Another new requirement for 2020 environmental reporting to comply with the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations is the reporting (in MWh rather than tCO2 in line with existing standards) of the aggregate of:
- the annual quantity of energy consumed from activities for which the company is responsible, including the combustion of fuel and the operation of any facility; and
- the annual quantity of energy consumed resulting from the purchase of electricity, heat, steam or cooling by the company for its own use.
| MWh by Division | 2019 | 2020 |
| ALSA | 1,201,357 | 840,100 |
| US and Canada | 1,027,600 | 529,482 |
| UK Bus | 482,724 | 311,800 |
| National Express Limited | 383,914 | 55,127 |
| Germany | 65,700 | 121,000 |
| Bahrain | 66,037 | 53,314 |
| Total | 3,227,332 | 1,910,823 |
| Energy consumed from activities for which the company is responsible, including the combustion of fuel and the operation of any facility | 3,103,562 | 1,739,101 |
| Energy consumed resulting from the purchase of electricity, heat, steam or cooling | 123,770 | 171,721 |
| Proportion of that figure relates to energy consumed in the UK and offshore area | 2019 | 2020 |
| UK | 866,638 | 366,927 |
| Offshore | 2,360,694 | 1,543,896 |
| UK proportion | 37% | 24% |
This is another way of stating existing disclosures (as it is simply stating the same information in different measurement units) so the drivers of movement in tCO2 and kWh for the Group should be broadly the same. The fact that, measured by MWh, emissions are down 40% year-on-year whereas measured by tCO2 they are down 33% will be driven by a combination of definitions, measurement standards and changes in energy ‘mix’ that we will now have to divert more resources to better understand.
Finally, waste disposed to landfill; water consumption; and building emissions have all shown a reduction between 2019 and 2020 but this trend will be skewed by lower occupancy of buildings and less washing of vehicles not in service during the pandemic.