Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 8
Twenty-Third Report - Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions
Published 2 Nov 2022
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
At present, only central government departments and their arm’s-length bodies are required to measure and report their emissions in accordance with HM Treasury’s Sustainability Reporting Guidance, which leaves huge areas of the public sector, including 5 C&AG’s Report, para 1.2 6 Q 5 7 C&AG’s Report, para 12 8 Qq 15–16, 39–40 9 C&AG’s Report, para 9 & 1.13 10 Qq 23–24 11 Qq54–56, C&AG’s Report, para 3.12 12 Qg 16, 34 13 Qq 42–45 14 Q 69 10 Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions schools, local government and hospitals, to develop their own approaches.15 There are some parts of the public sector, such as the NHS, where work is going on to encourage more thorough reporting, but the lack of central guidance has led to patchy and inconsistent action.16 The National Audit Office has previously reported, for example on inconsistent approaches to emissions reporting in local government.17 BEIS acknowledged that the government’s recent net zero strategy had committed it to issuing ‘comprehensive guidance across the public sector as a whole’ but it did not provide us with a clear timetable as to when this would be produced.18
From: Public Accounts Committee, Twenty-Third Report - Measuring and reporting public sector greenhouse gas emissions (HC 39), 2 November 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 24 February 2023 (deadline 2 January 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with each of the Committee's five recommendations on measuring and reporting public sector emissions, while setting out qualifications on how some will be delivered.
- On standards for measuring and reporting, the government agrees, but says this "may not entail a uniform approach consistency across the whole of the large and varied sector", so detailed guidance may stay with bodies best placed to advise.
- It commits to set out a timetable for further work towards a coherent measurement and reporting framework in summer 2023, which "will be dependent on views from other relevant authorities across the public sector".
- On consolidating guidance, it agrees guidance should be aligned "where possible" but "notes" that different documents may be required for different purposes. BEIS has commissioned work to signpost relevant guidance, to be published in early 2023.
- On scope 3 emissions, work to develop the next set of GGCs targets "will consider if and how" further reporting requirements should be included, taking place throughout 2023-25, with a target implementation date of Autumn 2025.