Intelligently Green Annual Update 2024 to 2025

Intelligently Green Annual Update 2024 to 2025

Introduction

We adopted the latest Intelligently Green Plan in July 2020. The plan covers the period up to 2030 and sets out how we will contribute towards tackling the climate emergency.

The overall vision of the plan has three strands:

• To lead the Wychavon district to be carbon neutral as quickly as possible and by 
  2050 at the latest.
• To make the most of the opportunities that tackling climate change presents to 
  further strengthen and grow our local economy.
• To increase and improve a range of habitats across the district to support carbon 
  capture and biodiversity.

Underpinning this vision are five targets to be achieved over the plan period. These targets form the success measures we will use to assess progress towards our vision and targets. In the Intelligently Green Plan we commit to producing an annual report to update our Executive Board and to publish on our website.  

The five targets are detailed below:

1. Reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75% from 3,066 tCO2e in 2018/19 to 767 tCO2e in 2030. 
2. Halve district wide carbon emissions from 992 kt CO2 in 2005 to 496 kt CO2 in 2030.
3. Double the size of Wychavon’s low carbon economy by 2030.
4. Treble renewable energy generation in the district from 108,119 MWh in 2016 to 324,357 MWh in 2030.
5. Capture at least 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2025 through restoring, enhancing and creating a range of habitats across the district. 

The plan commits to an annual progress review and this report provides an update against each of the five success measures for 2024/25. This report provides a detailed update 
against each of the five success measures and explanation of the data and its sources.

Measure 1: Reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75% from 3,066 tCO2e in 2018/19 to 767 tCO2e in 2030.

We are aiming to reduce our emissions by 75% from the 2018/19 baseline by 2030. In 2018/19 our emissions were 3,066 tCO2e.

The monitoring data for 2024/25 shows that our gross emissions has reduced to 1,935 tCO2e.

Allowing for offsets that we can account for, our net emissions have reduced to 1,836 tCO2e, a reduction of just under 40% from the baseline.  

What is included in the calculation of our emissions?

It is important to clarify what exactly is being measured when reporting on greenhouse gas emissions and is known as the organisational boundary. The reporting of emissions falls 
under three different ‘scopes’:

• Scope 1 - emissions are released as a direct result of an activity. For a local authority this will largely comprise combustible fuel for heating boilers and fuel burned in owned fleet vehicles.  
• Scope 2 - emissions are those released as an indirect consumption of an energy commodity. For a local authority this will be the purchased grid electricity used in its 
  operations.
• Scope 3 - emissions are all other indirect emissions other than electricity and often relate to those generated by the things that a local authority purchases or from activities resulting from the provision of services. 

We monitor all relevant Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Scope 3 emissions reporting is relatively new, and methodologies are still emerging to allow for measurement in many areas, 
particularly for goods and services we purchase. However, we do monitor a number of Scope 3 emissions that relate directly to our operations. The emission sources are identified 
in Table 1. 

Our waste fleet, operated by FCC, falls under Scope 3 as it is operated by an external organisation. However, as the service is being provided on our behalf, and because waste 
collection is a statutory function, it is included as part of our organisational boundary.  The organisational boundary for buildings includes those that we both own and operate. It 
also includes some buildings that we own but are operated by other organisations that provide the services on our behalf, this includes the three leisure centres and the lido. We 
own a number of buildings that we lease to private organisations. These fall under Scope 3 emissions and are not included. Table 2 sets out which buildings are included in the 
monitoring.

Renewable Electricity Offset

For 2023/24 the council signed up for renewable electricity and green gas energy tariffs for council buildings. Emissions associated with the generation of Renewable Energy 
Guarantees of Origin (REGO) accredited electricity can be classed as a net benefit, or carbon offset, for the purposes or reporting Greenhouse gas emissions. As such, the total 
electricity use from the Civic Centre has been offset.

The has enabled us to offset our emissions by a total of 99tCO2e, reducing our total gross emissions of 1,935 tCO2e to a total net emissions of 1,836 CO2e. 
Overview of our emissions Table 3 and Chart 1 below set out the sources of emissions monitored in 2023/24. The three 
leisure centres continue to be the largest sources of emissions, making just over 76% of the total, and emissions from the Evesham Leisure Centre represent the largest single source 
consisting of just over 23% of the total. Emissions from the FCC waste fleet are also significant, contributing 10% of the council’s total. 

Change in emissions over time and the pathway to net-zero

Our aim is for our operational emissions to be reduced by 75% by 2030. Chart 2 below shows that, in 2018/19 our emissions were 3,066 tCO2e and latest data for 2024/25 shows 
that this has now dropped to 1,836tCO2e, a reduction of just under 40%. Taking a linear trajectory from our emissions at 2018/19, this means reducing emissions by around 191 
tCO2e per year until 2030. However, it should be recognised that emissions reductions are unlikely to follow a linear path in reality and key decisions that happen between now and 
2030 may have significant influences at certain points. Nevertheless, it provides a useful indicator of the progress towards the target of a 75% reduction by 2030 and the ultimate 
journey to net-zero. Chart 2 shows the change in emissions from the 2018/19 baseline. 

The most significant reduction in emissions has come from the waste fleet which is a result of HVO being implemented in the majority of the larger waste collection vehicles. This has 
led to emissions from the waste fleet reducing by just over 200 tCO2e from the previous year, down by 51%. Overall, fleet emissions have now decreased by over 79% since 
2018/19, reducing by over 700tCO2e. The use of HVO has contributed a substantial amount to the 40% drop in total council emissions overall and has therefore become a vital 
component in our greenhouse gas reduction targets as an organisation.  

Increases in emissions, however, have been recorded at some of our buildings. Most notably at Evesham leisure centre, whose emissions have increased by 33% compared to 2023/24, rising by 108tCO2e. This is owing to a large increase in gas consumption at the centre. This increase is to be expected as the centre’s Combine Heat & Power (CHP) unit returned to being operational after a number of years. The CHP uses gas to generate electricity, and as such, use of has increased but has also led to a reduction in grid electricity usage.  However, grid electricity usage is still relatively high, likely owing to the CHP becoming operational part way through the monitoring year. In addition, there have been increases in emissions at Droitwich and Pershore leisure centres of 6% and 2% respectively compared to 2023/24 with 
both using more gas and electricity than the previous year.

In total, increases in building emissions have totalled 137tCO2e compared to 2023/24. This has served to cancel out much of the savings achieved through the use of HVO in our waste fleet. This is why total emissions have only reduced by 3% compared to the previous year overall. 

The leisure centres have already seen a number of energy efficiency measures installed, as well as benefitting from an ever-decarbonising electricity grid, which has helped to reduce 
emissions over time; leisure centre emissions are still down by around 10% compared to 2018/19. Further energy efficiency and renewable energy measures can also be employed 
(such as destratification fans and solar photovoltaic panels) to improve things further. 
However, in order to reduce the bulk of the remaining emissions from the leisure centres, the critical step is to change heating systems from gas boilers to low-carbon alternatives, such has heat pumps. 

The proposed upgrade and extension already planned for Droitwich Leisure Centre, will involve the installation of air source heat pumps (for the extension only) as well as LED 
lighting and solar panels. In addition, the restoration of the former police station building next to the Civic Centre will also include a new heat pump system. These low carbon 
technologies are being rolled out for buildings in the council’s estate, and this needs to be continued wherever it is feasible. 

As mentioned above, we purchase renewable electricity for the energy used at the Civic Centre and use this to offset against our emissions from the building. However, the council 
has approved capital budget to fund the installation of an estimated 280kW solar photovoltaic array on the building’s roof. Not only will result in more direct emissions savings, 
but it will also improve the financial resilience of the building and lead to significant cost savings in the medium and long term. 

Achieving a 75% reduction in emissions by 2030

Waste Fleet

As stated above, the use of HVO in the waste fleet has reduced emissions significantly. However, a proportion of vehicles are unable to use HVO and are therefore run by diesel. 
Fleet vehicles are still producing 192 tCO2e and opportunities to lower this further would help us to reach the 75% reduction figure.

It is likely that, up to 2030, carbon reduction will be reliant on the continued use of HVO. The use of electric fleet vehicles has been trialled in our district, but at the current time are not 
considered to be operationally feasible. Other options, such as hydrogen, may have potential in future but the technology and associated infrastructure is still not in place. Therefore, to 
reduce emissions further, expanding the use of HVO is likely to be only realistic way to achieve this.

Leisure Centres

As stated above, a critical next step for the leisure centres is the move to low carbon heating systems. Without this, achieving the 75% reduction will likely be very difficult due to the large contribution these buildings make to our total; the three centres combined make up 76% of the council’s total emissions. 

The technologies needed to decarbonise our buildings can come with a high capital cost. Furthermore, as is the often case with equipment and installation for low carbon heating 
systems, they do not currently always have competitive returns on investment. This is particularly the case as electricity remains much more expensive than gas. We have previously taken advantage of the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to fund capital improvements to our buildings. However, in 2025 the Government announced that there will be no further phases of the PSDS and at the time of writing there is no certainty about what support will be available in the future.  

Without an identified source of external funding, we will need to consider the business case and financial delivery models for such technologies to determine when and what are the 
most sustainable options to decarbonise. However, it is clear that the removal of the PSDS as a funding stream makes the necessary transition away from fossil fuel heating systems 
more financially challenging, particularly in the shorter term up to 2030. This presents a risk to us achieving our Intelligently Green targets. 

Offsetting

Whilst the Intelligently Green strategy is to reduce emissions as much as possible, there is an option to offset any residual emissions that it is has not been feasible to remove.  
We are already offsetting emissions from the use of electricity at the Civic Centre through our purchase of renewable energy. An additional option would be to investigate, with 
Wychavon Leisure, the possibility of them entering into a renewable energy contract. Doing this would enable us to offset the emissions from electricity use at buildings they run. For the three leisure centres alone, this would save circa 300tCO2e per year. This may require additional investment from the council as the purchase of renewable energy is likely to be 
more expensive and impact on operating costs of the centres. 

A more indirect option would be to purchase verified carbon credits from projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions that we can use to offset our own emissions. The 
purchase of these credits fund investment in things like renewable energy installations, energy efficiency programmes, habitat restoration and waste management. This would be 
done through either buying credits directly from a project developer or aggregator, a carbon credit retailer or marketplace, or investing directly in a carbon reduction project. Costs would vary depending on how much we are trying to offset and the type, location and quality of project involved. 

Measure 2: Halve district wide carbon emissions from 992 kt CO2 in 2005 to 496 kt CO2 in 2030

The Intelligently Green Plan’s overall vision is for the entire district to become carbon neutral as quickly as possible, but by 2050 at the latest. However, for the current plan period to 2030 
the measure is to halve emissions from the 2005 baseline as a key stepping-stone towards the overall target. Progress against this measure is monitored using the ‘UK local authority and regional greenhouse gas emissions national statistics’ provided annually by the Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. For this measure we use data showing territorial CO2e emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities. As the data set is within the scope of local authorities it excludes emissions from large industrial sites, railways, motorways and land-use change. Data is provided from 2005 and the latest published data is for 2022.  

It should be noted that when the Intelligently Green Plan was published the latest data for 2005 provided an emissions figure of 992 ktCO2e. However, this figure has been revised through subsequent Government updates and is now 966.5 kt CO2e. In addition, starting from the 2020 release, data now includes territorial emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), 
methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) within its greenhouse gas figures (presented in CO2e). However, previous publications of the data covered emissions of carbon dioxide 
only. In 2023 the district-wide greenhouse gas emissions stood at 600 ktCO2e. This represents a 38% decrease on the 2005 baseline. Taking a linear trajectory from 2005, reaching net-zero by 2050 would mean emissions reducing by around 21.5 ktCO2e per year. It should be recognised that emissions reductions will not necessarily follow a linear path but, 
nevertheless, it provides a useful indicator of the progress on the journey to net-zero.

It can be noted from Chart 3 that there was a significant drop in emissions in 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19 and the restrictions that were in place over that year. Emissions have 
bounced back from this drop and were higher than in 2019. However, the general trend is still for a steady reduction over time and since 2005.  

Domestic emissions have been falling steadily since 2005, which has primarily been achieved through the decarbonisation of the energy grid. There was a notable drop in 
emissions in 2022, with a relatively mild winter in this year combined with rising energy prices being cited as reasons for this reduction. Emissions have dropped again for 2023, 
which has resulted from continued high energy, and general standard of living costs which has reduced gas usage for heating buildings. 

Transport emissions have remained fairly consistent since 2005 but fell significantly during the 2020, reflecting the impact of Covid-19 restrictions. They subsequently rose in 2021 and 
2022 but hadn’t returned to levels seen in 2019. For 2023, transport emissions in district dropped slightly compared to 2022. It remains to be seen whether emissions are now on a 
downward trajectory or whether there are still to be rises in future years. However, the growing numbers of electric vehicles will make an increasingly positive contributi

Measure 3: Double the size of Wychavon’s low carbon economy by 2030

A Low Carbon Goods and Services Sector Study was published in April 2021. This was undertaken across nine Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership areas including Worcestershire. The study was commissioned by the Midlands Net-Zero Hub to understand the current state of the low carbon sector, where support is needed to help grow it and the role the sector can play in driving a low-carbon recovery from Covid-19. It also provides a baseline from which to measure future growth.

In the study’s baseline in 2017/18 the size of the low carbon sector in Wychavon was £251.7m in terms of sales. In the 2019/20 this had grown to £266.9m, a 5.9% increase.  
A further update review of the LCEGSS was undertaken in 2024. This recorded the size of the sector was £381.1m in terms of sales in 2023/24. This now represents a 51% increase from the baseline. The sales account for 6.7 of GDP in the district and was generated by 229 companies and 2,128 employees working in the sector. Furthermore, the sector is forecast to grow to £447m sales over the next 5 years.

Measure 4: Treble renewable energy generation in the district from 108,119 MWh in 2016 to 324,357 MWh in 2030 

Data to monitor against this measure is obtained by the Regional Renewable Statistics provided annually by the Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero 
(DESNZ). In addition, energy generated from the energy from waste facility at Hartlebury, which opened in 2017, is also included in these figures. However, only the energy that is 
derived from biomass waste is included in the figures as a renewable source, which is estimated to be 50% of the total waste incinerated at this site. This data is provided by 
Worcestershire County Council. 

The data provided by DESNZ also no longer provides information on generation from certain energy sources beyond 2018, citing that the data has suppressed to prevent the output of 
individual plants being revealed. For Wychavon district this has meant that we no longer have data provided for landfill gas and plant biomass beyond 2018, although there is 
generation from these sources still occurring. This means that future figures are not going to be directly comparable to the original 2014 baseline established in the Intelligently Green 
plan.

Nevertheless, renewable energy generation in the district continues to grow. This primarily due to the increase in capacity of solar photovoltaic generation which has expanded 
considerably since monitoring began. In total renewable energy generation in 2023 is reported as being 200,664MWh; this is a 235% increase since 2014. As show in Chart 4 
below, the majority of renewable energy generation is from solar photovoltaic, accounting for 60% of the total. Furthermore, solar pv generation itself has increased by 930% since 2014.

Generation from the Hartlebury energy from waste facility is also significant. The amount generated has stay fairly consistent over time and it accounts for almost 35% of the districts 
total.  

Measure 5: Capture at least 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2025 through restoring, enhancing and creating a range of habitats across the district

The Intelligently Green Plan recognises the vital role the natural environment has to play in reducing our carbon footprint. Retaining good quality habitats and creating new high carbon 
storage habitats are crucial elements of the plan. As well as carbon sequestration this priority also has a range of significant environmental co-benefits, including protecting, 
enhancing and restoring biodiversity and habitats, adapting to the impacts of climate change and human health and wellbeing. 

We also recognise that natural carbon storage measures will be important to help meet our own net-zero targets, balancing those emissions that we cannot completely remove by 2030. 

There are ongoing investigations into levels of carbon capture that is being achieved through habitat restoration projects on our own land as well as with our partners, including town and parish councils, and projects that we have provide support to. Progress against this action will require continued and longer-term monitoring of the amount of carbon being captured as a direct result of projects and initiatives that we progress, i.e. carbon that would not have otherwise been captured without intervention.  The measurement and monitoring of this will depend on the type of project involved.

As an example, we have been able utilise the Woodland Carbon Code to provide a best estimate as to carbon sequestration impact of woodlands we have established at Stoulton 
Woods and Jubilee Woods. Stoulton Woods, after over 20 years since planting, is now capturing in the order of 85 tonnes CO2e per year across the whole site. While Jubilee 
Woods, after 10 years since planting, is expected to be capturing 5 tonnes CO2e per year and this will continue to increase as the wood matures.

The Flourishing Floodplain project, being delivered through the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust, aims to restore threatened wetland habitats in the farmed landscape of the Severn and Avon 
Vales. As well as undertaking habitat restoration projects, they are building the evidence base to prove how important floodplain meadows are as stores of soil carbon. This will help 
us understand the impact of projects, such as the restoration of Avon Meadows in Pershore, will contribute towards this Intelligently Green target. We are currently trying to establish a 
robust figure for the amount of carbon capture that is taking place at Avon Meadows. 

This is just an example of three individual projects that provide a snapshot of carbon capture potential for projects that the council have undertaken or supported. We will continue to 
establish carbon capture figures for projects where they are underpinned by robust evidence and using nationally recognised methodologies.