UK Inquiry Tracker

Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 9 Jun 2022 Closed: 24 Feb 2023 Parliament page

In June 2019, the government committed in law to achieving ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The overall responsibility for achieving net zero was assigned to the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy which published the Net Zero Strategy two years later in October 2021, committing government and … Read more

11 Recommendations

7 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 5 events

24 Feb
2023

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty third report from Session 2022-23

2 Nov
2022

Report published

Twenty-Third Report - Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions

8 Sep
2022

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, re PAC hearing …

4 Jul
2022

Oral evidence

Measuring and reporting public sector carbon emissions

4 Jul
2022

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Measuring and reporting public sector carbon emissions

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

4 Jul 2022

View on parliament.uk

Measuring and reporting public sector carbon emissions

Ben Rimmington · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero David Hill · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Sarah Munby · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Steve Field · HM Treasury

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Twenty-Third Report - Measuring and reporting public sector gree…	HC 39	2 Nov 2022	18	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 results

2 Recommendation Deferred

Twenty-Third Report - Measuring an…

The public sector as a whole lacks clear standards for measuring and reporting emissions.

The public sector as a whole lacks clear standards for measuring and reporting emissions. BEIS has set expectations that all public sector bodies should consistently measure and report their emissions, but BEIS, HM Treasury and Defra have so far only … Read more

Government Response

The government will set out a timetable for further work towards a coherent measurement and reporting framework in summer 2023, dependent on views from other relevant authorities across the public sector who are responsible for setting their own reporting requirements.

HM Treasury

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5 Recommendation Deferred

Twenty-Third Report - Measuring an…

The public sector risks falling behind on the reporting of its emissions but could learn...

The public sector risks falling behind on the reporting of its emissions but could learn from developing practice in private sector and the devolved administrations. While the UK government has committed to leading by example in efforts to decarbonise, other … Read more The public sector risks falling behind on the reporting of its emissions but could learn from developing practice in private sector and the devolved administrations. While the UK government has committed to leading by example in efforts to decarbonise, other sectors and the devolved administrations are already doing more to promote fuller reporting of emissions. Parts of the private sector are seeking to measure and report on the indirect emissions attributable to their operations, known as scope 3 emissions, for example arising from goods and services purchased from external suppliers. The centre of government has not mandated public sector bodies in England to report their scope 3 emissions which can, in some cases, be large. Some central government bodies have taken the initiative to report their scope 3 emissions on a voluntary basis and the NHS has taken steps to promote the reporting of scope 3 emissions, but elsewhere in the public sector reporting is patchy. This means that much of the data currently published does not capture the full carbon impact of the public sector’s activities. By contrast, firms bidding for government contracts worth more than £5 million already have to report scope 3 emissions more fully and it is expected that all large private sector firms will be Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions 7 required to give greater consideration to scope 3 emissions from 2025. The devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland have taken steps to increase the scope of public sector emissions reporting to include more scope 3 emissions. Recommendation: BEIS and HM Treasury should ensure that the reporting requirements placed on the public sector are aligned with their objective to lead by example in delivering net zero. This should include consideration of which bodies should report their scope 3 emissions and how best this should be done. 8 Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions 1 Measuring and reporting Show less

Government Response

The government agrees to consider scope 3 emissions reporting requirements for the public sector, but this will be addressed during 2023-25, with any requirements set out in the 2026-30 GGCs and amendments made in SRG updates as appropriate.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 17 of 11 classified

Accepted 12

Acknowledged 2

Deferred 2

Not Addressed 1

Total 11 recs + 7 conclusions

Correspondence 1 letter

8 Sep 2022 Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, re PAC hearing on ‘Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions’, 26 July 2022

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