Leeds is third worst for CO2 production

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LEEDS has the third-worst record of production of climate-damaging carbon dioxide behind London and Birmingham.

And while neighbouring Sheffield in South Yorkshire is reducing its CO2 emissions and moving towards targets to be achieved by 2020, in Leeds the emissions are increasing.

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Property consultancy GVA Grimley undertook research which reveals that whilADVERTISEMENT
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overall improvement is underway more needs to be done across Yorkshire if it is to hit its target of a 34 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020.

In the “Sustainability Report – Cities, Commerce & Carbon: The Role of Property” – Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield were analysed in terms of carbon emissions, waste levels, and the relationship between carbon and property.

Leeds saw a increase of 0.7 per cent in its CO2 emission levels in contrast to Sheffield which made a reduction of 0.6 per cent.

London is the highest carbon producer at 49.5 million tonnes per annum followed by Birmingham with 6.4 million tonnes and Leeds with 5.7 million tonnes.

Sheffield produced 3.8 million tonnes while Newcastle was the lowest at 1.9 million tonnes.

The highest domestic generated CO2 emission levels per head of population were found in Leeds, Edinburgh and Newcastle while the highest business-based CO2 emission levels per employee were in Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool and Cardiff.

CO2 emission levels generated by transport were also analysed with Bristol identified as the lowest carbon producer alongside Birmingham and Liverpool. At the other end of the scale were Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow.

Goal

Andrew Rodger, regional senior director of GVA Grimley’s Leeds office, said: “This report illustrates that while positive steps are being taken by city councils to address the current shortfall in meeting government carbon footprint targets, we still have a long way to go before it becomes feasible to reach these challenging yet necessary goals. Nevertheless, the report does indicate promising signs of improvement and the measures that are being made across Yorkshire are certainly a step in the right direction but it’s imperative that the region makes bigger strides towards improvement.”

Yorkshire fared better in its development of reducing waste and increasing recycling.

Just under a quarter of waste is recycled across the UK. Leeds, Sheffield and Bristol were the top recycling performers, at over 30 per cent each. Leeds also topped the poll as being one of the lowest producers of waste per head of population.

The cities averaged a household recycling rate of 26 per cent in 2007/08, although this is well short of the government’s 50 per cent target by 2020.