Environmental policy and targets

1. Please provide me with figures on how much your department has spent on green and environmental policies in the past 5 years, breaking down by year and specific guidelines, booklets, policies that the money has been spent on.

2. Please then provide me with the targets set either externally or internally for your department with regards to reducing its energy usage, recycling and all 'green policies' in general for the past 5 years.

3. Please then provide me with the actual figures for what your department achieved in terms of reducing its energy usage, recycling and all the targets regarding 'green' policies.

Thank you for your e-mail dated 8^th September 2011. We are pleased to respond to each of your questions in turn:

1. Under Regulation 12 (4) (a) of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 ‘Information not held when receiving a request’ I confirm this information is not held by Ordnance Survey.

This information is not held because Ordnance Survey does not allocate a specific budget to green and/or environmental policies, and as such is unable to provide a breakdown year by year on how much has been spent on the items to which your request refers. 

Any supporting materials (booklets or leaflets for example) which may be required on an adhoc basis are generally produced in house, and any cost is absorbed within our business as usual activity, and not separately accounted under a green or environmental heading/budget. 

For your information, in the past 5 years the focus has been on the move to our new Ordnance Survey head office building.  Therefore, there was minimal investment in our old building, while there was significant investment in the environmental features of our new building. At a cost of £40 million, Explorer House was completed in 2010 and has been awarded BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, meaning that it is among the most energy efficient office buildings in the country. 

2. I confirm Ordnance Survey does hold this information which I detail as follows:

Ordnance Survey is subject to targets contained in the Greening Government Commitments.  These are published online here and began in 2011:

http://sd.defra.gov.uk/gov/green-government/commitments/

Prior to the Greening Government Commitments, Ordnance Survey was subject to the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets.  Details of the SOGE targets, which expired this year, are published here:

http://sd.defra.gov.uk/progress/soge/performance-data-2010/target-areas/

Ordnance Survey is also working with the Carbon Trust, in their Central Government Carbon Management Service, to produce a carbon management plan.  Although we're at the early stages still, this will involve setting an internal target for carbon reduction and planning projects to achieve even further carbon and cost reductions on top of those that have already been achieved by moving to Explorer House.

3. This information is held by Ordnance Survey.

Performance against SOGE targets:

Carbon Emissions from Offices:

• Target: Reduce carbon emissions by 12.5% by 2010/11, relative to 1999/2000 levels.
• Achieved: 35.5% reduction

Carbon Emissions from Road Travel:

• Target: Reduce carbon emissions from road vehicles used for Government administrative operations by 15% by 2010/11, relative to 2005/2006 levels.
• Achieved: 53.4% reduction

Energy Efficiency

• Target: Departments to increase their energy efficiency per m2 by 15% by 2010, relative to 1999/2000 levels.
• Achieved: 59.8% improvement

Waste:

• Target: Departments to reduce their waste arising by 5% by 2010, relative to 2004/2005 levels.
• Achieved: 23.4% reduction

Recycling:

• Target: Departments to increase their recycling figures to 40% of their waste raisings by 2010.
• Achieved: 65% recycling

Water:

• Target: Reduce water consumption by 25% on the office and non office estate by 2020, relative to 2004/2005 levels
• Achieved: 46.9% reduction

Your enquiry has been processed according to the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004.

As the requested information has been provided or is not held by Ordnance Survey under Regulation 12 (4) (a), we have determined that in all the circumstances of this case the Public interest test is not applicable.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

EIR Appeals Officer
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: EIR11218/September 2011