Tackling London’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a huge challenge. The impact of these emissions goes far beyond the city’s boundaries. From the electronics we buy and the food we eat to the clothes we wear, most are produced and transported globally.
The GLA commissioned Leeds University to develop a historic trend of consumption-based emissions for London. It uses the latest available data (running from 2001-2022) on average expenditure on different types of goods and services. This methodology aligns with equivalent national government datasets at the UK level.
Findings
London’s consumption-based emissions in 2022 were around 88 MtCO 2 e. They’ve fallen by 16 per cent since 2001, despite the city’s population increasing by 1.4 million over that time. This means emissions per head have reduced by 30 per cent (from 13.9 to 9.83 tCO 2 e per person).
The biggest drop in consumption-based emissions was between 2008 and 2009 during the global financial crisis, when households’ average spending decreased. Post-2009, emissions stabilised then steadily reduced from 2014 to 2020, bar a small increase from 2017-2018. This period of emissions reduction has been mainly driven by the decarbonisation of the UK electricity sector. Consumption-emissions also saw a significant drop between 2019 and 2020 as a result of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This drop was almost as large as that due to the financial crisis. Since 2020, emissions have been increasing again; in 2022 they were up by 9% on 2021 levels.
The national context
London’s per capita consumption-based footprint is slightly lower than the UK average. It also follows a similar trend in reduction over the same period. However, at a sector level there are some cases where the per capita emissions for Londoners are different, for example:
Transport – London’s use of transport is unlike any other region in the UK. Private transport emissions are much lower than any other region, and public transport emissions are the highest in the country. As a result, London has the lowest per capita transport emissions of any region and is lower than the UK average. However, London also has one of the highest per capita aviation emissions. In 2022, total transport emissions increased relative to 2021 but remained lower than 2019.
The international context
The Mayor wants to recognise the full environmental impact of London’s consumption by publishing this data. We hope this will encourage more cities to publish their consumption-based emissions data so we can identify similarities and work together to bring these emissions down.
