MORE than 80 per cent of Oxford’s emissions come from buildings, the city council has said.

The authority’s citizens assembly will start today to ask residents what they think it should do to tackle climate change.

The council’s Climate Emergency Strategy Support report found 81 per cent of all emissions across the city are generated from buildings.

Homes contribute to 29 per cent of Oxford’s total emissions, while the biggest single contributor is Oxford University.

That is responsible for about eight per cent of the city’s emissions.

The statistics will be discussed at the city council’s Citizens Assembly over this weekend and another in October.

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It will look at five topics. They are: buildings, sustainable transport, energy, biodiversity and waste reduction.

Privately rented and owned homes make up 79 per cent of all emissions from housing; socially rented housing make up 21 per cent of emissions from that group.

Oxford University Hospitals contributes two per cent of the total emissions. Oxford Brookes University also contributes about two per cent.

The council said industrial buildings which are involved in the manufacturing of products in Oxford are responsible for 17 per cent of the city’s total carbon emissions.

Tom Hayes, cabinet member for Zero Carbon Oxford, said: “We know emissions cause climate breakdown, now we know more clearly than ever what causes emissions in Oxford.

“As a city council, we have crucial controls over key causes of carbon emissions and, now that we’re armed with the latest evidence, we’ll look at the levers we can pull on directly to reduce emissions.

“We can’t tackle climate change alone and, critically, this report tells us the types of partnerships we need to build to tackle our climate emergency at a local level.”

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Mr Hayes added: “Combined with the Citizens Assembly on climate change, this report supplies the council with enormous understanding of everything we need to do to chart our journey to a Zero Carbon Oxford by 2030 – much sooner than the government’s current target.”

Other commercial buildings and other facilities are responsible for nine per cent of Oxford’s total carbon emissions.

Transport accounts for 17 per cent of Oxford’s total emissions.

Of that, 16 per cent comes from on-road transport like cars and lorries within the city’s boundaries. Another one per cent can be attributed to the railways.

The citizens assembly will be held in private, but journalists have been invited to observe.

The 50 people taking part at the Said Business School will be representative of the city’s population.