Only northern cities have managed to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, amidst housebuilding and population growth, according to new research undertaken by LandTech.
LandTech’s analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data from 2021 shows northern cities including Newcastle upon Tyne, Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester recorded England’s only reduction in GHG levels compared with pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, all of these locations exceeded housebuilding targets and experienced population growth.
Newcastle Upon Tyne experienced a decrease of almost 4% between 2019-2021, with Cambridge experiencing the largest percentage increase (8%) in the period analysed – London saw a small rise in GHG’s of 0.2%.
Waste management emissions declined across the four northern cities by 31% on average compared with an average 11% decline across all 11 cities analysed by LandTech.
Although these northern cities were the only ones across the country to reduce GHG emissions during 2021, according to the latest ONS data available, Oxford and Cambridge still hold the record for the lowest total GHG emissions, despite a rise for both towns across the year analysed.
Jonny Britton, co-founder of LandTech, said: “Although latest ONS data reflects the final year of the pandemic, the overriding conclusion we can draw is that it’s possible for populations to grow, housing targets to be met, and for carbon emissions to reduce or remain within acceptable realms. While there are multiple contributors to greenhouse gas emissions across our built environment, it will be interesting to analyse the data looking ahead as we see an ever-increasing switch to electric vehicles.”
