Carbon savings mount

The UK public sector is on track to deliver cost savings in excess of half a billion pounds through energy saving projects and can go even further, claims the Carbon Trust.

Since 2001, more than 3,000 public sector organisations have worked with the Carbon Trust.
The energy-saving projects they have implemented during that time will deliver combined cost savings of £650m over their lifetime and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 6.5 million tonnes.

But the future potential is even greater, with further public sector projects already identified that could deliver additional cost savings of up £3 billion and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 34 million tones, according to Richard Rugg, head of public sector at the Carbon Trust:

“The UK public sector has shown impressive leadership in recent years in tackling carbon emissions and bringing down energy use,” he said. “It is especially encouraging to see that, along with greater levels of knowledge and skills, we are also seeing a steady increase in ambition. A few years ago, organisations graduating from our public sector carbon management programmes aimed, on average, to cut their carbon emissions by 12% over five years, now they are aiming for 30%.”

The Carbon Trust’s annual carbon management programmes for the public sector enable local authorities, universities and NHS trusts to collaborate in developing and implementing effective carbon reduction plans. Around 400 have already completed the programme. A further 120, with a combined annual energy spend of £365million, have now signed up for the year ahead. These include 20 ministerial departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies that joined a new Carbon Trust programme for the central government estate.