House of Commons - Environmental Audit Committee

Greening Government - Environmental Audit Committee Contents

Memorandum submitted by WWF-UK

SUMMARY

— Reducing emissions from travel should be a strategic priority for Government operations as they represent a large percentage of its overall carbon footprint.

— Greater ambition in setting the Government's own carbon reduction targets needs to be seen in order to match the ambition level of, and be consistent with, national policy.

— The SOGE framework needs to be fundamentally changed in order to include flying and other forms of travel, with mandatory reduction targets being set in order to reduce both carbon and costs.

— Cutting back on unnecessary flying and using more videoconferencing and other alternatives are ways that Government can lead by example and reduce its environmental impact from travel, with the purchase of Gold Standard credits as a last resort.

— Cutting down on flying would also represent a major cost saving at a time when efficiency savings within Government are an urgent priority.

— WWF is running a guided programme that challenges businesses to cut One in Five flights, and we invite Government to participate in order to support more sustainable travel practices and to demonstrate its commitment to carbon reduction.

1. WWF-UK welcomes this opportunity to submit its views on how Government can reduce the environmental impact of its operations and lead by example on sustainable development. Our evidence is focussed on the need for Government to reduce its environmental impact from operations by implementing lower carbon business travel practices and including these emissions within targets for all government departments. Of the subjects suggested by the Committee we are chiefly providing comments relevant to the following:

— the role of the Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Procurement and the Minister for Transformational Government in co-ordinating and driving forward activity across government;

— the gap between the level of ambition set for the UK by government policies and the level of ambition the Government sets itself within the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) framework;

— whether attainment of SOGE targets at the level at which they are currently set would result in sustainable operations;

— the planned review of the SOGE framework;

— the use of carbon credits and offsetting in achieving targets; and

— the Government's Greening ICT strategy.

2. WWF welcomes the recent establishment of the Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Procurement (CESP) within the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the appointment of a Cabinet Office Minister responsible for co-ordinating work on sustainable operations and procurement across Whitehall and Government. We call on CESP and the Minister for Transformational Government to play a pivotal role in creating and implementing a sustainable travel policy which sets best pan-governmental practice to reduce carbon emissions from both administrative and operational travel. This includes setting mandatory targets for reducing carbon emissions from flying and monitoring achievement of these targets. We are pleased that CESP is currently working with the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) to develop a sustainable travel policy. WWF also welcomes the Sustainable Travel Engaging the Public Sector (STEPS) initiative being sponsored by CESP and SDC, which we consider to be an important step forward in taking a more co-ordinated approach to sustainable travel across government departments.

3. At a recent seminar hosted by OGC and SDC[19] and attended by WWF, a speaker from the SDC said that the Government spent £5.4 billion on transport and travel in 2006 and these activities represent between 25% and 75% of the Government's overall carbon footprint. A further speaker from the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions (OGCBS) stated that, in his department, air travel accounts for 33% of all CO2 emissions from travel. These figures show why reducing travel, and especially flying, should matter to Government. They also closely tally with WWF figures from discussions with large corporates, which show that flying represents from 10 to 50% of their carbon footprint. Given this similarity, we would argue that there should be much more learning shared between the public and private sectors to see how a more sustainable travel policy, which cuts unnecessary flying, can be planned and implemented.

4 In WWF's Travelling Light report[20] which examined the future travel intentions of FTSE 350 companies, a real appetite for change was apparent, with 89% of the UK's largest companies expecting to fly less within the next 10 years, 85% expecting to use more videoconferencing in order to reduce their flying and 77% expecting to travel more by rail. Although many companies are motivated, at least initially, by cost reduction as the main reason to reduce their flying, the environmental benefit of significantly reduced carbon emissions is also abundantly clear. Rather than staying behind the curve, government departments should be following the business trend of redefining their travel strategy in order to seek lower cost, as well as lower carbon ways of staying connected.

5. The level of ambition set for the UK by government policies is contained in the Climate Change Act, which requires the UK to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Emissions from aviation, although not explicitly included in the UK's five-yearly carbon budgets, need to be accounted for within this total. The current SOGE target to reduce carbon emissions from offices, by 30% by 2020 against 1999-2000 levels,[21] compares unfavourably with the UK's interim target for GHG reduction of 34% by 2020 against 1990 levels (which should rise to at least 42% once a new global climate agreement is signed at the end of the year). Therefore, the national ambition level has so far not been matched by that which the Government sets itself within the SOGE framework. Indeed, emissions from flying and other modes of transport are not even included within this framework, thereby omitting a substantial percentage of Government carbon emissions and showing little consistency with Government policy.

6. According to the Sustainable Operations Targets announced by the Prime Minister in June 2006,[22] SOGE targets for travel are limited to ''road vehicles for Government administrative operations'' only but exclude carbon emissions from taxis, planes and trains plus ''operational travel''. WWF questions whether sustainable operations can ever be achieved by targets that omit a significant percentage of Government carbon emissions. This is rather like weighing yourself while keeping one foot on the floor—it isn't giving the whole picture. Having incomplete targets can also encourage undesirable travel behaviour. At the previously mentioned sustainable travel seminar, WWF heard that some civil servants were choosing to fly rather than drive in order to meet their departmental SOGE targets for road vehicles.

7. WWF recommends that all aspects of travel for both administrative and operational purposes are included within SOGE targets, including emissions from flying. We welcome the fact that the SOGE framework is under review and call on CESP to make these targets far more transparent and comprehensive. Already, we understand that many departments such as HMRC, Defra, DfID, and OGCBS are seeking to reduce their flying. However, until such targets are mandated they are unlikely to be monitored or achieved, which is why emissions from flying and other modes of transport need to be included in the SOGE framework.

8. WWF welcomes the recent announcement from Joan Ruddock, Minister of State at DECC, that the Government intends to continue its Carbon Offsetting Fund and wishes to support the Gold Standard from carbon offsets.[23] Offsetting to achieve SOGE targets, however, only really makes sense if emissions from flying are included, especially as flying emits more CO2 emissions than any other form of travel—four times more than rail and twice that of cars and taxis per gCO2/pkm.[24] Under this scenario, WWF would recommend that offsetting is only ever used as a last resort for unnecessary flying, with the purchase of Gold Standard credits only.

9. As part of the Government's Greening ICT strategy, WWF calls on Government to invest in and use more videoconferencing to reduce the need to fly. The many benefits to Government of taking this action are indicated by the findings of a survey with DfID employees[25] which examined their experience of using videoconferencing. This survey found that 47% of DfID employees believe there is scope to replace more meetings with conferencing technologies, 37% believed that conferencing had reduced their travel and 38% believed that conferencing had positive effects on their work-life balance.

10. WWF's experience of working with private sector companies shows that videoconferencing can be used most successfully for internal meetings, where relationships are already well established, and where several people need to meet in two or more locations. We believe that this represents a significant proportion of Government meetings. Research published by University College London (UCL) shows that where video, web or audio conferencing are installed with the expectation of replacing a face-to-face meeting, they can reduce the need to travel by between 10 and 30%.[26]

11. There are numerous examples of private sector companies who have made substantial cost savings by using modern telecommunications to cut flights, both in direct costs of flights and in improved productivity:

12. WWF believes that substantial travel reduction and therefore major cost saving could also be achieved by Government. This would be invaluable at a time of growing public scrutiny of government expenditure and the number of flights taken by ministers and civil servants[30], and would also contribute to a significant drop in government CO2 emissions from travel. Government would also be seen to be leading by example and demonstrating best practice in terms of sustainable business travel.

13. Responses received to Freedom of Information requests from July 2007, as reported in a Discussion Document from Tandberg,[31] show that there are vast differences in the number of videoconferencing units owned by different government departments, and in the frequency of their use. In order to achieve more consistency across government departments, WWF call on the Government to take active measures to promote greater use of videoconferencing and to encourage civil servants to use video and other forms of conferencing as a travel substitute.

14. WWF calls on individual government departments to join its One in Five Challenge, our new initiative to cut business flying by 20% within five years. Not only would such participation help to measure and report emissions from flying in order to meet carbon reduction targets, it would also help to encourage and embed greater use of alternatives such as videoconferencing and rail. Furthermore, it would demonstrate Government's commitment to reducing travel emissions. Participation would also help Government to learn from the private sector as most One in Five Challengers are large corporates.

15. WWF-UK would be happy to provide oral evidence as part of this inquiry, sharing our experience of working with business to reduce their travel emissions.

24 April 2009