Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Rejected
Paragraph: 66
Measuring total defence carbon emissions provides a gold standard for military reporting.
Conclusion
Measuring and reporting against the total defence carbon emission figure would support both the Government’s agenda of reducing emissions to net zero by 2050, but also provide a gold standard of military emissions reporting for other countries to emulate. Good practice would be to ensure these figures are independently verified.
Government Response Summary
The government states it already publishes emissions data in its Annual Report and Accounts and re-baselined in FY21-22 to capture more directly influenced emissions, with its methodology verified internally. However, it explicitly states there are no plans to independently verify its emission reporting and it does not currently capture Scope 3 emissions from industrial partners, thus not fully meeting the "total" aspect.
Paragraph Reference:
66
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
. The MOD has been publishing data, in accordance with the HMT Sustainable Reporting Guide, since 2010. This includes reporting on emissions from its estate energy consumption, operational fuel consumption7 and domestic business travel-related emissions in its Annual Report and Accounts (ARAC). All MOD emissions within the scope of the Climate Change Act are included in the total UK greenhouse gas emissions figures reported under the Kyoto Protocol. This data is collected by DESNZ as the lead department for UK greenhouse gas emissions reporting. The MOD voluntarily sought in its ARAC for Financial Year 2021-22 to re-baseline its reporting to capture emissions that it can directly influence across Scopes 1, 2 and 3.8 Defence Analytics Team which verified that the MOD Carbon Footprint Methodology is a sound repeatable process. This approach does not currently capture Scope 3 emissions from industrial partners. 5 NAEI, UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory - NAEI, UK (beis.gov.uk): https://naei.beis.gov.uk/ 6 Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk): https://www.gov.uk/ government/publications/ministry-of-defence-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023 7 Capability (or Operational) Energy includes emissions from military aviation, maritime, green fleet, white fleet, and charter fuel emissions. 8 What are Scope 3 emissions and how it differs from Scope 1 and 2 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org): https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/scope-emissions-climate-greenhouse-business/ 8 First Special Report: Defence and Climate Change Currently, there are no plans to independently verify the MOD’s emission reporting due to the scale and complexity of its activities. However, the Department is continuing to modernise, refine and improve its data collection and reporting approach in line with good practice. This good practice is gained not only from industry partners and the MOD’s own experience, but from working closely with military Allies and Partners.