Public sector sustainability reporting – Lessons learnt Ruth Tipping Senior Team leader (Sustainable Development) Date 9 September 2011

11,500 employees Annual budget of over £1.1bn 24,000 miles of flood defences EA Wales 1,030 Employees Annual budget of (£93M) 2,900 km of flood defences

Why are we doing this ? History of environmental accounting Internal environmental management team HMT issued guidance on public sector sustainability reporting

What have we reported ?

Sustainability performance summary

The benefits of doing this What gets measured gets managed Reducing environmental impact Saving money! Better control/sight of data Developed links across the organisation

How do we do this Finance data from bills Site level data check and approval Meter readings taken weekly/monthly Ensure estimated bills don’t get too far off the reality mark Who does it Finance lead Facilities teams and responsible officers at depots/offices input IEM team set targets and monitor progress Feedback loop into business and personal objectives to ensure delivered

Targets are set: CO2 Target: Reduce CO2 emissions by 33% from 2006/07 levels by March 2015 Water Target: Reduce mains water consumption by 25% by March 2015 from levels.

Targets cont’d Zero office waste to landfill by March By 2015 we will reduce the total office waste arisings by 20% from the baseline year 2008/09. Reduce our total business mileage (Lease, casual, badged, and hire car mileage) by 25% by March 2015 from 2005/06 level.

Internal guidance - Waste

Internal Guidance - mileage

Examples of “points to remember” Check what unit your meter reads in e.g. ft3 or 100’s ft3 - it may not measure in what it states on the front of the meter! ( if unsure check bill ) Leased sites: obtain monthly meter readings. If this is not possible kWh data should be obtained from invoice information from the landlord. Shared sites: energy consumption should be allocated on the basis of proportion of Agency occupied net internal area & reported in kWh

What did we learn No one team can do it all Should be Finance department led Senior corporate commitment Raises profile of this information both inside and outside organisation Data quality/integrity is a big issue Supplier/contractor engagement is key Plan ahead

Reference material Our annual report and accounts: Relevent sections on sustainability reporting can be found on pages 9-11 and in appendix A. Other materials: Defra's Greening Government Commitments: commitments.pdf 2015 'targets' to reduce GHG emissions, waste, water and improve the sustainability of procurement. commitments.pdf HMT Guidence on sustainability reporting: Guidence on sustainability reporting with examples. ICAEW : Environmental issues and annual financial reporting: agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/TECPLN8045_env_report_aw.pdf Report jointly published by EA + ICAEW. Provides guidance to both public and private sector organisations on reporting their environmental impacts agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/TECPLN8045_env_report_aw.pdf Defra GHG reporting guidelines: Defra have produced practical guidelines on sustainability reporting. Easily digestable. Sustainability Reporting and Accounting Oct 2010 WLGA and PWC Envirowise practical guide to environmental management accounting - Services/Publications/GG374R-Reduce-yours-costs-with-environmental-management-accounting.html Updated publication by Envirowise, supported by many organisations including the EA on benefits of environmental management accounting. Services/Publications/GG374R-Reduce-yours-costs-with-environmental-management-accounting.html

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