Cutting energy and water consumption and diverting waste from landfill saved the government £151.3m in 2015-16, according to a report on departmental performance against environmental targets.
The Greening Government Commitments (GGCs) set targets for reducing the government’s environmental impacts, including greenhouse-gas emissions, domestic flights, waste, paper and water. They also include pledges to improve procurement and transparency in areas such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity on the government estate.
The GGCs set targets to be achieved by 2014-15, compared with 2009-10. The government carried forward the targets to 2015-16 while it developed new ones for 2020.
Greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGs) from government buildings and from UK-based business travel by officials declined 27% in 2015-16 compared with 2009-10, exceeding the original 25% target. Most (19) of the 22 departments covered by the GGCs met or exceeded the target, saving an estimated £127m through energy reduction.
Performance across departments was varied, however. The Food Standards Agency achieved the biggest reductions, reducing GHGs by 66% in 2015-16 compared with 2009-10. The next best performers were: the Treasury (62% cuts); the Department for Communities and Local Government (61%); the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (54%); and the Department for Education (51%).
Poor performing departments included the National Crime Agency (NCA), which recorded the lowest GHG reductions at 9%, although this was an improvement since 2014-15, when emissions rose by 4%.
The Ministry of Defence just missed the target, with GHGs decreasing by 22%. The Ministry of Justice also fell short, with emissions declining by 21%. The department’s performance was far stronger in its own offices, which achieved a 37% reduction, than in prison buildings, where emissions fell by 13%.
The government overall reduced its use of domestic flights by 20% compared with 2009-10, with the Cabinet Office, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Food Standards Agency recording cuts of more than 40%.
However, the number of domestic flights taken by staff at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for International Development, NCA and UK Export Finance departments all increased.
Departments cut total waste generated by 27%, meeting the 25% target, which had been missed by three percentage points in 2014-15. Some 87% of waste was diverted from landfill in 2015-16, up from 83% the previous year, saving an estimated £15m.
Other achievements reported across government include:
- Paper use was cut by 44%, with most departments recording reductions of more than 20%.
- Water consumption fell by 12%, with seven out of 22 departments meeting a benchmark for water use in offices, compared with six the previous year.
- Most departments have incorporated sustainability into departmental procurement guidance and staff training. However, some departments were unable to report total spend against the government’s procurement standards, and several said that they had ceased any activity on supply chain reporting. The environment department (Defra) had not responded to a request for a list of these departments when this article was published.
- Most departments had published information on steps they were taking to address at least one of the following issues: climate change adaptation; biodiversity and the natural environment; procurement of food and catering services; sustainable construction and people. Eight out of 22 departments covered all five of these issues in reports, however, this was fewer than the previous year, when 12 did so.
The government has set new commitments for 2020, which require all departments to work towards an overall reduction in GHGs by 32% by 2019-20, from the 2009-10 baseline. The government has set individual GHG reduction targets for each department, ranging from 4% to 66%.
