The Carbon Baseline report produced for Cumbria County Council by Small World Consulting is now available.
This report looks at Cumbria’s greenhouse gas emissions in three ways:
Extraction-based emissions: These are the emissions that will result from the burning of any fossil fuels that are extracted from the ground in Cumbria, wherever this takes place. This type of emissions reporting is important for understanding the climate change implications of decisions relating to mining and other forms of extraction in the county. Production-based emissions: These are the net emissions that are physically released in Cumbria, most notably by the burning of coal, oil and gas, plus those arising from the production of electricity used in the county (wherever that generation takes place). This is the UK government’s standard emissions reporting approach.Consumption-based emissions: These assess the greenhouse gas ‘footprint’ of residents, visitors and industry, including the supply chains of everything that residents and visitors buy and do whilst in Cumbria. Consumption-based reporting attributes the emissions from product and service supply chains to Cumbria, regardless of where emissions are physically released during production. Consumption-based reporting is important for looking at the climate change impacts that people and businesses have through their entire
There is currently no fossil fuel extraction in Cumbria, although planning permission has been given for a Whitehaven coal mine with extraction-based emissions of 8.4 million tonnes (Mt) CO2e per year for 50 years, totalling 420 MtCO2e.