Eddie Smith, economic analyst at the North East local enterprise partnership (LEP), sets out a summary of the recently released local greenhouse gas emissions dataset.
Each day the research and statistics page of the gov.uk website lists dozens of new datasets and statistical releases. These are produced by organisations covering many topics that relate to the governing of the UK. At the North East LEP, we analyse local or regional statistics that provide insights into key areas of work that our organisation is involved with. Summaries are included on the North East Evidence Hub.
Greenhouse gas emissions in the North East
One such dataset is the annual local and regional greenhouse gas emissions statistical release from DESNZ. This provides important information for the LEP and for the many other organisations that are working together as part of Net Zero North East England.
The headline finding from the latest release, at the end of June, was that, in 2021, greenhouse gas emissions from the seven local authority areas within the North East LEP area totalled 9,665 kilotonnes CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) units.
For many of us, this total means little by itself. The immediate response is to ask a series of questions: Which gases make up the emissions? What sectors do the emissions come from? What are the trends over time? How does the North East compare to elsewhere? Below, I set out answers to these and other key questions.
The inclusion of additional gases
The latest local emissions statistics include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) totals. For the first time, annual CH4 and N2O totals are available for each year back to 2005 and this means that the patterns over time shown in last year’s release have been superseded.
Given that CH4 and N2O made up 18% of North East emissions in 2021, the additional information has clearly improved the quality and usefulness of the statistics. It is also a reminder of the importance of using the most recent data for every year in any dataset and not assuming that figures in previous releases are set in stone.
The impact of Covid
The emissions total for the North East in 2021 was 5.6% higher than in 2020, the first time in more than a decade that the annual change was not a decrease. Was this growth Covid-related? Looking at North East emissions by sector, the largest increases between 2020 and 2021 were in transport and industry, suggesting that the data reflected the easing of Covid-related restrictions.
North East transport emissions in 2021 were still much lower than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. Their decrease was responsible for much of the 4.8% fall in total emissions over the two-year period. As with many other annual datasets with a time lag, we have not yet reached the stage where the latest statistics are for the post-Covid period. We still await data showing the full impact of the pandemic on emission levels.
Changes in North East emissions by sector
Total emissions in the North East more than halved between 2005 and 2021. Looking at changes by sector, the 72% fall in industrial emissions has been a key factor in this decrease. Year on year changes can highlight the impact of the closure of individual high-emission industrial sites, with a particularly large decrease in 2013 being a good example.
Agricultural, transport and domestic emissions in the North East decreased by smaller percentages between 2005 and 2021, down 11%, 22% and 40%, respectively. Together with the industry sector, these made up 88% of emissions in the latest data, so progress towards net zero targets will be particularly driven by focusing on reductions in these sectors.
Comparisons between different areas
By using a population-based rate, we can compare statistics for different sized areas. The North East emissions rate in 2021 was 4.91 tonnes per head, lower than the England rate of 5.47 (or 5.85 if London is excluded).
We can also compare the North East with the other seven “core city areas”. These each contain one of England’s most populous built-up areas outside of London. In 2021, the North East had the lowest emissions rate among the eight.
The 51% decrease in North East greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2021 was larger than the England decrease (39%) and the biggest among the eight core city areas. The percentage decrease in emissions from industrial sources in the North East was much larger than nationally, suggesting closures of high-emission sites were more of a factor in our area than elsewhere.
Further information
The summary of the latest North East emissions data can be found here. It includes information at local authority area level.