

2

114.26

2

339.57

2

888.84

1,200.00

2,088.84

Home Office

858.58

815.31

739.61

633.61

1,466.25

1,489.51

3,064.44

2,938.43

6,002.87

House of Commons

291.02

310.02

490.81

296.46

991.17

999.82

1,773.00

1,606.31

3,379.31

House of Lords

49.34

64.70

114.39

65.80

155.65

156.98

319.38

287.48

606.86

Law Officer's Department (LOD)

17.59

49.12

180.98

82.11

390.65

769.34

589.21

900.56

1,489.77

London Development Agency (LDA)

2

2

2

2

2

2

75.00

75.00

150.00

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

339.47

4,209.90

789.80

2,492.89

5,654.20

6,499.73

6,783.47

13,283.20

Ministry of Defence (MOD)

411.13

673.32

3,667.64

4,042.19

12,794.58

19,591.30

16,873.35

24,306.82

41,180.17

Ministry of Justice (MOJ) (including Department for Constitutional Affairs)

434.36

599.64

296.53

168.21

652.91

622.20

1,495.97

1,509.18

3,005.15

Northern Ireland Office (NIO)

552.40

582.53

27.71

18.64

59.54

49.48

639.64

650.65

1,290.29

Royal Household (RH)

2

2

2

2

2

2

5,452.47

4,688.00

10,140.47

Sustainable Development Commission (SDC)

2

2

2

2

2

2

151.36

151.36

302.72

The Rent Service (TRS)

Transport for London (TFL)

15.13

4.38

316.24

165.91

540.67

463.35

872.04

633.65

1,505.69

Valuation Office Agency (VOA)

18.60

50.15

2.83

2.19

11.97

30.08

33.40

82.42

115.82

113,062.53

98,337.87

211,400.40

1 Payments made for 2008-09 were based on estimates to be reconciled with actual data published as part of the SDiG report. Any remaining differences will be purchased through GCOF II. This explains the difference between figures in 2008-09 and those published for the Cabinet Office at:

www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/225313/cabinetoffice2009.pdf_p106

2 Only total purchase of CERs known.

3 No flights offset—only road travel.

Notes on why total CERs purchased are sometimes different to sum of domestic, short-haul and long-haul flight emissions:

1. DEFRA, ECGD and DFID have purchased CERs to offset road and rail travel as well as air travel.

2. MOJ data broken down for air travel where possible. Some agencies of MOJ have estimated totals.

3. MPS total less than sum of domestic, short-haul and long-haul flights due to use of separate emissions factors for total.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which Departments (a) are and (b) are not on target to stay within their allocated carbon budget for 2009-10; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for which such budgets are likely to be exceeded. (318616)

In common with UK carbon budgets, departmental carbon budgets are for five-year periods (2008-12, 2013-17 and 2018-22). We will be reporting on progress towards meeting the budgets in October in our response to the annual report from the Committee on Climate Change.