Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2020 to Question 117952 on Parliamentary Estate: Carbon Emissions, what information the Commission holds on the estimated average amount and proportion of emissions from the Estate that are from (a) food and (b) food waste.

(a) The House does not currently hold information on carbon emissions associated with its food and beverage procurement. We are developing a method to measure and manage carbon emissions from all our Scope 3 supply chain activities, including those from our food suppliers.

(b) The amount of food waste collected from the Parliamentary Estate is not broken down between the two Houses, so it is not possible to provide a carbon emission figure for food waste from Commons outlets only. However, in the 12 months to the end of October 2020, the House authorities have calculated a total of the equivalent of 1.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the process for anaerobic digestion of the food waste from the Estate. This figure has been calculated using UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting. This compares with 11,985 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent as part of Scope 1 and 2 emissions from the Estate in the same 12-month period.