CO2 emissions of local and regional government

As part of the so-called ‘Climate Envelope’ scheme, funds are available for pilot projects using carbon pricing in the procurement of goods and services by local and regional government (‘lower government’). One of the questions posed in that context is how large the carbon emissions of lower government in fact are. These emissions data are not available at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) or Netherlands Statistics (CBS) and therefore need to be calculated. The ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management commissioned CE Delft, in a consortium with Witteveen+Bos, to estimate the CO2 emissions associated with lower government operations and procurement. The results reported in this study constitute an up-to-date estimate, broken down into Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, defined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol as follows:

1. Scope 1 emissions: own direct CO2 emissions, i.e. those due to sources within the organisation, e.g. from own diesel generators, gas-fired heating or government vehicles.
2. Scope 2 emissions: indirect CO2 emissions due to procured electricity and/or heat; these occur elsewhere, at power stations, for example.
3. Scope 3 emissions: indirect CO2 emissions due to operations at other organisations, over which there is no direct control. Examples include production and extraction of procured materials, third-party freight carriage and business travel.