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Schools: Carbon Emissions

Asked by Nick TimothyConservativeDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 11 April 2025UIN 41157

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the (a) sources and (b) levels of carbon emissions for schools in England in each year since 2015.

Answered by Stephen Morgan

Education settings are not required to provide specific data on their energy use or greenhouse gas emissions.

To estimate the education estate's emissions position overall, the department references a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy report, the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) 2014/15.

The BEES report estimates that schools and universities represent approximately one third of all England and Wales public sector building emissions. Total greenhouse gas emissions from education sector buildings were estimated to be 4.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) per year. The equivalent figure for industrial sector buildings is 7.8 MtCO2e. The annual greenhouse gas emissions from electrical energy consumption were 2.2 MtCO2e and those from non-electrical energy consumption were 1.9 MtCO2e.

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