1 Introduction
1. The responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions
associated with the manufacture of goods and services can be attributed
in a number of different ways: according to the territory in which
they were physically emitted; according to where the good or service
produced was consumed; or according to the emissions a country
is responsible for historically. This inquiry explored the difference
between the emissions physically produced in the UK (territorial
emissions), and those emissions embedded in the goods we have
consumed (consumption emissions).
2. The main distinction between territorial-based
and consumption-based measures is the treatment of emissions embodied
in trade flows.[1] Consumption-based
emissions reporting excludes emissions embodied in exports, but
includes emissions embodied in imports.[2]
Consumption emissions in the UK are published by Defra[3],
while DECC base policy on—and report emissions performance
on—a territorial basis.[4]
3. DECC's 2011 statistics stated that GHG emissions
calculated on a territorial basis fell almost 28% between 1990-2009,[5]
and declined at around 1% per year between 1990 and 2008.[6]
The Committee acknowledges the Government's achievements in this
area, and commends DECC for its commitment to ambitious carbon
budgets and targets. However, these emission reductions and targets
were based upon emissions that have occurred within the UK's borders,
and did not take into account the emissions embedded in goods
that were consumed in the UK but produced elsewhere.
4. DECC's exclusive focus on UK territorial emissions
drove the Committee to explore what conclusions could be drawn
about energy and climate change if emissions calculated on a consumption
basis were also taken into account. The Committee sought to explore
the contribution that a consideration of consumption emissions
could make to a more holistic understanding of the greenhouse
gas emissions the UK was responsible for. This included inquiry
into an increased role for data on consumption-based emissions
in policy, and the merits of setting targets for consumption emissions
alongside the UK's existing territorial carbon budgets. The Committee
was not seeking to change the territorial basis on which international
negotiations on a climate change agreement, and EU emissions targets,
were made. However, we noted that Scottish climate change legislation
already requires Scottish Ministers to lay before the Scottish
Parliament a report that must "set out the emission of greenhouse
gases (whether in Scotland or elsewhere) which are produced by
or otherwise associated with the consumption and use of goods
and services in Scotland during that year".[7]
5. As this report details, the evidence suggests
that consideration of consumption-based emissions is complementary
to the territorial approach. There is also evidence that the Government,
or more specifically DECC, may be complacent about what it needs
to do if it is basing energy and climate change policy on an incomplete
picture of the UK's emissions. As the University of Leeds Professor
John Barrett explained to us, the UK "measure[s] [emissions]
from a territorial perspective so the emission has to have actually
occurred [in the UK], and the thing we know about climate change
is it doesn't actually matter where the tonne occurs".[8]
The Committee agrees with WWF-UK's Dr Keith Allot who added, "I
think we have a huge responsibility in the UK to show leadership,
however you measure the metrics of the UK's footprint".[9]
1 Ev w27 Back
2
Ev w27 Back
3
Defra, UK's Carbon Footprint-Carbon dioxide emissions relating
to UK consumption, www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/environment/green-economy/scptb01-ems/ Back
4
DECC, UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/climate_stats/gg_emissions/gg_emissions.aspx Back
5
DECC,UK Climate Change Sustainable Development Indicator,
31 March 2011, p 10 Back
6
Ev 46 Back
7
SP Act Climate Change (Scotland) 2009 Back
8
Q 6 Back
9
Q 61 Back
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