Front Quad of Lincoln College, the walls covered in bright green ivy

Emissions and Energy Use

Emissions and Energy Use

Lincoln College’s calculated emissions in 2022 were 709.982 tCO2e. These cover all our scope one and two emissions and our initial estimates of scope 3 emissions related to waste, water and energy use. Unless otherwise stated the below figures were calculated using the government's conversion factors (Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2022) and our meter readings and estimates where required.

Graphs showing scope 1 and estimated scope 3 emissions

Scope 1: only gas remains to be phased out

Lincoln College’s Scope 1 emissions in 2022 were 485 tCO2e, consisting of 484.28 tCO2e in gas use and 0.72 tCO2e in diesel use.  Gas is also responsible for 82.66 tCO2e upstream emissions. Diesel use has now been phased out, meaning that for direct (scope 1) emissions only gas remains.

Lincoln’s 2022 Gas Emissions in kg CO2e:

Site Scope 1 Scope 3 Total
Museum Road Houses & EPA Centre 5,713 975 6,688
Little Clarendon Street (Dame Louise Johnson Building) 15,810 2,699 18,509
Turl Street (Lincoln House & Staircase 15) 27,993 4,778 32,771
Bear Lane 142,316 24,293 166,609
Main site and Library 210,140 35,871 246,012
Turl Street Mitre 67,535 11,528 79,063
Bartlemas Close Sports Ground 2,215 378 2,593
Other residential sites 12,557 2,144 14,701

Scope 2: Electricity

All of the College's electricity is obtained and supplied through renewable sources as part of our involvement with the University of Oxford's energy procurement scheme. Without purchasing REGOs, college emissions would have been 279.10 tCO2e higher in 2022. Nonetheless, our electricity use in 2022 caused upstream emissions amounting to 98.39 tCO2e.

Scope 3: Estimating our upstream and downstream emissions

We have now also begun tracking parts of our scope 3 emissions related to water and waste. In future this will be expanded to include food; business, student and commuting travel; postage; and procurement.

Water

An initial estimate of the emissions from 2022’s water supply and treatment were 23.34 tCO2e. This will be corrected upwards once more data becomes available. The college is also committed to water savings and has various water-saving devices installed throughout college and is collecting rainwater for watering the gardens.

Waste

Emissions from Dry mixed recycling, Food recycling, General waste, and Glass recycling have been estimated at 20.4152 tCO2e.