The council missed its carbon footprint targets last year – with the highest emissions coming from residential waste.
Carbon dioxide emissions totalled 24,022 tonnes – higher than the previous year and above the target of 22,803.
The figures will come as a blow to West Dunbartonshire Council which has pledged to be net zero by 2045.
Officers say waste levels from residents are continually increasing and have the biggest impact on the local authority’s carbon footprint.
The details were revealed in an infrastructure, regeneration and economic development committee report which went before councillors yesterday.
Officers state: “The council’s carbon footprint in 21/22 was 24,022 tonnes of CO2e, just missing the target of 22,803.
“Stricter carbon reduction targets set by the Climate Change Strategy mean that annual reductions will be more challenging to achieve net zero by 2045.
“However, it should be expected that there will be fluctuations on our carbon reduction journey towards 2045.”
The council say the pandemic, heating and rising waste levels were the reasons behind the missed targets.
The report explains: “The pandemic had an unprecedented impact on our council operations and residents.
“More staff work remotely and as a result we have had to add carbon emissions from homeworking to the council’s overall carbon footprint.
“Emissions relating to energy, waste and travel have also increased because, like the whole world, West Dunbartonshire is ‘bouncing back’ from the pandemic.
“Waste levels, particularly from residents, have been increasing since 2012/13, with the highest recorded emissions occurring in 2021/22.
“Since waste is the largest proportion of council emissions, improvements to emissions from other sources do not have as much of an impact on our carbon footprint.”
In December last year, we reported how recycling rates had slumped in West Dunbartonshire after figures revealed just 36.8 per cent of waste from the area was recycled.
The region lagged behind the Scottish average of 42 per cent.
The council has ambitious targets to have ‘net zero’ emissions by 2045 - meaning that the amount of carbon dioxide it produces is offset by the amount it removes from the atmosphere.
The local authority aims to meet Scottish Government targets by cutting its emissions by 75 per cent over the next decade, and by 90 per cent by 2045.
Chiefs say school ventilation requirements due to the Covid-19 pandemic have also had an impact on emissions, explaining: “Whilst carbon emissions for heating have decreased slightly, the benefits of our energy efficiency interventions have been impacted by ventilation requirements in schools as a result of the pandemic.
“Heating will work harder and go on for longer as a result of windows and doors having to be open across all of our schools.
“We will continue to implement the actions set out in the Climate Change Strategy Action Plan for 2022/23.”
