Carbon accounting tools for SMEs in the Welsh public sector supply chainCopy Link

The Welsh Government has set the ambition for the Welsh public sector to achieve net zero carbon status by 2030. The public sector’s direct emissions from areas such as transport, energy and land use are relatively small, however the role of the public sector to influence change in wider society and catalyse movement towards a net zero Wales is potentially vast. Decarbonising supply chain emissions represents the biggest challenge across the whole public sector in achieving Net Zero by 2030.

To this end, the Welsh Government requires public sector bodies in Wales to report their carbon emissions according to the instructions set out in the Welsh Public Sector Net Zero Carbon Reporting Guide (2021). This guide uses the Greenhouse Gas Protocol definitions for classifying emission sources in scopes, these are:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions – Emissions from operations that are owned or controlled by the reporting organisation
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from energy - Emissions from the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heating, or cooling generated by a third party and consumed by the reporting organisation
• Scope 3: Indirect emissions - All indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting organisations, including both upstream and downstream emissions

Of these categories, it is commonly Scope 3 emissions, which include all purchased goods and services, which can be the most difficult to quantify for a public sector body. This is because a public sector body cannot have direct control or detailed knowledge of all activities within its supply chain, and if the supply chain organisations do not have accurate carbon accounting frameworks, the public sector body must make significant assumptions when calculating Scope 3 emissions.

In an ideal scenario, these supply chain organisations would have access to easy to use tools to predict and calculate their carbon emissions. This would allow accurate reporting of Scope 3 emissions by public sector bodies, but would also give supply chain organisations vital data for measurement of their progress towards net zero. This would in turn allow public sector organisations to influence and incentivise supply chains to move towards net zero.

Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) declared their own climate emergency in June 2020, with emissions in 2019/20 of 90,241 tonnes CO2e (66,504 tonnes attributed to Procured goods and services), and are keen to explore how the region can meet Net Zero and to this end the Bridgend 2030 Net Zero Carbon Strategy was published as an initial strategic step in achieving this commitment.

Net Zero ambitions will be tracked by yearly public sector carbon accounting across all operations within the council, for which BCBC is already carrying out carbon accounting across their portfolio/estate. Internal contract management will be used to oversee decarbonisation progress and carbon accounting in both short- and long-term contracts meaning that all procurement through suppliers must show their data for carbon accounting. The council will develop a Sustainable Procurement Code of Practice to include a framework for assessing the sustainability credentials of suppliers at varying contract types and values; this will consider the evolving Welsh Procurement Policy Notes (WPPN). BCBC currently offer over 940 contracts and spend approximately £186m per annum with third party providers, of which there are over 8000 registered. BCBC want to support their local economy and supply chain, and understand that SMEs in particular struggle from inaccessibility of tools to measure and predict their carbon footprint. Unfortunately if these suppliers have not carried out and reported carbon their accounting, it could soon mean councils won’t be able to use their services.