The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

SECTION 2: OUR PERFORMANCE AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

VISION FOR THE FUTURE

On 12 June 2006 the UK Government published sustainable development targets aimed at substantially reducing the environmental impact of the government estate. The Scottish Executive strongly supports the UK Government in its efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of its activities and has established an equivalent set of targets relevant to our own estate while congruous with our current environmental targets.

Throughout the report you will see the challenges we have set for the Scottish Executive to provide a sustainably managed estate which:

• is modern, resource efficient, with low energy buildings;
• is well conserved and managed land;
• makes efficient use of space and ways of working; and
• where the principles of sustainable development are embedded into our working practices.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The Environmental Management System ( EMS) at Victoria Quay has held its certification to the international standard ISO 14001 since April 1998. EMS development in the other 13 target buildings based on the successful system at Victoria Quay is progressing. Environmental Working Groups have been established in Saughton House, Pentland House, Cameron House, Strathearn House and Europa Building who are working to identify the significant environmental aspects for each building. These groups will be tasked with developing local action plans to address those significant aspects that can be directly affected by the actions of staff.

Our network of Environmental Guardians will continue to play a key role by being a focal point for everyday activities with respect to the EMS and encouraging greater environmental awareness amongst colleagues.

We remain committed to using the software package Greencode to help us manage these independent systems at both the corporate and local level, while ensuring that the combined efforts of each EMS are sufficient to meet our corporate environmental targets. However, networking problems hindered progress during the reporting year. These issues have since been resolved and work in this area can now continue so we will:

REVISED TARGET

Develop EMS at 13 remaining target buildings using Greencode software with 1st Management Review to be produced by end of March 2008.

During 2005 the Environmental Management System ( EMS) at Victoria Quay was audited by National Quality Assurance ( NQA) with only one non-conformance identified and the building retaining its ISO 14001 certification. We also started a programme of internal auditing against ISO 14001 to ensure the continuing success of the EMS.

With the networking problems experienced we were also unable to incorporate the paper based EMS at Victoria Quay into the Greencode software by the target date. However, it is important to ensure that the continuing development of Victoria Quay's EMS remains consistent with our developing corporate system so we will:

REVISED TARGET

Transfer VQ paper-based EMS to Greencode by end of April 2007 to incorporate it into the corporate EMS currently being developed.

ENERGY AND EMISSIONS (see Appendix, table 2)

The Executive continues to demonstrate its support of renewable technologies by procuring 100% of the electricity required to run its buildings from renewable sources. This accounts for around 70% of our total emissions from energy use and is the equivalent of around 5533 tonnes of CO ₂. To maintain the drive for improvement in performance we will continue to record and report these emissions.

Working in partnership with Dalkia through the Executive's estate-wide Project and Property Maintenance contract is beginning to deliver improvements in the day-to-day management of our energy-related systems; electricity and fossil fuel requirements have fallen by 2.5% and 1.1% respectively from 2004/05 levels, despite an increase in staff numbers of over 5%.

Using a baseline set during 2005/06 Dalkia will produce an Energy Action Plan during 2006/07 identifying no cost, low cost and capital cost measures looking at both better management of existing systems and where better technology can be utilised to reduce the carbon emissions relative to building operations. Specific environmental improvements have been incorporated into general upgrades of mechanical plant and fabric in the buildings. Early environmental consideration of specifications to lighting, heating, air conditioning and toilet/kitchen re-design, using modern efficient equipment will result in positive gains and potential long term savings in energy and water.

In this reporting period we undertook a programme of maintenance to repair and improve our remote monitoring and targeting system. This has enabled us to resume collection and management of utility consumption data, identify any irregularities and allow corrective actions to be taken with the minimum of delay. We are also working closely with Dalkia to ensure that any further breakdowns of equipment are investigated quickly and repairs carried out.

We are not complacent with achieving only improvements in energy management however, and any increase in staff numbers is inevitably accompanied by greater use of IT and other electrical equipment. We will therefore continue to raise awareness of the simple and effective measures such as turning off unnecessary lighting and switching off computers, printers and photocopiers when not in use. This is being addressed at both the corporate level through Executive-wide campaigns and at the local level through the developing environmental management systems in our target buildings.

The Executive is currently working toward a target to reduce the CO ₂ emissions caused by energy use in our buildings by 7% from 2003/04 levels by March 2011. We strongly support the need to continue the drive to reduce the emissions from our energy use and so:

OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE IS TO :

• Reduce CO ₂ emissions caused by energy use in our buildings by 30%, from 1999/2000 levels, by March 2020.

This target demonstrates our aim to reduce the impacts from the energy consumption through better use and management of the facilities that we currently have on our estate. For ease of comparison and reporting purposes we will also express our current target to reduce CO ₂ emissions relative to energy use using 1999/2000 as the base year.

REVISED TARGET

Reduce CO ₂ emissions caused by energy use in our buildings by 12.6%, from 1999/2000 levels, by March 2011.

PAPER PROCUREMENT (see Appendix, table 4)

In this reporting period there was a 13% reduction in the amount of paper purchased by the Executive's core Departments for general office applications. This reduction in paper use may be an indication of the effects of the implementation of our electronic records and document management system combined with an increased use of double-sided printing throughout the estate. Of the paper that was purchased 95% was from recycled stock compared with 96% recorded last year.

There has been a slight increase in the amount of non-recycled paper purchased and although not recycled these other paper types available through the supply contract are produced from sustainably sourced virgin wood fibre utilising a combination of Elemental Chlorine-Free and Totally Chlorine-Free pulp. However, it is the Executive's policy to use recycled paper for all general office applications and we will use improved management information now provided by our suppliers to challenge orders placed for non-recycled products.

WASTE (see Appendix, tables 5 & 6)

During 2005/06 the Executive recycled 77% of its waste arising from the target buildings. This has been achieved through our waste management contract which in its enhanced form at our four main Edinburgh buildings - Victoria Quay, Saughton House, St Andrew's House and Pentland House - combines on-site separation of paper and cardboard from the general waste stream with off-site separation of paper, cardboard, aluminium cans, plastic, glass, metal and wood. At other buildings the arrangements predominantly cover paper, cardboard and aluminium cans, with some further special arrangements in place for toner cartridges, cooking oil and fluorescent tubes. In February 2006 we audited the unloading and the separation of waste types from a sample container skip from one of our largest buildings to ensure that reporting is based on accurate information.

In 2005/06 we also sent 14 PC base units, 184 CRT computer monitors, one pallet of LCD computer monitors, four pallets of keyboards and mice, two pallets of cables and 44 empty UPS cases to our waste contractor for recycling where appropriate. One pallet of floppy disks, hard disks and tapes was sent for secure destruction. In addition, we sent 2827 PC base units, 108 laptops and 447 printers for refurbishment via suppliers' buyback schemes. Typically, buyback items are directed for use in developing nations or recycled and used in the manufacture of new equipment.

Under our furniture contract end-of-life furniture from the Executive is removed from site and assessed to be re-used, recycled, given to charity or sold at auction, according to its condition and value. We sent
off-site 176 desks, 477 chairs, 540 cabinets, eight bookcases and seven miscellaneous items of furniture.

The most concerning element here is that while we have increased the amount of waste we have sent for recycling our total wastes arising has also increased by 18% from last year's level. This may be due in part to a focus on more accurate recording of the various wastes arising but there may be other, more likely, underlying causes. It is impossible to look back at the wastes produced to see exactly what the total volume comprised, however, what we can see is that around three-quarters of the difference can be attributed to paper sent for recycling. The reduction in paper purchased for general office use we have seen this year suggests that a larger amount of mixed paper fibres, like magazines, journals or direct marketing mail, is entering the waste stream but again it is impossible to ascertain its exact composition. Our focus has always been on how we manage the wastes produced therefore our approach will be first to establish a clear factual baseline and then to move forward from there. Our waste management contract provides for detailed management information which we will use to establish our baseline for waste arising in 2006/07, enabling us to set our target for waste reduction by the end of July 2007. This is only the first step on the road to reducing wastes arising as a result of our activities.

OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE IS TO:

• Reduce total wastes arising by 25% by 2020 relative to 2006/07 levels.

WATER (see Appendix, table 7)

Water data for 13 of our target buildings is collated using a combination of metering information provided by Scottish Water and our remote monitoring and targeting system. This combination of sources, while the best currently available, does present problems with reporting accurate information. A faulty water meter at Victoria Quay, which was replaced early in 2005, returned substantially lower figures for 2004/05 than was actually consumed. Also, the metering information provided for Meridian Court is based largely on estimated readings accounting for the significant drop in consumption reported last year balanced by the increased consumption invoiced for this year.

The UK Government target at April 2006 was 7.7m ³ per person per year (shown as a black line in the graph) and although this year's performance was in line with the UK target it fell short of our own target for 2006 of 7.0m ³ (shown as a broken red line).

Initial investigations into the unexpectedly high water consumption last year at our Saughton House, Tweedbank and Leith File Store buildings have highlighted there are no significant faults in the water distribution system. We intend to begin a more detailed investigation to determine whether continuing high consumption is as a result of unusual building operations or activities and aim to:

REVISED TARGET

Reduce the average water consumption in our key buildings to 7.0m ³ per person per year by March 2009.

TRANSPORT AND TRAVEL (see Appendix, table 8)

We have undertaken work to provide a more complete view of emissions from our business travel and identified those over which we can have a direct influence. In previous years air and rail travel figures have been based on travel between Edinburgh, Glasgow and London but for the first time, we are able to report on the total mileage travelled by Executive staff for both air and rail. The number of miles travelled in private cars on business travel during 2005/06, at first glance, shows a reduction of around 42%. However, figures for previous years have included an element of business miles travelled by some staff in Scottish Executive Agencies. We are now able to filter these numbers out and report the business miles upon which we can have a direct influence. These improvements in our monitoring mechanisms have allowed us to set our baseline of 3138 tonnes of CO ₂ relative to the business travel of staff in the core Executive Departments against which we will be able to measure the progress of future activities.

We are adopting a dual approach to reducing the impact of our business travel through the continued promotion of alternatives to travel such as audioconferencing and videoconferencing. Where travel is necessary we promote more environmentally-sustainable modes of transport such as rail, bus and cycling and will offset those emissions from our travel which we have been unable to avoid. We are currently developing a system of carbon levies which will be applied to specific areas of business travel undertaken during 2006/07 and invested in appropriate emission off-setting projects. This combines environmentally neutral travel with a commitment to continue to look for ways of reducing the total amount while not unduly constraining the travel necessary to our operations.

The amount of fuel purchased for our pool vehicles in this reporting period decreased slightly and is consistent with the reduction in the total number of vehicles from 156 last year to 141. Our number of alternatively fuelled pool vehicles (typically LPG/unleaded) has decreased from 135 to 109, with replacement vehicles predominantly diesel powered due to increasing difficulties in purchasing new LPG-ready dual fuel cars. However, all diesel vehicles purchased for the Executive's fleet since 1 October 2005 are Euro IV compliant; the current European environmental standard for diesels. We have also begun trials with a hybrid electric vehicle in order to evaluate its suitability in meeting the business needs of the Executive.

During 2005 the Executive begun work on the third edition of its Travel Plan, extending it to cover staff working in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Based on results in the travel survey undertaken in February 2006 the Travel Plan will be published in early 2007 aimed principally at reducing the environmental impacts of the staff commute while also looking at elements of business travel.

The Executive has recognised that addressing the impacts of our business travel should focus on reducing overall emissions rather than targeting individual modes of transport. This is reflected in our current target to reduce travel-related emissions by 5% in between 2005/06 and 2010/11 which represents a positive first step towards reducing the environmental impact of our business travel:

OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE IS TO:

• Reduce carbon emissions from travel necessary for the Executive's administrative operations by 25% by 2020 against 2005/06 levels.

CARBON NEUTRALITY

We believe that we should offset emissions that we cannot avoid. We will be offsetting the emissions relative to our business travel during 2006/07 and have made a commitment in the Scottish Climate Change Programme published in March 2006 to explore the feasibility of extending our offsetting regime to cover other emissions.

OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE IS TO:

• Ensure the core Executive estate is carbon neutral by 2012.

VIDEOCONFERENCING (see Appendix, table 9)

This year 1341 videoconference sessions took place across the Executive's estate, equivalent to 5.9 each working day. This represents an increase of over a quarter in the number of sessions being held compared with last year.

In 2006 we organised a videoconference awareness day for staff based in our Edinburgh and Glasgow buildings. As part of our staff awareness events we will continue to promote videoconferencing as an alternative to travel and will work to increase the use of the facilities to reduce our emissions resulting from business travel. During 2006/07 we will also run a pilot scheme aimed at utilising desk-top videoconferencing equipment to investigate the potential for use by Ministers and its impacts on business and the need for travel.

BIODIVERSITY

The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 places a duty on all public bodies in Scotland to further the conservation of biodiversity. The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy was launched by the Executive in May 2004 to protect and restore the functioning of natural systems and to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

A project to improve biodiversity on the Executive estate is underway, with a series of biodiversity audits being carried out for 13 target buildings; Victoria Quay having been audited in 2003. Site plans detailing animal and plant species present will be produced as part of these audits, and action plans will be generated to ensure a clear and consistent approach to individual biodiversity projects. In 2006 work commenced at Victoria Quay to create a biodiversity pond and wildflower meadow area and staff took part in two volunteer action days. These proved very popular and we will be holding further volunteer days to try and involve more staff and help raise the profile of biodiversity within the Executive.

However, our contribution to the conservation of biodiversity extends beyond these specific activities. Climate change is a significant threat to biodiversity causing loss of habitat and species. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the severity of the impacts of climate change and assist in conserving biodiversity. The Executive is targeting emissions from its own operations, including emissions from business travel and energy use, and the amount of waste sent to landfill.

« Previous | Contents | Next »