Carbon reporting
Understanding carbon reporting
Carbon reporting helps Shropshire Council understand its emissions and track progress towards becoming carbon neutral. It provides a way to explain our carbon and environmental performance over time. We share this information publicly and with relevant government departments, making its progress visible and helping people understand how it is getting on.
How we report emissions
We use the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tool – Local Partnerships to support its reporting. Established in 2020 and widely used by local authorities across England, the tool provides a consistent method for accounting for greenhouse gas emissions. Using a consistent approach helps make reporting easier to follow and provides a clearer basis for comparing progress over time.
Estimating emissions from a business
For small and medium-sized businesses, the C Level Business Carbon Footprint Calculator offers a way to estimate an organisation’s emissions. A carbon footprint is an estimate of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the activities being measured. For a business, this provides a starting point for understanding its impact and considering where emissions could be reduced.
Understanding a community’s carbon footprint
Community groups and town or parish councils may want to understand emissions across their local area, rather than focus only on their own organisation or a particular building. This wider view can help them consider where community action could make the biggest difference.
The Community Carbon Calculator provides a visual representation of a community’s carbon footprint. It helps users explore emissions for a geographical area and identify where local activities could have the greatest impact. It is particularly useful for town and parish councils seeking to understand their community’s footprint.
This area-based perspective is different from estimating the emissions of an individual organisation or building, so the choice of tool should reflect what is being measured.
