Estimated Local Authority Level Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions 2005 - current:
Southampton
Contact: Dr Ben Anderson @dataknut
1 What are we looking at?
The graphs that follow show the estimated greenhouse gas emissions for Southampton.
The graphs show territorial-based emissions: the emissions that come from activities carried out in the local authority.
The data used comes from the UK local authority and regional greenhouse gas emissions national statistics.
“These statistics provide the most reliable and consistent breakdown of greenhouse gas emissions across the country, using nationally available data sets going back to 2005. They cover territorial emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), although not fluorinated gases.”
See the guidance on using the data for more explanation.
2 Which are our biggest territorial emissions sources?
Figure 2.1: CO2e emissions by category
Figure 2.2: CO2e emissions by category
Figure 2.3 shows an interactive version of the same plot. Hovering over specific lines is useful for identifying the sources.
Figure 2.3: CO2e emissions by category
3 Which sources make up 50%, 75% or 95% of our territorial emissions?
We plot this for the first year in which we have data (2005).
Figure 3.1: Cumulative emissions by source
Now repeat this for the most recent year in which we have data (2021). Have they changed much?
Figure 3.2: Cumulative emissions by source
Source | Total kT CO2e | % of gross |
|---|---|---|
Domestic Gas | 176.4 | 23.2 |
Transport: (Minor roads) | 92.7 | 12.2 |
Transport: (A roads) | 79.9 | 10.5 |
Domestic Electricity | 79.9 | 10.5 |
Public Sector Gas | 58.8 | 7.7 |
Industry 'Other' | 43.5 | 5.7 |
Commercial Electricity | 38.4 | 5.1 |
Industry Electricity | 35.8 | 4.7 |
Industry Gas | 34.1 | 4.5 |
Waste: Landfill | 33.3 | 4.4 |
Public Sector Electricity | 21.1 | 2.8 |
Transport: (Motorways) | 16.2 | 2.1 |
Commercial Gas | 13.8 | 1.8 |
Waste: other | 11.6 | 1.5 |
Domestic 'Other' | 7.5 | 1.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Settlements | 4.0 | 0.5 |
Transport: Diesel Railways | 3.4 | 0.5 |
Industry: Large Industrial Installations | 2.5 | 0.3 |
Transport: other | 1.8 | 0.2 |
Commercial 'Other' | 0.8 | 0.1 |
Agriculture Livestock | 0.6 | 0.1 |
Agriculture 'Other' | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Agriculture Electricity | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Agriculture Soils | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Agriculture Gas | 0.2 | 0.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Cropland | 0.1 | 0.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Indirect N2O | 0.1 | 0.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Grassland | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Public Sector 'Other' | 0.0 | 0.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Wetlands | 0.0 | 0.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Forest land | -2.1 | -0.3 |
4 Biogenic Net-Zero
It has been suggested that carbon sequestration through land-use and land-use change should be primarily used to offset ‘fast carbon cycle’ agricultural emissions rather than to offset (and thus enable) the continued burning of ‘slow carbon cycle’ fossil fuels. Figure 4.1 shows how close Southampton is to net-zero biogenic emissions under the definitions included in the plot. Note that this excludes emissions from Agricultural gas and electricity use which are assumed to be from the burning of fossil fuels and thus part of the slow carbon cycle.
Figure 4.1: How close are we to biogenic Net-Zero?
In the most recent year, Southampton had net biogenic emissions using the categories defined in the plot of 3 kT CO2e (negative emissions are 38 % of gross emissions). This value is positive, so emissions are larger than the level of sequestration (carbon capture). In this sense Southampton is not yet biogenic net-zero.
5 How do our current territorial emissions compare with other local authorities?
This plot compares current emissions with the mean across all other local authorities in England.
Figure 5.1: Current emissions compared to mean emissions for all other local authorities
For comparison in 2021:
- Mean total territorial emissions in comparator local authorities = 394.5 T CO2e
- Southampton total territorial emissions = 274 T CO2e
6 Data tables
The data tables used to create the plots - if you need the numbers.
6.1 Territorial emissions
## Using 'Total kT CO2e' as value column. Use 'value.var' to overrideSource | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Agriculture 'Other' | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
Agriculture Electricity | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Agriculture Gas | 0.2 | ||||||||||||||||
Agriculture Livestock | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 |
Agriculture Soils | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Commercial 'Other' | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
Commercial Electricity | 285.6 | 291.3 | 267.1 | 273.7 | 228.5 | 222.3 | 205.5 | 225.4 | 194.1 | 163.5 | 133.6 | 103.3 | 72.0 | 49.7 | 47.4 | 35.0 | 38.4 |
Commercial Gas | 35.1 | 28.9 | 28.0 | 26.3 | 27.7 | 29.5 | 24.5 | 28.0 | 24.0 | 21.0 | 24.1 | 31.7 | 21.2 | 11.4 | 13.3 | 10.3 | 13.8 |
Domestic 'Other' | 8.8 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 9.1 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 7.6 | 7.5 |
Domestic Electricity | 251.5 | 249.8 | 241.7 | 243.7 | 219.5 | 222.0 | 210.7 | 220.8 | 200.6 | 169.7 | 145.5 | 117.6 | 102.2 | 92.9 | 82.0 | 77.6 | 79.9 |
Domestic Gas | 238.6 | 230.3 | 216.8 | 221.4 | 198.1 | 217.8 | 175.5 | 192.6 | 195.0 | 166.3 | 170.5 | 179.5 | 173.9 | 173.0 | 169.5 | 170.5 | 176.4 |
Industry 'Other' | 56.6 | 56.4 | 59.0 | 40.5 | 39.7 | 45.1 | 40.6 | 39.4 | 34.8 | 36.8 | 38.6 | 39.7 | 40.5 | 39.2 | 43.0 | 41.4 | 43.5 |
Industry Electricity | 67.9 | 69.3 | 63.5 | 65.1 | 54.3 | 52.9 | 48.9 | 53.6 | 46.2 | 38.9 | 31.8 | 26.6 | 35.6 | 47.9 | 33.6 | 27.1 | 35.8 |
Industry Gas | 40.7 | 33.6 | 32.5 | 30.6 | 32.2 | 34.3 | 28.4 | 32.5 | 27.8 | 24.4 | 27.9 | 25.1 | 26.0 | 29.4 | 31.8 | 25.5 | 34.1 |
Industry: Large Industrial Installations | 0.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 2.5 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Cropland | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Forest land | -2.0 | -2.0 | -2.0 | -2.0 | -2.0 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.0 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -2.1 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Grassland | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Indirect N2O | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Settlements | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
LULUCF Net Emissions: Wetlands | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Public Sector 'Other' | 7.3 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Public Sector Electricity | 71.3 | 72.7 | 66.7 | 68.3 | 57.0 | 55.5 | 51.3 | 56.2 | 48.5 | 40.8 | 33.3 | 23.3 | 29.5 | 32.7 | 28.0 | 19.9 | 21.1 |
Public Sector Gas | 76.2 | 62.8 | 60.9 | 57.2 | 60.2 | 64.1 | 53.1 | 60.8 | 52.1 | 45.7 | 52.3 | 48.8 | 49.1 | 59.5 | 55.9 | 55.7 | 58.8 |
Transport: (A roads) | 131.4 | 126.6 | 121.8 | 111.7 | 106.2 | 105.7 | 106.3 | 103.9 | 101.7 | 102.1 | 103.0 | 102.6 | 100.1 | 97.5 | 92.8 | 72.3 | 79.9 |
Transport: (Minor roads) | 158.6 | 152.9 | 154.4 | 148.1 | 141.4 | 134.6 | 132.4 | 131.2 | 127.6 | 128.9 | 128.6 | 128.5 | 127.3 | 120.7 | 117.2 | 98.5 | 92.7 |
Transport: (Motorways) | 21.7 | 21.4 | 21.3 | 19.3 | 19.9 | 20.4 | 20.7 | 20.9 | 21.2 | 19.1 | 20.7 | 21.5 | 21.7 | 21.5 | 18.6 | 14.4 | 16.2 |
Transport: Diesel Railways | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.4 |
Transport: other | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
Waste: Landfill | 100.1 | 92.9 | 91.3 | 112.8 | 39.4 | 47.1 | 52.5 | 53.4 | 37.2 | 36.2 | 38.3 | 33.7 | 14.8 | 9.8 | 17.9 | 13.6 | 33.3 |
Waste: other | 10.8 | 12.3 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 11.4 | 11.6 | 11.9 | 11.5 | 11.4 | 11.9 | 11.7 | 11.1 | 11.8 | 11.7 | 11.4 | 10.9 | 11.6 |
8 Acknowledgements
The code used to generate these graphs draws heavily on Dr Tom Rushby’s Local Authority Emissions explorer.
9 Code
This report was built using Rmarkdown in RStudio. The code is available for inspection and re-use. Changes to the code are logged so you can see how older version of this report may have been updated (and when).
R packages used:
- data.table (Dowle et al. 2015)
- flextable (Gohel 2021)
- ggplot2 (Wickham 2009)
- here (Müller 2017)
- knitr (Xie 2016)
- rmarkdown (Allaire et al. 2018)