FAQ

 

Feedback

FAQs

  1. General
  2. GHG Emissions Inventory
  3. Pathways
  4. Log of key changes

Feedback

This is a beta release of the site. We are working to build on the functionality and accessibility of the tool and would really appreciate your feedback. Please send any comments or questions to scatter@anthesisgroup.com. 

Nottingham City Council are completing an evaluation to better understand the user experience of SCATTER and how it can enable local authority and regional carbon reduction objectives. We will use the information you provide to inform the development of the tool. Please click the link to complete the short survey: https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=157485197982 . All responses are anonymised.

 

FAQs

General

What does SCATTER stand for?

  • Setting City Area Targets and Trajectories for Emissions Reduction

Why was it created and who developed the tool?

  • SCATTER was created to offer local, unitary and county councils the ability to report on authority wide emissions to carbon reporting frameworks, inform the setting of carbon reduction targets and to understand potential pathways to meeting commitments in line with national and international objectives

  • Anthesis built the tool with support from national and local government and academics.

Who is involved in the partnership?

  • Anthesis developed the tool in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Nottingham City Council and The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The tool was originally piloted with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

  • Anthesis is funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to develop SCATTER.

  • In the development of the Pathways functionality of SCATTER, Nottingham City Council are Anthesis' key strategic partners.

Who can use SCATTER?

  • Anybody with a .gov.uk email can use SCATTER for free at any time. Each Authority will have an account which multiple users from that authority can access upon registration. Those without a -.gov.uk email addresses are not currently allowed access to the online tool.

How many users can we have?

  • There is no limit to the number of users per account.

I am part of a consultancy, university or other organisation that works with local authorities – can I have access to SCATTER?

  • SCATTER was built to support local authorities to freely access emissions data and create carbon reduction pathways. Where local authorities are working with external bodies in developing climate plans, they can export data from the tool and share as necessary. Only users with a valid local authority .gov.uk email domain will be able to login to the online tool. Information on how to use the tool is freely available through the help videos and webinars for all organisations to see.

What does the tool do? How will it help us to reduce our carbon footprint?

  • SCATTER has two main functions: calculating greenhouse gas inventories with carbon reporting outputs, and modelling carbon reduction pathways. Creating a greenhouse gas inventory for a Local Authority allows an organisation to identify the sources of their emissions and where to focus action. SCATTER Pathways outputs are intended to benefit engagement as part of developing a collaborative low carbon plan.

What is its goal?

  • The goal of the tool is to provide a freely accessible, easy way for a Local Authority to:

    • calculate the area’s current emissions

    • aid emissions reporting to international standards

    • Develop emissions scenarios to 2050 and identify ways in which to reduce emissions

    • Save these results to the users of the specific Local Authority account.

The online tool should be intuitive to use and can calculate the current inventory and scenarios via a user-friendly interface.

Are there any costs associated with using the tool?

  • No, the tool is free to use for local, unitary, combined and county authorities in the UK.

GHG Emissions Inventory

What has changed in the inventory during the latest update?

  • Please note data has been recently updated to the 2019 reporting year. There have been some changes to the source data - an explanation of these compared to the 2018 inventory can be found in the inventory download in the "Data changes 18-19" tab. A detailed explanation on the 2019 inventory compared to 2018 can be found in the inventory download in the "Data changes18-19" tab.

Which carbon reporting frameworks can I access through SCATTER?

Why should I report my carbon emissions?

  • The past year has seen a decisive shift in momentum on carbon reduction following the release of the IPCC 1.5 special report, which called for urgent climate action by 2030. This has led to with over 50 towns and cities across the UK having declared a climate emergency and setting ambitious carbon reduction commitments.

  • By disclosing to initiatives like CDP, local authorities can better understand their impact and how they can support local, national and international targets.

  • Disclosing environmental data through CDP Cities has a huge number of advantages, from improved engagement to centralising data and tracking progress. CDP provides cities with all publicly available data, evaluates your response, benchmarks your performance against peers and finds areas of opportunity for your city.

Will SCATTER help us to comply with legislation and / or regulatory requirements?

  • There are no regulatory requirements for local authorities to report their area’s emissions. However, cities can voluntarily report to CDP and SCATTER’s emissions report provides the quantitative answers to Section 4 in CDP’s 2019 Questionnaire.

When are the benefits and timelines of reporting to CDP?

  • CDP is a global disclosure non-profit organisation that helps investors, companies, local authorities, and regions assess their environmental impact and take urgent action to build a sustainable economy. CDP’s platform will open in April 2020, allowing for local authorities to measure and monitor their environmental impacts through their questionnaire. Participation in CDP’s program is free. 

  • In 2019, 19 local authorities in the UK disclosed to CDP covering almost 25% of the UK population, including: Bath and North East Somerset, BCP Council, Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Glasgow, Greater London, Greater Manchester, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Perth and Kinross, Plymouth, Somerset West and Taunton, St. Davids and Wolverhampton. In addition, Wales and Scotland also disclose through CDP.

What parts of the CDP survey does SCATTER assist with?

  • Section 4, City-wide emissions

Is the SCATTER inventory externally or internally verified?

  • SCATTER is not formally verified but we do follow a quality assurance/quality control procedure on the inventory analysis.

What scope does the data cover for greenhouse gas emissions and where can I find out more information about what this means?

  • SCATTER covers direct (Scope 1), indirect (Scope 2) and some wider (Scope 3) emissions. This fulfils the requirements for a BASIC emissions inventory in GPC terms.

  • Activities taking place within a city can generate GHG emissions that occur inside the city boundary as well as outside the city boundary. To distinguish among them, emissions are commonly grouped into three categories based on where they occur:

  • Scope 1 (Direct emissions)

    • GHG emissions from sources located within the city boundary

  • Scope 2 (Indirect emissions)

    • GHG emissions occurring as a consequence of the use of grid-supplied electricity, heat, steam and/or cooling within the city boundary

  • Scope 3

    • All other GHG emissions that occur outside the city boundary as a result of activities taking place within the city boundary

 

What is an inventory, and why is it useful to know?

  • A greenhouse gas emissions inventory collates the sum of emissions arising from different sectors, attributable to a designated area (e.g. a local authority).

  • It is useful to understand where emissions arise and where carbon reduction methods could have the largest impact.

How do I export data?

  • Within the tool there are buttons to download the tables and data being analysed.

Can I access aggregated data for my combined authority in the online tool?

  • Currently the tool does not provide aggregated data for combined authorities. We are working on the best method to provide this aggregation.

Why isn’t the data from 2018-19? Will the tool be updated?

  • The tool uses the most recent freely available data. For most of the datasets used, data represents 2017, though in some cases 2016 data has been used. We are working to make data updates to provide the 2018 reporting period data currently.

Where does the inventory data come from?

  • Our approach is based on the Accounting and Reporting Standard developed by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories. Greenhouse Gas Protocol Guidance.

  • Activity data (fuel consumption, waste arisings, process gas emissions) is multiplied by emissions factors to work out the global warming potential, in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e).

  • For more detail on the datasets we used and how the calculations have been carried out, please see the methodology page

Can I upload my own data into the online tool to override SCATTER's data?

  • Currently the tool does not allow for upload of data into the model. This phase of SCATTER is focussed on compiling public data sets to provide a standardised emissions profile for all local authorities in the UK.

Does the reporting tool include emissions data for local authority operations? 

  • The emissions profile created by SCATTER only includes local government operations emissions within the wider area-wide emissions inventory, not as a separate reporting file.

Pathways

How were interventions chosen?           

  • Interventions were chosen through a combination of feedback and input from the technical panel who were involved in the development of SCATTER, including local authority representatives, consultants and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research. Measures that would be relevant for all local authorities in the UK were prioritised. As a result, SCATTER does not include measures that are only relevant for a particular local context.

Can I download the data behind the charts in Excel to support climate action plan development?

  • You can download the data with the Summary Emissions chart in Excel once you have saved a pathway, by selecting the pathway on the 'Saved Pathways' page. This will open the pathway in a new browser window where you can select 'Download the underlying data' button.

What should I do if certain interventions are not relevant for my local area?

  • The interventions provided in the tool were selected as they have relevance for most local areas in the UK, however, we understand some may not be relevant for certain local contexts. If a particular intervention is not relevant in your local area, it is advised to keep the ambition level set to 1, which is the baseline ambition for all interventions. It is not possible to remove or hide specific interventions in the tool.

Why don’t interventions for new housing options include the Future Homes Standard?

  • The government issued its proposed Future Homes Standard for consultation in October 2018, including proposed options to meet energy efficiency requirements for new homes in 2020. However, the standard has not yet been adequately defined for modelling so isn’t included in your trajectories. For more details, see responses from London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) here and the UP Passivhaus Trust here.

How should I use Pathways if my area’s target is sooner than 2050?

  • Pathways is intended to provide an understanding of the speed and scale of emissions reductions that are feasible using only emissions reduction measures and natural sequestration. Whilst the chart demonstrates 2050 as the end point based on the UK’s national net zero target, it is understood that most local authorities have more ambitious net zero targets with a tighter timeframe.

I am changing an intervention’s levels but I can’t see any change in the pathway. Why is that?

There are a few reasons why changing the levels of an intervention or group of interventions may not have an impact on the emissions pathway:

  1. The baseline data for that intervention may be zero, or close to zero;
  2. The intervention is not relevant for the local area e.g. international shipping, where no port exists in the boundary;
  3. For energy interventions, if the renewable energy generation exceeds the local demand, changing the energy interventions will have no impact. Electricity generated locally is used to offset local electricity demand, prioritising renewable generation. We consider any generation in excess of that local demand to be exported.

Summary of data changes & updates during beta testing

  1. Livestock Emissions

    1. Livestock emissions factors have increased. This will result in the
    2. The emissions factors used for livestock in the Pathways for CH4 and N2O have been amended to give the correct conversion to CO2e from their raw factors. Emissions factors affected:
      • Dairy Cattle
      • Deer
      • Goats
      • Horses
      • Non-dairy cattle
      • Poultry
      • Sheep
      • Swine

  2. IPPU Emissions

    1. During the preparation for the Beta testing for SCATTER Pathways, a mistake was spotted in the emissions factors, impacting IPPU emissions. The emissions factors affected are:
      • Industrial Processes_Chemicals
      • Industrial Processes_Iron and steel
      • Industrial Processes_Mineral products
      • Industrial Processes_Non-ferrous metals
      • Industrial Processes_Other industry

These have been amended.

  1. Tree-planting

    1. The baseline data for tree-planting has been changed, giving a slightly different emissions profile. The data now comes from data from the National Forestry Inventory for trees outside woodland. This is an improvement on the previous more generic assumption for sequestration from trees. For details of how non-lone trees have been modelled, see the Pathways Methodology.
    2. This replaces the data for N. LULUCF Net Emissions from BEIS which was previously used to approximate CO2e uptake from trees.

  2. Intervention trajectory amendments

    1. We have now made the baseline assumption for a number of interventions which had assumed a level-1 increase in installation of renewable generation capacity to assuming no changes. This applies to:
      1. Offshore wind
      2. Onshore wind
    2. The intervention for Livestock has been smoothed (it was previously modelled in five-year segments)

  3. Methodology & annotation

    1. Updates have been made to add detail to the methodology and to allow interventions to follow the order of the tool. We have tried to make the interventions clearer.