Carbon reporting
Our commitment to reducing our carbon emissions as much as possible is supported by transparency about our emissions, both current and historical.
This page was last updated on 23 February 2026, to reflect the latest complete reporting year (1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025).
We use two separate frameworks for our carbon emission calculations: the Welsh Government’s Public Sector Net Zero Reporting Framework; and the EAUC’s (Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges) Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework (SCEF). The below chart shows our baseline emissions, and our emissions for the 2024/25 year according to both reporting approaches.
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|
| Cardiff University annual emissions, by category (tCO₂e) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Scope 1 | Category | Baseline emissions* | Welsh Government Public Sector Net Zero Reporting Framework 2024/25 | EAUC Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework 2024/25 |
Gas | 13,212 | 12,816 | 12,816 | |
Fleet | 91 | 43 | 43 | |
Anaesthetic gas | 0.5 | 7** | 7** | |
F gas | 506 | 669 | 669 | |
Diesel Generator | New this year | Not measured | 1 | |
2 | Electricity | 18,583 | 8,454 | 8,454 |
3 | Water | 130 | 121 | 121 |
Fuel and Energy used to transport to the institution | 5,991 | 5,970 | 5,970 | |
| Waste | 73 | 214*** | 214*** | |
| Business Travel | 2,996 | 3,014 | 3,014 | |
| Staff Commuting | 3,299 | 3,117 | 3,117 | |
| Homeworking | 543 | 775 | 775 | |
| Procurement | 125,544 | 46,843 | 79,515 | |
UK Student Travel and International Student Travel (including return to home and out of term travel) | New this year | Not measured | 25,714 | |
Leased assets (upstream and downstream) | New this year | 1,375 | ||
*The baseline years are set individually by theme, as follows: 2005/06 (gas and electricity); 2014/15 (fleet); 2021/22 (anaesthetic gas, F gas, water, fuel and energy used to transport to the institution, waste and homeworking); 2022/23 (business travel, staff commuting, and procurement) and 2024/25 (diesel generation, student travel and leased assets).
**This figure has increased due to improvements in accounting methodology that means we are now measuring more accurately. We hope to see that this number will decrease as the new methodology is used longer term.
***This figure has increased as more waste has been redirected to landfill during this year due to closure of a waste management site external to the university. We hope to see this number decrease again in the future.
We have adopted the EAUC framework alongside the mandatory Welsh Government Public Sector Net Zero Reporting Framework because it facilitates benchmarking across the higher education sector. In key areas, particularly procurement, its categorisation reflects the University’s carbon emissions more accurately. We will now use this framework for our primary carbon accounting, while continuing to monitor our carbon footprint per the Welsh Government methodology and report this annually.
We have analysed our Scope 1 and 2 emissions from gas and electricity since the 2005/06 academic year utilising our Estate Management Report tool, as well as emissions from fleet since 2014/15. By also measuring the development of the University estate over the same period, we have been able to analyse our Scope 1 and 2 emissions relative to estate size. Our Scope 1 and 2 emissions have decreased by 32% since the 2005/06 baseline, despite our estate growing by 31% over the same period.