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Greening the government estate

“Unless government takes serious action to cut its own carbon dioxide emissions, it will lack credibility in its challenge to society to do the same. The reputational risk for government is huge.” Sustainable Development in Government (SdiG) 2007 report, Sustainable Development Commission, 2008


What is a sustainably managed government estate?


Sustainable development is about “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to greening the government estate meet their own needs' – in other words not living beyond our means.

You can find out more about sustainable development on the Defra website.

The government defines a sustainably managed estate as one that has:

  • modern, resource efficient, low energy usage buildings 
  • well conserved and managed land
  • efficient use of space and ways of working
  • the principles of sustainable development embedded into working practices.


Sustainability targets


In 2002 the government introduced a range of sustainable development targets for all departments as well as an annual report on Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) to report on performance against the targets. 

In 2006 a revised set of targets - Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) - was introduced. These updated the 2002 targets and followed the publication in 2005 of the Government’s strategy for sustainable development, Securing The Future, which commits the government to green targets for central government and to report on progress annually.

The targets include those on waste and recycling, carbon emissions, water usage, renewables and energy efficiency. You can view the targets on the Defra website.

They apply to all central government departments and executive agencies, and to non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) on a case-by-case basis. 

Launching these targets in June 2006 Tony Blair, then Prime Minister, said: “We are taking an important step….when it comes to greening Government, by committing to make by 2012 the Government office estate carbon neutral and committing to reduce Government’s total emissions from buildings by 30%.”


Sustainable development action plans (SDAPs)


The strategy for sustainable development, Securing The Future (2005), commits all government departments and executive agencies to producing a sustainable development action plan (SDAP). These are intended to set out the actions that the department/agency will take to integrate sustainable development considerations into its polices and operations.


Some departmental SDAPs can be accessed via the Defra website. They should also be published on the department's/agency's website.


The Sustainable Development Commission has produced guidance on SDAPs. One of the SDC’s recommendations is that an SDAP should “be communicated effectively and be accessible to staff, stakeholders and the general public” and that the organisation should seek to engage staff at all levels in the SDAP process.

You can download the SDC guidance from the Sustainable Development Commission website.
 

Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report


Since 2006 the independent watchdog the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) has been monitoring performance of central government operations against the government’s targets. The SDC publishes annually the Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) Report.

These reports have been very critical of the government’s failure to meet its own targets. The last report published in March 2008, found that some departments are still not on track to meet all their targets – particularly on carbon emissions – although government as a whole is “generally performing better this year than last year”.

In particular the report noted that:

  • nearly two-thirds of departments aren’t on track to meet the target of a 12.5 per cent carbon reduction by 2010/11
  • although there was a 4 per cent reduction in carbon emissions this was largely due to the improved performance of the MOD estate – and this was distorted by the fact that MOD still include data from a now privatised part of its estate (QinetiQ)
  • although there energy efficiency had improved, without the improvements made by MOD, energy efficiency across the rest of the government estate had worsened by over 3 per cent
  • over 28.3% of electricity was from renewable sources – far higher than the target of 10% by 2008
  • 38.5 pert cent of waste was recycled in 2006/07 – almost meeting the 2010 target of 40%
  • there was limited progress towards the target for reducing water consumption but not enough to be on track to meet the target of 25% by 2020
  • only a quarter of the government estate is currently covered by an environmental management system (EMS).

The report can be viewed on the Sustainable Development Commission website.

The government's response


For the first time this year, the government responded to the SDC’s Sustainable Development in Government 2007 report.

In March 2008 a Defra press release announced that a new centre of excellence – the Centre of Expertise for Sustainable Procurement – was to be set up within the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) a to help Whitehall departments achieve their targets for reducing carbon emissions and waste.

In addition a new post of Government’s Chief Sustainability Officer was to be created to take forward a culture of change across all departments in sustainable operations and procurement.
You can view the press release on the Defra website.
 

Environmental Audit Committee inquiry


Early in 2008 the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) carried out an inquiry, to which PCS submitted evidence, into the sustainability of government operations.

In July 2008 the EAC published a report, Making Government operations more sustainable: A progress report, that is also very critical of government performance. The report concludes: “Overall performance by Government departments and agencies in tackling carbon emissions has remained extremely poor”.

The report recommends that “OGC {Office of Government Commerce} should work with civil service unions to ensure that staff are trained, motivated, and empowered to take a leading role in mainstreaming sustainability in Government operations.”

You can download the full report from the UK Parliament website.

You can see the PCS press release in response to the EAC report on the news pages. 

  •  Green guide for buyers. The government has produced a guide to help buyers across government departments and their agencies to reduce the impact of their buying decisions on the environment. You can view the guide on the UK Sustainable Development website.

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