Local Authority Supply Chain Carbon in the East of England

This local authority supply chain project looks at GHG emissions from expenditure by six county councils and five unitary authorities. Sustainability East also asked Trucost to model likely levels of water abstraction linked to the expenditure analysed. This report is one of several deliverables of the project. Trucost has also provided Sustainability East and each local authority that participated in the project with a preliminary carbon hot spot report, an analysis tool and delivery workshops.

Among the key findings are that expenditure of more than £4 billion with suppliers in 2009/10 accounted for more than 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Of the suppliers that provided data on electricity use, 20% consumed at least 6,000 megawatt hours of electricity, and are therefore likely to be included under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. Expenditure by the local authorities was linked to more than 371 million cubic metres of water used by suppliers. For comparison, this equates to almost 44% of annual water use in the region, although much of the water used by suppliers is likely to be sourced elsewhere.