Believing it should practise what it preaches, the Environment Agency has been tackling its carbon emissions by setting a five-year target to make a 33% cut in by March 2015.
By the end of 2013-14, it had achieved a 19% reduction but soon identified a gap in delivery. To address this, it launched “mind the gap”, a carbon reduction initiative across all three greenhouse gas protocols, scopes 1, 2 and 3.
Mind the gap sits within a sustainability strategy that has seen some excellent results. For example, the agency is ahead of its March 2015 targets for water use, office waste and buildings energy use, among others.
The agency is hoping to surpass its original target and make a 2,000 tonne reduction in CO2e next year.
Measures include new and traditional technologies, including improved insulation, renewable energy (photovoltaic and bio-mass), bio-diesel fuel tanks, ultra low emission vehicles, telematic route-planning and the use of web cams to remotely monitor flood risk without the need to deploy the workforce immediately.
Mind the gap has invested in low carbon technology at several sites but its exemplar depot is Bradney, Bridgwater. With the installation of bio-mass heating in offices and workspaces, it claims a substantial reduction in emissions. Bradney has also benefited from installation of four electric vehicle charging points and a further six at the most used local satellite sites to support its eight plug-in Hybrid electric vehicles.
In addition, the agency has invested in low energy lighting at several sites and improved glazing. Bio-diesel is purchased from renewable sources while water pumping – the most significant source of carbon emissions – is being addressed through a competition to find a British company to design a zero-carbon solution.
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