The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes data on the emissions of each local authority area.
The current data ranges from 2005 to 2022. The data is released with a delay of around 2 years, so the 2022 data is the most recent available.
This data covers activities taking place in Bracknell Forest and the energy we’re using. This includes emissions from:
- houses
- vehicles
- shops
- offices
- farms
- industry
These emissions are referred to as territorial emissions. They do not reflect emissions taking place elsewhere from the goods and services we consume (aside from energy). We use figures which exclude emissions sources that are difficult for us to influence such as motorways, railways and large industrial sites.
Transport and energy used in homes account for a large proportion of our emissions footprint.
The graph below shows the change in emissions from 2005 to 2022. Significant reductions can be seen in the borough during this time.

Bracknell Forest Council’s emissions
The emissions of individual organisations can be broken down as follows:
- Scope 1 emissions - direct emissions released from buildings or vehicles we own or manage (for example, from burning gas in our boilers and fuel in our vehicles)
- Scope 2 emissions - emissions released elsewhere to generate the energy we use (primarily electricity)
- Scope 3 emissions - all other emissions released elsewhere as an indirect result of our activities
We currently measure our scope 1 and 2 emissions, and part of our scope 3 footprint, in line with the methodology set out by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's corporate standard. The chart below shows our scope 1 and 2 over the last few years. These have fallen by 16% since 2019.

We currently measure scope 3 emissions linked to our water use (27.8 tCO2e in 2023), and to our outsourced waste service (2,639.5 tCO2e in financial year 2022/23).
However, we know that there are other large sources of 3 emissions we are yet to measure, such as:
- emissions from other services we outsource such as social care
- emissions caused by the products and services we purchase
- emissions from buildings we lease to others
- emissions from staff travel and commuting
- emissions linked to our investments
More accurately measuring, and reducing, our scope 3 emissions is one of our key aims.