Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish environmental and greenhouse gas emission figures beside the quarterly GDP figures.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 7 April is attached.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW

13 April 2022

Dear Lady Bennett,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what plans the Government have to publish environmental and greenhouse gas emission figures beside the quarterly GDP figures (HL7794).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is planning to publish a pilot publication of climate change-related statistics on the same day as the quarterly preliminary estimate of UK Gross Domestic Product [1], scheduled for 12 May 2022. Subject to assessment of impact and feedback, the intention would be for this to become a regular quarterly publication.

The ONS also produces annual estimates of residence-based greenhouse gas emissions [2]. These enable direct sectoral comparison with the national accounts. Options have been under review for a quarterly estimate of this emissions measure, and an initial methodological publication is planned for May 2022. Further progress will be informed by stakeholder and user feedback.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp
2 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/ukenvironmentalaccounts/2021