Barnet's emissions and tracking progress

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Working together to become one of London’s most sustainable boroughs, join us on our journey. 

We declared a climate and biodiversity emergency in May 2022. We set out ambitious targets for the council to be net zero carbon by 2030, and the borough to be net zero carbon by 2042.

To help track progress against these targets we track carbon emissions every year.

In this section

How we measure emissions 

We established our emissions baseline for the 2018-19 financial year. We identified the sources of emissions across the council’s activities and estate. We  used the Local Government Association’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting Tool. 

The GHG Protocol splits emissions into 3 reporting scopes: 

Scope 1. Emissions directly from Council activities. Including:

  • heating council buildings
  • fuel usage from Council vehicles. 

Scope 2. Emissions from Council activities for the purchasing of electricity generated at a site not under the ownership or control of the council. Including:

  • electricity powering council buildings
  • street lighting,
  • owned and operated electric vehicle charge points.

Scope 3. Emissions arising to sources which aren’t related to council operations but happen as a result of our operations. Including:

  • business travel by vehicles not owned or controlled by the council
  • water consumption. 

Borough emissions 

The Greater London Authority (GLA) baselined our borough area emissions in 2010. They produced them using the London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI)

The LEGGI is produced every year, and measures greenhouse gas emissions released to the environment from activities in London. It also measures emissions removed through Land Use, Land Change and Forestry sector activities. 

The inventory provides emissions in the following five categories: 

  1. Stationary Energy 
  2. Transport 
  3. Waste 
  4. Industrial processes and product use (IPPU) 
  5. Agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU)

Sustainability dashboard

The dashboard will be a way to inform residents, communities and partners about the progress the council and borough are making towards achieving our net zero targets. 

It will show the breakdown of the council’s carbon emissions for the last financial year, as well as boroughwide emissions taken from the London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI).

It will be published here soon.