Sustainability Reporting
Section 5: Carbon Management
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Carbon Management Plans
• Why are they required?
• How is waste incorporated?
• What is changing when
including waste?
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Carbon Management in context
• Key step to meet the Duties under the Climate
Change (Scotland) Act
• Almost all Scottish Public Bodies have a Carbon
Management Plan (around 150 in total)
• Key components of a Carbon Management Plan:
–
–
–
–
Carbon baseline
Carbon reduction target
Project plan to meet target
Governance and reporting
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Waste within Carbon Management Plans
• As a minimum, the Carbon
Management Plan includes internal
waste; Councils include MSW
• Included in:
– Carbon baseline
– Carbon reduction target
– Project plan to meet target
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Assessing the baseline (1)
• Estimate of tonnes
• If (1) own waste:
– Based on waste survey
– Estimate from volume of bins and uplift frequency
• If (2) entire MSW collection:
– From reports to SEPA
(2) Is much more accurate than (1)
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Assessing the baseline (2)
(1) From own premises and processes
Typically 1%-6% of total baseline
or
(2) For Councils from entire MSW collection
Typically 30%-35% of total baseline
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Assessing the baseline (3)
• Carbon Trust emissions factor:
– 447 kgCO2e/tonne
• Not a fixed factor (unlike for gas, oil, etc.)
• Based on aggregation of different aspects:
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–
–
–
Waste composition into landfill
Landfill capacity
Electricity generation rates from landfill
Fugitive emissions from landfill
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Assessing the baseline (4)
• Each aspect has changed:
– Composition of waste sent to landfill (increased
recycling)
– Improved landfill site management (lower fugitive
emissions)
– Increased levels of electricity generation (from landfill
gas, encouraged by incentives)
– Zero Waste Plan (waste segregation, landfill bans on
biodegradable material)
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Assessing the baseline (5)
• So 447 kgCO2e/tonne no longer a representative
emissions factor for waste
• Ideally move to using the Carbon Metric, but this
has complications (as outlined earlier)
• However, updated values for use in Carbon
Management Plans are now being developed
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Assessing the baseline (6)
Options include:
• Scottish Mixed Household Waste to Landfill (HH)
= 322 kgCO2e/tonne
• Scottish Mixed Commercial & Industrial Waste to Landfill (C&I)
= 299 kgCO2e/tonne
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Assessing the baseline (7)
Should Public Sector organisations adopt the
Commercial & Industrial or the Household factors
for Carbon Management Plan reporting?
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Assessing the baseline (8)
HH waste to landfill
= 322 kgCO2e/tonne
C&I waste to landfill
= 299 kgCO2e/tonne
Two significant
differences:
– Plastic
– Paper & Cardboard
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Baseline Example (1)
• Council includes MSW in
the baseline
• Revised to use HH factor
• Waste emissions = -28%
• Total emissions = -9%
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Baseline Example (2)
• College includes own
waste in the baseline
• Revised to use C&I factor
• Waste emissions = -33%
• Total emissions = -2%
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Implications
• Will need careful explanation to internal and
external stakeholders
• Resist the temptation to claim a 9% reduction!
• Need to reassess target and projects at the same
time
• Zero Waste Scotland plan guidance on this topic
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Revising the target
• Target must be on the same calculation basis as
the baseline
• Typically, targets set top-down:
e.g. 20% reduction by 2015
• So resetting the baseline has a simple ‘knock-on’
impact
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Revising the project details
• May be same basis as baseline and target
• But large investment projects should use the full
Carbon Metric, as recommended in the Zero
Waste Plan
• Will need to convert to the same approach as the
baseline and target
• Potential for confusion at this stage?
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In Summary …
• Reviewed the policy context
• Introduced the principles behind the Carbon Metric
• Provided examples of the Carbon Metric in use
• Introduced a new way to include waste within
Carbon Management Plans
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Thank you
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