Value for 2024, wastewater treatment route

0.147kgCO₂e/m³ processed

Biogenic CO₂ and land use excluded · GWP100 · AR6

FossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂GHG Protocol and IPCC inventories

2024–

Default: the latest yearUnchanged on 2023

Region: United Kingdom GB
Boundary: End of life
Data quality: HighRated by us, not by the source
Licence: Open · OGL v3.0

Where 0.147 comes from

Wastewater, the whole route
3.5 Waste0.147100%

Σ 0.147: one published number. NAEI does not split it into the haul and the wastewater.

Reporting this cubic metre under the GHG Protocol

3.5 Waste 0.147

Paying for your own waste to be treated is category 5, waste generated in operations, counted in the period you send it.

CiteAPI

All values

35 values, one per year back to 1990. Every one is biogenic CO₂ and land use excluded, AR6 GWP100, so the years compare directly.

Latest0.147 2024–

Change since 19900%

2024 onwards0.147Default value

Year

Every value of Sewer (rising mains) - Wastewater, United Kingdom
AppliesYears	TotalkgCO₂e/m³ processed
	0.147Default value
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
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	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147
	0.147

Default: what search and the API return when you ask for nothing specific

What this number covers

The path of your site's wastewater to the treatment plant, spread over each m³ processed. Every step on it is counted; NAEI publishes the route as one number, not step by step.

Treatment: wastewater
Treating the wastewater at the plant it drains to
Included0.147
Your activity
1 m³ processed at your site. The factor spreads the treatment of its wastewater over each m³ processed: count what the site processes, not the wastewater.
= 0.147

Outside this boundary

Producing the raw material
Making the product that became waste

Making the product is its own factor.

Gases

Basis: Excl. biogenic CO₂FossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂GHG Protocol and IPCC inventories

Methane (CH₄)0.147

Each gas is converted to CO₂e with AR6 100-year warming potentials; biogenic CO₂ and land-use carbon are left out, while methane from biogenic sources is counted.

The factor, standardised

Every factor on open-climate.ai answers the same questions in the same words, whatever the publisher. Open any ⓘ for the definition.

Waste treatment › Wastewater treatment · United Kingdom · per m³ processed · Average

Category: Waste treatment › Wastewater treatment; Browse it to compare every publisher's factors
Activity: Sewer (rising mains) - Wastewater; NAEI: Sewer (rising mains)
Region: United KingdomGB; Not on the record; set from NAEI's coverage
Per unit: m³ processed; Published as billion litres; no conversion needed
Data type: Average; No supplier named
Classified as: NFR / CRT inventory source category5D1

End of life · Excl. biogenic CO₂ · AR6

Boundary: End of life
GWP method: IPCC AR6, 100-year horizon; Re-weighted by open-climate.ai from NAEI's AR5 figure of 0.148 kgCO₂e/m³ processed
CO₂e basis: Excl. biogenic CO₂FossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂GHG Protocol and IPCC inventories; Split by gas
Life cycle: Upstream: not coveredProduction: not coveredDownstream: not coveredEnd of life: covered

High quality · Open licence · 1990 to now

Data quality: High; Rated by us, not by the source
Applies to: 2024– (2024 onwards); Reference year 2024 · a value for every year back to 1990
Origin: Re-weighted by open-climate.ai from NAEI's AR5 figure
Licence: Open · Open Government Licence v3.0; Free to reuse, with attribution

From NAEI's record to a comparable factor

NAEI publishes this factor as one record. Here is each field as printed and what open-climate.ai made of it.

NAEI fields and their standardised form
NAEI field	As printed		Served as
Name	Sewer (rising mains)	→	Sewer (rising mains) - Wastewater
Category	Waste	→	Waste treatment › Wastewater treatment
Boundary	5D1_Domestic_wastewater_treatment_and_discharge	→	End of life
Total	0.1484	→	0.147 kgCO₂e/m³ processed, end of life
Unit	billion litres	→	per m³ processed
GWP	AR5	→	AR6, GWP100

Checks this factor passed

One value per year from 1990, no gaps, no overlaps.
Printed total restated by open-climate.ai from AR5 to AR6 with the published gas split: 0.148 → 0.147 kgCO₂e/m³ processed.
Unit, region, boundary and method mapped to fixed code lists.

How we standardise every library

About this factor

NAEI gives no description for this factor. Filed under Waste.

Source and licence

Publisher: UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI), compiled for Defra and DESNZ by Ricardo Energy & Environment
Library: NAEI 2026

Open the record at NAEI

Open Government Licence v3.0 Open

The values and their metadata are served in full and may be reused with credit to the publisher.

Credit it with this line(c) Crown 2026 copyright Defra and DESNZ via naei.energysecurity.gov.uk, licenced under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

A plain reading of the licence, not legal advice. The licence text prevails.

Cite this factor

(c) Crown 2026 copyright Defra and DESNZ via naei.energysecurity.gov.uk, licenced under the Open Government Licence (OGL). Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/naei_uk/ (CC BY 4.0). https://open-climate.ai/factors/ef-naeiuk-sewer_rising_mains-gb-m3_throughpu-end_of_life-c77f5947/?v=efv1-4263996fc9b19af3984b0a2f043c6a38

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