RICS 2nd edition: Operational electricity conversion factor query

Buildings Assessments RICS & GLA
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Hi
I am working on for an assessment in RICS 2nd edition tool. While entering input for electricity consumption, the available entry is ‘Electricity, UK 2023, based on energy supplementary table of Whole life carbon assessment RICS, 2nd edition’ with ‘0.3 kg CO2e / kWh’ carbon factor

However, on checking the source i.e Energy supplementary table and 2023 electricity carbon factor from UK Government GHG Conversion Factors, there is a different carbon factor of 0.207kgco2e/kwh. Please see the attached screenshot. Can you help me understand why is there a difference or where I am going wrong?

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Hi Hiranmoy,

Good question. The 0.207 kg CO2e / kWh isn’t the total picture; to calculate the actual emissions we also need to consider the WTT and indirect emissions. I’d recommend to check the following link under the section ‘Q: Which set of carbon factors are used for B6 calculations?’

Adding up the carbon factors (0.2071 + 0.0459 + 0.0179 + 0.0040 + 0.020 + 0.0004), gives 0.2953 kgCO2e/kWh
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The data point currently in the tool reflects this as rounded up to 0.3 kgCO2e/kWh.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

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Thank you for the clarification. It is helpful, Steven!

Do you think we should capture 'Direct emissions (Scope 2) ’ from 2025 data ( which is 0.177 kg CO2e/kwh) instead of 2023 data ( 0.2071 kg CO2e/kwh) to stay updated?

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If a full range of emissions exists for the 2025 profile (so including Scope 2, also WTT and T&D) then we could add a 2025 option. For many schemes, we update the required annual profile yearly; however, it depends on what the scheme specifies as required. I’ll look into this first thing tomorrow.

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Thank you for all the prompt responses.

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Hi Hiranmoy,

I can confirm that we will be adding the new profiles as well. Our team has started the process for its inclusion.

Thanks for raising this!

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Hi Steven

Could the 2025 profile for Water consumption be updated in OneClick?

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Hi Hiranmoy,

I’ve asked our product manager to evaluate adding those items at the same time as the energy profiles.

We’re making good progress on the energy profiles. While the RICS 2025 values are available, the 2025 FES scenario hasn’t been published yet (we only have 2024). We need the FES profile to calculate the decarbonized profiles, as this is now a single calculation (unlike the old RICS tool, which required a separate decarbonization input). For now, we can extrapolate to get the 2025 figures. (The actual FES2025 profiles are expected to be released mid-July)

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