Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Compliance Reporting 2025 – Carbon Emissions
Perth and Kinross Council · 10 November 2025
Back to Climate Change and Sustainability Committee — 10 November 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL Our vision is a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality ___________________________________________________________________ Committee or Board: Climate Change and Sustainability Committee Date of Meeting: 10 November 2025 Report Title: Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Compliance Reporting 2025 – Carbon Emissions Report Number: 25/298 Report Author: Eirini Kourtesi Organisational Lead: Fraser Crofts, Strategic Lead – Environment and Infrastructure ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this Report is to provide members scrutiny of the Council’s statutory annual Public Sector Climate Change Reporting Duty submission. It includes an update on the Council’s carbon footprint and emissions trends for the reporting year 2024/25 financial year, and wider actions the Council is taking to address the Climate Emergency. Based on this evidence, the report to the Scottish Government has been developed for consideration together with the Council’s related priorities for next year. 1.2 Sections 1. Purpose 2. Recommendations 3. Background/Context 4. Main Issues 5. Proposals 6. Conclusion 7. Impact Value Assessment 8. Appendix A: Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Compliance Report 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: 2.1 Note the contents of the report, along with the updated report to the Scottish Government (Appendix A).
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2.2 Approves the top 5 priorities for both Climate Governance and Climate Adaptation as presented in Section 5. 3. Background/Context 3.1 Perth and Kinross Council, as a listed public body in Schedule 1 of the Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies; Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015 as amended by the Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020, is required to report annually via the Sustainable Scotland Network Report to the Scottish Government. This is required for Perth and Kinross Council to comply with its climate change duties as established under Section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and as stated in Schedule 2 of the 2015 Order. 3.2 In addition to the above, the 2020 Amendment Order set out additional reporting requirements from 2021/22 in response to the global climate emergency and Scotland’s net zero targets, as well as the interim targets as set out in the legislation. The compliance reports must now address additional sections that include, but are not limited to, the Council’s target date for achieving zero direct emissions, how the Council will align its spending plans and use of resources to deliver its emissions reduction targets, and how the Council will publish its progress to achieving its emissions reductions targets. 3.3 The Council first reported in the pilot year 2014/15. The main sections of the report cover the Council’s Climate Governance, Emissions, Adaptation and Procurement. The baseline year however has been set as 2015/16 as per the reporting guidance, as in 2014/15 only Scope 1 and 2 emissions were calculated. 3.4 The Scottish Government ran a public consultation in Spring 2025 on updated draft statutory guidance for public bodies concerning their climate change and sustainable development duties. The updated guidance addressed climate change and equalities, taking climate change into account in decision-making, reporting of scope 3 emissions and views on compliance, and implementation of the three duties: Reducing Emissions (Climate Change Mitigation), Adaptation, and Acting in the most sustainable way. The updated guidance will therefore impact public bodies climate change reporting by, mainly, the inclusion of additional Scope 3 reporting categories and the introduction of a new reporting template. These changes are expected to come into force with the introduction of a new Amendment Order within the next two reporting years (2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years). 4. Main Issues Emissions 4.1 A summary of the Council’s annual emissions data is presented Table 1. For greater clarity, changes to the reporting envelope have been illustrated below to reflect additional emissions sources that have been added to the Council’s carbon footprint reporting over the years.
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This includes the addition of employee transport, homeworking, employee commuting emissions and a change in electric vehicle (EV) electricity consumption reporting due to the Council introducing tariffs. Hire vehicles (vans) mileage has been included in this year’s report due to data for this category now being available. Table 1: Perth & Kinross Council’s Carbon Footprint (tCO2e) Reporting Year Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3 Total Footprint Changes to the reporting envelope 2015/16 (baseline) 9,033 14,676 14,995 38,705 2016/17 8,339 12,661 18,859 39,859 2017/18 8,593 9,967 19,153 37,713 2018/19 10,180 5,314 20,488 35,982 Scope 1: Addition of employee transport 2019/20 10,722 6,823 19,560 37,105 2020/21 10,163 5,106 19,337 34,605 Scope 3: Addition of homeworking emissions 2021/22 10,670 5,217 20,122 36,008 2022/23 9,719 4,730 26,021 40,471 Scope 3: Addition of employee commuting 2023/24 9,441 4,518 13,987 27,946 Scope 2 to Scope 3 – Transfer of EV charging electricity from Scope 2 to Scope 3 following the introduction of charging for electricity consumption 2024/25 9,055 4,429 9973 23,457 Scope 1: Addition of hire vehicles (vans) mileage 4.2 The scopes mentioned in the table above refer to: i. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the Council - e.g. emissions from fleet or oil-fired boilers. ii. Scope 2 emissions are from the generation of purchased electricity.
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iii. Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect emissions which relate to the Council’s activities, including waste, homeworking, staff travel to/from work or emissions associated with electricity which is lost in the Transmission and Distribution system used for delivering purchased electricity Figure 1: Perth & Kinross Council’s Carbon Footprint (tCO2e) Figure 2 Perth & Kinross Council’s Carbon Footprint divided by Sector 4.3 In 2024/25, the Council’s carbon footprint decreased by approximately 16% compared to 2023/24. This reduction is largely due to changes in waste processing, with smaller reductions in emissions from energy produced on site, fleet vehicles and employee personal vehicle use for work. Estimated missions associated with employee commuting have increased.
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Transport Table 2: Perth & Kinross Council’s Transport Carbon Footprint (tCO2e) Reporting Year Scope 1 Transport (Fleet) Scope 3 Employee Commuting Scope 3 Personal vehicle use (Work) Total Transport Footprint 2015/16 (baseline) n/a n/a n/a n/a 2016/17 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2017/18 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2018/19 2,607 n/a n/a 2,607 2019/20 2,684 n/a n/a 2,684 2020/21 2,333 n/a n/a 2,333 2021/22 2,589 n/a 332 2,921 2022/23 2,691 5,369 342 8,402 2023/24 2,571 4,616 371 7,558 2024/25 2,423 5,333 330 8,086 4.4 Emissions arising from the Council’s own fleet and operations (Scope 1) have decreased by 5.7% due to a number of changes in fleet vehicles. The largest emissions savings were recorded from the pilot of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) being used as an alternative fuel in six Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) since May 2024. This has reduced emissions arising from HGV rigids (single- unit lorries) by approximately 21% and resulted to approximately 278 tonnes of carbon dioxide (tCO2e) savings. From October 2025, 26 vehicles are now running on HVO, which will lead to significant emissions savings by the end of 2026/27. There was also 17% reduction in miles travelled by articulated (consisting of a separate cab unit and trailer) HGVs due to operating on a route at a closer distance, travelling to the Energy from Waste site in Dundee rather than the landfill site in Falkirk. 4.5 Within the fleet emissions, there was a small increase in PKC’s light emissions (fleet cars) due to the change in usage from personal to pool vehicles over this year. This has a net positive emissions impact due to the pool fleet being greener than average. This year the composition of the Council’s light fleet changed from diesel to more petrol and electric cars for its pool vehicle fleet than in the previous reporting year. The Council has purchased more battery electric vehicles and increased utilisation, noting a 34% mileage increase for this reporting year. A 52% decrease in Class 2 (1.305 - 1.74 tonnes) mileage has been reported due to the Council owning less of these vehicles, while emissions from Class 3 Vans (1.74 - 3.5 tonnes) have increased by 31% due to the purchase of 30 additional vehicles. The addition of mileage from hire vehicles in this year’s reporting has also contributed to this increase in overall Class 3 vans emissions. Hire vehicles mileage was previously not recorded due to data availability.
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However, they are part of the Council’s Scope 1 emissions and are now included in the carbon footprint report with data being available. 4.6 Part of the Council’s Transport Scope 3 emissions are emissions arising from business travel using personal vehicles. These are measured by recording the mileage claimed to Human Resources annually. A significant decrease of 11% has been recorded for the first time since reporting began on this category. Emphasis on the travel hierarchy was given throughout the reporting year with improved communications regarding availability of corporate pool cars as a preferred option over personal vehicle use. There has also been a significant increase in the number of Health and Social Care Partnership specific vehicles that led to the biggest reduction in mileage claims for that Service. Lastly, communications to managers for Service specific vehicles to highlight utilisation and mileage claims also played a crucial role in this decrease and will continue in moving forward. 4.7 Emissions associated with employee commuting have increased by approximately 15% compared to 2023/24. This calculated from a staff travel survey undertaken between June 2025 – August 2025 – with 1,031 respondents (approximately 19.9% of overall staff). The responses were then analysed and scaled up to reflect the full workforce, leading to the estimate that Perth and Kinross Council staff emit 5,333 tCO2e annually on their commutes to and from work. The modal split of respondents was: • 76.5% by car • 12.2% by walking and cycling • 8.3% by bus, • 2.6% by train • 0.4% by motorbike. 4.8 This figure is 15% higher than the previous year’s estimated emissions. This increase can partially be explained by the introduction of a minimum of two days attendance at a PKC location for employees whose role allows for hybrid working. The average number of days in the office across all staff responding increased from 3.3 to 3.5 days per week (6% increase). Analysing the data, it appears different staff have responded year-on-year, which makes data trends not possible to compare. 4.9 The data captured by the staff travel survey allows the calculation of a best estimated figure of employee commuting and homeworking that facilitate a better understanding of the Council’s carbon footprint. However, the survey results come with caveats due to limitations in the methodology that do not allow an accurate year-on-year comparison. As the results only represent a small sample of PKC employees (19.9%) and there is not a mechanism to compare changes to individual employee behaviours, when extrapolating up to the full workforce’s footprint, response bias can be introduced linked to working patterns, site locations, vehicle types, travel behaviours or other variables that influence respondents’ emissions. There is still no uniform approach in estimating employee commuting emissions across Scotland, but it is something that is being considered by the Sustainable Scotland Network.
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Despite these limitations, the results provide useful data for employees’ travel behaviours and how these are influenced. Lastly, it is worth noting that with the Council Services ongoing restructure, it is not possible to compare year-on-year trends per Service. Energy Table 3: Perth & Kinross Council’s Energy Carbon Footprint (tCO2e) Reporting Year Scope 1 Energy Scope 2 (Purchased Energy) Scope 3 Energy (T&D and water) Scope 3 Energy Sold at public EV Chargers Scope 3 Homeworking emissions Total Energy Footprint 2015/16 (baseline) 9,033 14,676 1384 n/a n/a 25,093 2016/17 8,339 12,661 1333 n/a n/a 22,333 2017/18 8,593 9,967 1101 n/a n/a 19,661 2018/19 7,573 5,314 638 n/a n/a 13,525 2019/20 8,038 6,823 773 n/a n/a 15,634 2020/21 7,830 5,106 489 n/a n/a 13,425 2021/22 8,081 5,217 506 n/a 178 13,982 2022/23 7,028 4,730 472 n/a 786 13,016 2023/24 6,871 4,517 391 240 692 12,759 2024/25 6,633 4,429 432 255 622 12,371 4.10 With regards to overall emissions arising from energy (Scopes 1, 2, and 3) across the Council’s estate portfolio, they have decreased when compared to 2023/24. This has been achieved in the context of an increased Gross Internal Floor Area (GIFA) linked with the addition of Perth Museum and Bell’s Sports Centre. More specifically, natural gas and gas oil consumption (Scope 1) has reduced by 2% and 20% respectively. This reduction is due to continued investment into energy projects with a large proportion of buildings being centrally controlled. Oil sites are being de-commissioned and replaced with a clean heat solution. In relation to consumption of wood chips (Scope 1), it decreased by 17% due to biomass boilers in campus sites such as Stathearn and Breadalbane being offline. This resulted in gas being used as the primary fuel. Meanwhile, burning oil (kerosene) (Scope 1) consumption increased by 13%. The majority of Council sites have changed from gas oil to kerosene due to this fuel being friendlier on the environment, as well as a cost-efficient option. 4.11 Significant increases have been recorded for both water supply (23%) and water treatment (22%). The increase is attributed to the inclusion of additional high water usage sites such as Perth Museum and Bell’s Sports Centre being included in the Council portfolio this reporting period. 4.12 For Scope 2 (Purchased Energy) there has been a reduction in usage of 2% or 439,148 kWh (kilowatt hour) within Council operations when compared to the 2023/24 figures.
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This reduction in electricity is due to improvements on sites with electric heating, investment into energy projects and continued data analysis made by the Property Team. These Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions are especially positive given the significant increase in GIFA. Projects like Auchtergaven Primary School saved 49% in consumption after their air source heat pump upgrade and roof insulation. 4.13 The staff travel survey was also used to estimate that Council employees emit approximately 622tCO2e annually from working from home (this figure takes into consideration the office equipment and heating emissions as per the UK Government Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting). The introduction of the 2 days in the office requirement for hybrid staff has led to a reduction of 10% in homeworking hours. 4.14 As of April 2023, the Council introduced charges for public electric vehicle (EV) electricity usage. Since then, emissions arising from public EV charging therefore fall within the Council’s carbon footprint as part of its Scope 3 emissions. EV electricity consumption increased by 11% compared to 2023/24. This is caused by increased demand of electric vehicles, improved charging infrastructure and increased EV uptake. Contactless payments were introduced at charging points (with 2024/25 being the first full year with this occurring), making it easier and more accessible for the public to charge. Waste 4.15 Waste management has improved significantly with noticeable reductions in most emissions categories reported on. A new residual waste contract with the emphasis of diverting waste away from landfill was initiated in August 2023. This has resulted in 7,984 tonnes of less waste ended up in landfill when compared to 2023/24 which represents a year-on-year reduction of 61%. This led to emission savings of 3,954 tCO2 e. The Twin Stream recycling initiated in January 2024 with the introduction of the new grey-lidded bin has significantly contributed to improved recycling rates for 2024/25 with a 61% increase in plastics collected. Increased plastic recycling was one the aims of the introduction of the Council’s Twin Stream recycling programme. Recycling plastic rather than having it in general waste saves the Council 491 kgCO2 e/tonne. We have also seen increases in both wood (25%) and scrap metal (9%) due to separating these materials when collected in bulk, to ensure they are diverted to recycling. 4.16 We have seen an increase in recyclable materials and an increase in incineration. One might expect to see a corresponding increase in emissions associated with these activities. However, because of changes to the emissions factors for 2025, this is not the case, and we have recorded a reduction in year-on-year emissions. Emission conversion factors quantify greenhouse gas emissions released by a specific activity. These are updated by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero annually, according to the latest technological improvements for each emissions category.
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Adaptation 4.17 This section includes questions about assessing and managing climate risk. More specifically, information on the Council’s Climate Change Risk and Opportunity Assessment has been provided. The Assessment looks at both risks for Perth and Kinross as an area and operational risks to the Council. The Council has also undertaken or made plans to undertake detailed analysis of key risks including Bridge Scour, landslip and Ash Dieback. Further information on managing climate-related risks has also been provided as per the reporting requirements. Governance 4.18 Under the governance section we are required to explain the Council’s climate change governance procedures and outline our related plans and policies. The only data indicator we provide is our Climate Change Assessment Toolkit Score. This year our score increased to 74%. Three of the five sub-topics showed progress. • Adaptation is showing the biggest improvement from 79% to 96% and it covers questions related to climate risks and opportunities as a result of climate hazards - this increase is attributed to the Council mainstreaming and utilising the results of the Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment for Perth and Kinross, as well as, establishing a regional adaptation partnership named Climate Ready Tayside with Angus Council and Dundee City Council. • Emissions also showed an increase by 5 percentage points and this is due to the detailed procedure of annually updating the Council's Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan which covers our carbon footprint and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting. • Behaviour topic also showed a 5 percentage points increase, mainly due to progress with mainstreaming climate change across the Council - climate change is now included in all job descriptions for staff. Last, Procurement remains the lowest scoring sub-topic with no changes in the scoring at 38%. 4.19 There was a decrease of 18 percentage points on the Governance sub-topic. This is due to the Council’s score around auditing of reporting being increased the previous year due to a one-off internal audit taking place, but being removed this year as the Council does not have an annual independent audit process for climate change reporting. Other elements in Governance had minor improvements, but this did not offset this reduction. 4.20 The Council’s Policy and Governance Officers Group considered which actions were achievable for raising our CCAT score this year and identified the following potential improvement areas: • Action 1b – Include the Council’s Chief Executive Officer and deputy Chief Executive Officer in the annual climate change review process;
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• Action 2b – ii) – Corporate travel targets to be set as part of the corporate travel plan; • Action 4b – Should be possible to raise awareness of all staff. Actions for this year include to explore mandatory training courses and whether climate change could be included on rotation and potential climate change workplace behaviour campaign; • Action 4e – Unlikely to reach full improvement but identified two key areas for focus of inclusion to be IT and HSCP. Procurement 4.21 The Procurement section requires that the Council outlines the ways in which procurement policies have contributed to compliance with climate change duties. The Council’s Sustainable Procurement Policy and outcomes have been outlined. Furthermore, information the Council’s Sustainable Procurement Strategy which was approved in June 2024 has also been included in this section. The Strategy includes an Aim of Protecting our Environment, designed to support a fair transition to net zero and minimise our environmental impact. There are a number of objectives under this aim including influencing the reduction of carbon omissions and waste minimisation. Links to both the Policy and recent Strategy documents have been provided. 5. Proposals 5.1 For both the Climate Governance and Adaptation reporting areas, the Council is required to identify it’s top 5 priorities for the 2025/26 reporting year. The selected list of priorities has been taken from Top and High Priority actions within the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan. 5.2 Adaptation Top 5: • Develop and implement scour protection programme and landslip risk screening for key Council assets • Continued delivery of Flood Risk Management Cycle 1 Projects and commence Cycle 2 projects (subject to availability of funding from the Scottish Government) • Identify and develop Nature Networks for Perth & Kinross • Implement Ash Dieback Screening and Removal Programme • Support community resilience groups to build proactive resilience 5.3 Governance Top 5 • Continue to mainstream climate change into committee procedures and council operations, including through the rollout of embedding the Impact and Value Assessment Tool in committee reporting; • Continue rollout of carbon literacy training to all council employees with a targeted focus on elected officials and key decision makers;
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• Develop an approach to Whole Life Costing and embedding this into Council decisions • Continue to build capacity of procurement and contract management staff around ensuring climate change is appropriately considered in procurement and delivery processes, including in category strategies for high emission categories • Support the Perth & Kinross Climate Commission to relaunch and rebrand under its new name ‘SHIFT’. 6. Conclusions 6.1 Perth and Kinross Council’s carbon footprint in 2024/25 has decreased year on year. Improvements have been made in all areas reported (Transport, Energy use and Waste) as noted above. Efforts made by the teams working in these areas are noticeable as consumption figures and associated emissions have decreased significantly. 6.2 Despite the progress noted, improvements can be made in the categories where little or no progress has been illustrated. In achieving Perth and Kinross Council’s climate objectives, activity needs to be accelerated to ensure all emissions categories are on a reduction trajectory that is sufficient to achieve the targets related to the Council operations and functions as set out in the Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. 6.3 Improvements were noted in Governance, Adaptation and Procurement strands as well, as demonstrated by the increase in CCAT score. The Top 5 actions for 25/26 are expected to drive continued year-on-year improvements. 6.4 Working towards achieving the targets, via the activities outlined in the Action Plan should remain a key priority for Perth and Kinross Council in order to accelerate the decrease in emissions. 7. Impact Value Assessment 7.1 This report has been classified as being an operational report and as such does not require a full Impact and Value Assessment. 8. Appendices 8.1 P&K PBCCD Master Template 2025 Sept V1.xlsx