Councils' carbon footprints reveal huge gulf

Ministers urged councils to save taxpayers' money by cutting down on the amount of energy they waste after revealing details of carbon emissions produced by local authorities in powering and heating buildings and from travel.

Leeds City Council – the region's biggest local authority – had one of the country's highest levels of emissions, while the North Yorkshire district authority of Richmondshire had the region's lowest.

Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne also announced he was overturning a ban on councils selling green electricity into the national grid in a bid to allow local authorities to cash in on energy they produce from wind turbines or from waste, through anaerobic digestion.

According to the Government data from 2008/09, Sheffield City Council was the region's only local authority which generated some of its own electricity from wind or solar power but Mr Huhne's pledge could convince others to follow suit.

"By the end of the year, I hope local authorities will be able to sell electricity from renewables – generating revenue to help local services and keep Council Tax down: local communities, truly benefiting from the low-carbon transition," he said.

The local authority data released yesterday showed that Leeds released 136,904 tonnes of carbon emissions from buildings – including leisure centres and libraries – street lighting and council travel, excluding buses and commuting.

Doncaster was next, with 130,733 of emissions while Bradford recorded 87,185 tonnes and Sheffield 80,906 tonnes.

Unsurprisingly, smaller local authorities were less polluting, with Richmondshire emitting 1,390 tonnes, Ryedale 2,005 tonnes and Craven 2,036 tonnes.

Across the region, council emissions hit 968,215 tonnes.

Mr Huhne said: "These new statistics should put energy wastage and energy efficiency at the forefront of the minds of councillors and council officials."

The data also shows that Sheffield generated 6,000 KWh of energy from either wind or solar power, while across the region councils produced a more impressive 4,877,127KWh from biomass.

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said: "As the second biggest metropolitan council in the country we have 33,000 staff providing services to 760,000 people – this means we're going to have a significant impact on the environment.

"However, our emissions only account for two per cent of emissions for the city as a whole.

"The council has signed up to a 40 per cent cut in emissions from our own operations and across the city by 2020. Efforts to hit that target cover everything from energy efficiency to testing new types of vehicle, from more efficient street lights to reducing the amount of office space we use."

Coun Mark Thompson, Doncaster's Cabinet Member for Environment, said: "The council is committed to reducing our own carbon footprint and through our own energy efficiency policy we have a variety of initiatives in place."