Hertfordshire County Council

Hertfordshire County carbon and ecological footprint

Hertfordshire County Council provides services to over one million residents including schools, libraries, care services, highway maintenance and transport services. The Council wished to measure the climate change and resource use impacts of all of its functions, and commissioned Best Foot Forward to conduct carbon and ecological footprint analyses and deliver a software solution (Footprint Reporter) to enable ongoing measurement by the Council. The work went beyond the requirements for National Indicator 185 to also show full supply chain emissions and included commuting of Council staff. John Rumble from the Council stated: “We recognised the challenge of the assessment, but the results provide a true reflection of the emissions we can influence, and the Footprint Reporter tool enables us to closely manage these on an ongoing basis.”  This is the first study of its type and enables Hertfordshire County Council to adopt a sophisticated, holistic approach to managing emissions.