Public: Climate change | Public

Delayed bill for carbon

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Large energy users have been given extra time to pay, as details of the UK's first mandatory carbon trading scheme are finalised

Reducing energy use will save organisations a total of £1bn and more than 4m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year by 2020, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which this week announced the final details of its carbon reduction commitment energy efficiency scheme.

The most obvious change is the name – it used to be the plain old carbon reduction commitment, but presumably that was not as redolent of financial savings as the new, improved moniker.

The scheme, which is described as a "regulatory incentive", is designed to improve energy efficiency in large public and private sector organisations by making them pay for carbon allowances. It is the UK's first mandatory carbon trading scheme. Starting in April 2010, it affects all large organisations in the private and public sectors that used 6,000 megawatt hours of electricity in 2008 – the equivalent of an annual bill of about £500,000, as we reported earlier this year.

http://www.guardianpublic.co.uk/carbon-reduction-commitment
Large energy users – defined as those who spend about £0.5m a year on power -- are required to participate from 1 April 2010. Between 5,000 and 20,000 organisations are expected to be affected by the scheme, including most local authorities and all government departments.

However, the impact of the new scheme has been eased by the latest announcement. Organisations will now only have to report, rather than pay for, emissions in the first year, 2010-11. In subsequent years they will have to buy allowances corresponding to their emissions.

According to a note on the changes by Jon Lovell, head of sustainability at property consultant Drivers Jonas, this avoids the double whammy of having to buy two years' worth of allowances in 2011 and will soften cash flow impact at a time when both private and public sector organisations are being squeezed financially.

Lovell says that the change will also enable participants to get a feel for the mechanics of the scheme before its financial obligations kick in.

Another change in the rules will enable organisations to disaggregate subsidiaries whose energy use would qualify them for the scheme in their own right. Lovell explains that this benefits the large group by reducing its administrative burden. The subsidiary would also have more scope to influence its position in the performance league table that the government is also planning to use to promote the PR benefits of reduced energy use—the counterpoint of which will be to name-and-shame those who have not performed so well.

There is greater clarity, too, for public sector organisations such as schools. Where the participant is part of another body it can participate as part of the parent, so state-funded schools will continue to be grouped with their local education authority.

Sustaining green targets

Jo Adetunji — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:55:27 GMT

Parliamentary committee says it is unconvinced government green targets are on track

The government failed to reach its own target to reduce carbon emissions from its estate last year and "performed poorly" on other green targets, according to a parliamentary committee report.

The environmental audit committee said it was "unconvinced" by the government's claim that it is on track to exceed its 2010-11 target for carbon emissions from its estate and said the goverment had based its projections on "unverified figures."

According to figures from the Sustainable Development Commission the government failed to reach its target for sustainable operations in the period 2007-08 although it was on track to meet targets for recycling and the sourcing of energy from renewable sources.

However, it said that the performance of these targets had dipped from the preceding period of 2006-07 and changes made to the governance of its sustainable operations have been confusing or ineffective.

The audit committee report said that this was "not good enough."
"It must continue to improve the sustainability of its operations each year. The ease with which the Government continues to meet some targets, even when its performance worsens, indicates the urgent need for the government to set itself stringent targets that match the high level of ambition of its own policies on climate change and sustainable development," the report said.

The report also criticised the limited scope of departments and executive agencies that fall under the scrutiny of targets and urged the government to extend monitoring to the wider public sector, including outsourced operations.

Despite the criticisms, the commission has increased the government's overall green rating from three stars to four. It also and praises improvements made in the quality of the data produced by the government.

The committee makes a number of recommendations including procurement - it says the government has the power to influence suppliers and the wider economy - and the development of "green skills" in its workforce. It also calls for greater accountability and a formal audit process.

Jo Adetunji

New funding for energy saving projects

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:46:30 GMT

Department of energy and climate change releases first tranche of cash as a loan to help local authorities reduce their carbon footprints

With a raft of legislation such as the Climate Change Act, the carbon reduction programme and the 2010 Kyoto agreement targets fast approaching, pressure is being placed on the public sector to reduce their carbon footprints.

In order to facilitate these requirements the government is offering interest free loans to local authorities and other public organisations in England to help cut their energy bills.

This new initiative follows the budget announcement of some £51.5m of new loan funding to be made available this year. Applications are now being invited for the first call by 17 July. Other calls will follow until the end of the year or until all loans have been committed.

The department of energy and climate change is providing this new funding in partnership with Salix Finance and the Carbon Trust. Salix Finance is the provider of loans to public sector organisations for energy saving initiatives.

It is estimated that the loan fund will help save around £18m and 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. It will complement the existing match funding programme offered by Salix Finance which has some £90m of funding operating with 128 public sector clients in the UK

The interest-free loans will be repaid over four years and will be made available for 100% of the projects cost provided that they meet agreed criteria that deliver energy efficiency savings and reduce costs.

Further information on the application process, criteria for project funding and further deadlines for applications is available on the Salix Finance website http://www.salixfinance.co.uk/loans.html

Public managers face challenge in cutting carbon emissions

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:28:12 GMT

The race to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 is on for both the public and private sectors. But choosing the right methods is no simple task

Sustainability is high on the public sector agenda, particularly as the government has now increased the target for cutting UK greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050.

The public sector has a huge role to play in reducing its own carbon emissions and influencing wider social behaviour, through sustainable procurement and better use of IT systems, as well as more efficient heating and lighting of buildings. The Cabinet Office's Greening Government ICT document has laid out a practical action list, but our roundtable experts agreed that we can't just look at systems in isolation. We need to examine the complex facets of sustainability in the round. "Is the public sector looking at the big picture?" asked one participant. One of the problems is that public sector structures don't yet fit the green agenda particularly well: procurement is still kept separate from environmental issues, for instance, and many targets are too narrow and fail to take in wider factors. Attempts to measure and reduce the employees' carbon footprints, for instance, do not always include their journey to work.

Wider influence

There are three ways in which public sector organisations can drive the use of more sustainable technologies: they can look at what they do in-house; they can look at the sustainability of the services they provide; and they can, in addition, play a wider role in influencing and encouraging changes in behaviour across the community.

It's easier to do the first than the second or third, and that can lead to situations where people "get very obsessed with the guy who doesn't turn off his monitor" while ignoring much bigger challenges, such as using planning regulations to influence sustainable developments.

"Part of the problem is that government sees itself as a body that decides what other people do, rather than what it does itself," pointed out one participant. Politics plays an important role here: keeping an eye on the ballot box means that politicians find it hard to take the longer-term view and some issues are addressed more easily than others. Home insulation, for instance, gives everyone a warm feeling; but tackling energy profligacy is not so appealing from a politician's point of view.

Local authorities with comfortable majorities find it easier to commit to sustainable development, which by necessity runs beyond usual election cycles. There are examples where public organisations, rather than hesitating or waiting for the full evidence, have gone ahead with innovative schemes, such as encouraging homeworking. However, there are likely to be tensions in such initiatives too: the advantages of homeworking may be disputed, if individuals are simply heating up family houses, rather than working in a central office. Bodies that have many field workers, however, can benefit from not having to keep a desk for staff who only "pop in to pick up their papers".

Why pop in at all? With secure networks and handheld devices, staff can work far more efficiently out of the office. This isn't possible for all government organisations, of course: strict security controls for local authorities connected to the government-wide secure network prohibit homeworking for many staff. This raises another tension. It may be better for both staff and for their organisations if they work together, in a central location. People learn from others and queries can be quickly answered; might organisations lose knowledge if everyone is scattered? Teleconferencing and instant messaging systems could be a solution to such problems.

Public bodies must also address the way they are organised. Procurement staff are still too often separate from other parts of the organisation. This, however, is beginning to change and some local authorities are now bringing together functions such as IT with fleet management, energy and HR, moves which enable them to take a more holistic view of sustainable development.

Public/private tension

Private companies can sometimes act more quickly than the public sector to implement greener technologies. That can lead to tension. "We are seeing clashes now, because suppliers want to sell more sustainable systems to the government, but they can't, because of price." The government needs to look at the whole-life cost of goods and services, rather than simply how much they cost to purchase.

Taking stock of those whole-life costs should become easier, with the introduction of the PAS 2050 standard, which assess the greenhouse gas emissions of goods and service over their whole life, including the manufacturing and disposal processes. This will make it possible, for the first time, for buyers to compare the sustainability of different manufacturers' products.

Buy why buy products at all? Isn't leasing a greener option? Not if it merely moves the carbon issue off one organisation's balance sheet to another. The whole picture needs to be taken into account.

Splintered central government

Whose job is it in central government to manage the sustainable agenda? The Office for Government Commerce has a role in setting sustainable procurement standards for government departments, but our participants noted, with some degree of exasperation, that individual departments are still all developing their own, separate approaches to the use of green technologies.

There are good examples of technologies being used in the public sector to cut both costs and emissions, for example the Crown Prosecution Service's use of teleconferencing. But again the private sector may have the edge on the public sector in its ability to bring in tougher measures.

One company, for instance, encouraged the use of videoconferencing through a ban on business travel. "The public sector doesn't have the same driver." But that was disputed - the public sector does, indeed, face tighter budgets and the need to meet big targets on climate change. Meeting those demands will require innovative approaches and technologies both inside government organisations and across the wider community.

This roundtable was sponsored by Microsoft

Green initiatives fight credit crunch

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:53:00 GMT

The recession may be the catalyst for environmental policy to have greater pre-eminence

Despite fears to the contrary, the recession may be the catalyst for environmental policy to have greater pre-eminence. A rapid transition to a greener economy, far from having been marginalised by the financial crisis, is more essential than ever for our future prosperity.

That is the view of a coalition of leading companies and environmental organisations. The influential, if eclectic, Aldersgate group includes public sector organisations, including the Environment Agency and regional development agencies, MPs and environmental campaigners, as well as construction companies, financial and accountancy firms, utilities firms, BT, the Institute of Civil Engineers and businessman Peter Jones.

In its Green Foundations 2009 report, the group says the government should steer the UK economy onto a more sustainable path, both financially and environmentally. Environmental regulation is essential for recovery and UK competitiveness. "Far from being an indulgence that would damage competitiveness, the low-carbon economy is an essential component of the economic recovery," says chairman Peter Young.

But boosting competitiveness, through implementing cost-effective environmental measures, will require the environment and climate change departments to take the lead. "The political will has been found to stabilise the banking crisis. Now we need that same political will to tackle the twin challenges of climate and energy security," says Elliot Morley MP, former environment minister and Aldersgate member.

Flood defences are a problem as extreme weather is likely to become more common. A joint survey by the Local Government Association and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found that although councils are keen to take a stronger leadership role in preventing floods, many still feel under-funded and under-staffed.

The 2007 floods cost the economy an estimated £3bn. But 18 months on, of the 257 councils in England surveyed, 60% do not have sufficient funds to fulfil their flood risk responsibilities, around a quarter have had difficulty recruiting and retaining technical staff and 55% do not have partnership arrangements with water companies to combat flooding. Some money has been allocated for this purpose. In its response to Sir Michael Pitt's review last summer of the 2007 floods, Defra announced that more than £60m will be invested in the priorities identified, with £34.5m set aside for the action plan and a further £27m of funding coming from other budgets. A £7.7m flood forecasting and alert centre will be created, jointly run by the Met Office and the Environment Agency.

The Met Office will also receive an additional £500,000 to improve the computer modelling used to forecast heavy and localised rainfall and the Environment Agency will get an extra £8.5m to improve flood prediction and mapping.

Local authorities will get £15m to coordinate and lead flood management plans, having already been promised £136m to assist those in greatest need, repair infrastructure and help schools and businesses to get going again. But Paul Bettison, chairman of the environment board of the Local Government Association, says it won't be enough to ensure villages, towns and cities are properly protected.

The government has accepted all Pitt's recommendations on better flood warnings and rescue arrangements. There will be a £5m grant scheme for installing flood protection measures in homes and more money for rescue boats and crews.

A priority for the government this year will be improving awareness of flood risk. According to a recent survey by the Environment Agency, more than two million people who live in flood-prone areas of England and Wales are not aware of the risk. Of the 1,033 at-risk households surveyed, only 9% had found out how to stay safe if their home flooded, while only 3% had a "flood kit" of copies of insurance documents, torch, bottled water and other essentials.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change, meanwhile, has promised £12m to fund an expansion of biomass heating and combined heat and power. Grants of up to £500,000 will pay for up to 40% of the difference in cost between a biomass boiler and its fossil fuel alternative. The intention is to move many public sector buildings over to greener energy.