Mapping Greenhouse Gas emissions in Brighton and Hove
As we discuss climate action in Brighton and Hove, it is important to distinguish between:
1. The council’s own direct and indirect emissions;
2. The territorial emissions generated in Brighton and Hove
3. The consumption emissions generated by Brighton and Hove.
The Council itself makes a relatively small contribution to the City’s total emissions or to its consumption footprint – according to the Carbon Neutral 2030 Programme, only 22,000 tons of CO2e in 2018/19. This amounted to 1.7% of the territorial emissions.
The territorial emissions for Brighton and Hove are available from the Office for National Statistics via the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – here. For 2019, the year before the pandemic, total greenhouse gas emissions (in CO2 equivalent (CO2e)) amounted to 871,000 tons, or 3.1 tons per capita (Figure 1). Domestic use and transport were the biggest sectors. Note these data show emissions allocated on an “end-user” basis: emissions from the production of goods which are exported are included, and emissions from the production of goods which are imported are excluded. Aviation and shipping are also excluded.
Figure 1
The consumption emissions are much higher, because they take account of everything Brighton and Hove residents actually consume, including all the goods and services made elsewhere, as well as flights. They amount to our collective carbon footprint. The most detailed estimates come from the Place-Based Carbon Calculator and show the average footprint as just under 8 tons per person per annum, so more than twice the territorial emissions. Gas, electricity, flights, food and drink, and recreation are all big sectors.
Figure 2
Brighton and Hove Carbon Footprint
Source: https://www.carbon.place/la/
The Place-Based Calculator also provides a breakdown by area within Brighton and Hove, with blue as lowest and red as highest (Figure 3). Some areas have relatively low footprints (Moulescomb, for example, and Whitehawk), others much higher (for example, around Hove Park and in Withdean). Income obviously plays a big part in the size of our residents’ carbon footprint.
Figure 3
Carbon footprint by area, Brighton and Hove
There is much more to say about these numbers: which gases and sectors are included, how the numbers are calculated, how direct and indirect emissions are treated, and so on. However, even in this introductory form, they frame an important discussion about the problem we need to face.
Simon Maxwell
September 2023
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