Carbon Management Plan 2014

2. Carbon Management Strategy

This section looks at the drivers, objectives, targets and strategy behind the CMP. In order to develop an effective plan it is important to recognise firstly what is driving change within SG. Next are the objectives which describe where we want to get to, followed by the targets which measure when these objectives have been reached. Finally, there is the strategy which identifies how we are going to achieve our targets. The CMP is then the vehicle through which this strategy will be delivered and the remaining sections in this document outline the main measures that need to be implemented if our carbon reduction targets are to be met.

National Policy Driver - Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Targets

The main legislative driver for reducing our carbon emissions is the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, which requires Scotland as a whole to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Section 44 of the Act places duties on Scottish public bodies in relation to climate change. A public body must, in exercising its functions, act:

• in the way best calculated to contribute to the delivery of the Act's emission reduction targets;
• in the way best calculated to help deliver any statutory programme for adapting to the impacts of climate change; and
• in a way it considers most sustainable.

National Policy Driver - the draft second Report on Proposals and Policies ( RPP2)

RPP2 was published in January 2013 and sets out Scotland's statutory annual climate change targets as well as a range of policies and proposals with the required abatement potential to deliver against those targets. This high profile document makes clear that ensuring progress towards meeting the Scottish Government's targets relies on three key elements: 1) Driving Delivery, 2) Monitoring and Reporting and 3) Visible Leadership.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/climatechange/scotlands-action

The SG recognises the need to lead by example and therefore this CMP is the main vehicle to implement carbon reductions from its own estate and operations. The Climate Change Scotland Act also required the SG to set a Scotland-wide energy efficiency target in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan. This national target is to reduce energy consumption by 12% against a three year average baseline over the period 2005-2007 and establishes a minimum level of ambition for all sectors, including the public sector and SG itself.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Action/energy-efficiency-policy/ActionPlan

External Financial Drivers

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is a mandatory cap and trade scheme for emissions from energy intensive businesses and the public sector. It covers carbon emissions from electricity and natural gas, and excludes other fuels, as well as fleet transport and third party emissions from waste and water. The scheme is run jointly by the UK Government and the devolved administrations and all central government departments are required to participate. Organisations operating in the UK who consume over 6,000 kWh annually on the half hourly market must also participate.

The CRC scheme is designed to incentivise the installation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures by charging organisations in respect of certain emissions, effectively increasing the cost of their energy consumption and thereby making efficiency measures more attractive.

SG paid the UK Government £200,000 to settle its CRC obligations for 2013-14. For 2014-15 the cost exposure for carbon allowances was increased by one-third to an average of £16 per tonne. Further increases are expected in future years of the scheme because the cost of allowances is linked to the Retail Price Index. Allowance costs may also become more variable as the trading element is increasingly used by scheme participants.

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/emissions/crc_efficiency/crc_efficiency.aspx

UK Energy Market - Combatting the likely increases in utility costs over the next six years is an important driver for implementing the CMP, whichwill reduce our consumption and generate cost savings (or avoid cost increases) across the SG estate.

EU Energy Efficiency Directive -

Article 5 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive deals with energy performance of central government buildings. The Directive was brought into force in December 2012 and transposed on 31 December 2013.

Article 5 is designed to promote energy efficiency through the use of central government buildings as exemplars. Articles 5(1) to 5(5) set out the measures required to comply with the Directive and Article 5(6) offers Member States the option to adopt an "alternative approach" that will deliver an equivalent level of savings. Both the United Kingdom and Scottish Governments agreed that the alternative approach should be adopted as it will enable the energy savings being delivered through existing administrative measures, such as the Greening Government Commitments in English and UK-wide departments and the Scottish Government's Carbon Management Plan, to be recognised and will avoid the significant costs that would be incurred adopting the other obligations of the Article.

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/eed/eed_en.htm

CMP Internal Driver - SG Environment Policy

The key internal driver for implementing the measures outlined in the CMP is to support the objectives of the SG Environmental Policy which, in turn, seeks to make a valuable contribution towards achieving national climate change targets (which are discussed below). Our Environmental Policy covers the corporate activities within a recognised estate boundary and sets out our environmental management objectives:

• We make efficient use of space in order to deliver Ministers' objectives:
• We use energy efficiently to minimise greenhouse gas emissions;
• We conserve water by efficient use and detecting and preventing leaks.
• We reduce the need to travel and increase the uptake of sustainable travel options where travel is unavoidable;
• We minimise waste by smarter procurement and will reuse, recycle and recover resources wherever possible instead of treating them as waste;
• We prevent pollution by avoiding unnecessary use of hazardous substances and, where their use is essential, we shall effectively manage processes, activities and disposal;
• We purchase products and services that have the lowest environmental impact;
• We protect and enhance biodiversity on our estate;
• We educate our people and contractors in complying with all relevant environmental and related legislative requirements; and
• We make environmental data and information openly accessible to employees and the public.

To help us make progress against these objectives, and deliver our targets, we will continue to implement our CMP. This plan is helping us change our ways of working and realise the benefits of lower operational impacts and costs. We monitor, review and publish information in respect of our environmental performance and in doing so ensure that our targets remain appropriate and challenging.

Specific focus on SG own estate and reduction measures will be managed by the Carbon Management Team. The Team will monitor progress on delivering our Environmental Policy aims and implementing the measures outlined in our CMP.

CMP aims

The CMP aims to support the objectives of the SG Environmental Policy by reducing the carbon emissions from our own estate operations by implementing viable reduction projects detailed in the Plan. Through continuous improvement in our policies, procedures and workplace practices, we will deliver reductions in our carbon footprint that will enable us to contribute, alongside other public and private sector organisations, in supporting our national climate change goals.

CMP Objectives

The key objective of the CMP is to provide a structured approach to reducing the environmental impacts of our business activities. We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions from energy, waste, water, transport and business travel activities. This will be achieved through the implementation of the CMP, which will be managed by the Carbon Management Team.

CMP Targets

15% reduction in CO ₂e by March 2015 and 30% by March 2020, from a 2009/10 baseline

To ensure the SG is achieving efficiencies of a magnitude sufficient to deliver our 2020 target, we will use this Plan to identify projects with the potential to deliver the reductions in emissions of 15% by March 2015 and 30% by March 2020, from a 2009/10 baseline. The SG reduction target for this CMP has been set by determining the initial baseline and current trend in emissions (Section 3.2), forecasting the 'business as usual' scenario (Section 3.3) and calculating the likely savings available from existing and future carbon reduction projects (Section 3.4). The CMP target is:

1) Specific - the target relates to the carbon footprint boundary (described in Section 3.1).

2) Measurable - the target is based on the annual calculated emissions of SG based on this boundary.

3) Attainable - the target is realistic and has been based on key information about likely future factors and savings.

4) Relevant - the target is based on emissions SG directly or indirectly control.

5) Time-bound - the target will be achieved by March 2020, with an interim target of March 2015 to make sure that SG stays on track.

Table 2.1 shows how the overall target has been broken down into sub-targets for different emission sources within the footprint. These are indicative rather than mandatory; as long as the overall targets are achieved, the exact reduction contributions of these different areas can vary. However, the carbon reduction strategy is based on understanding the internal and external factors and this is the current best guess of where reductions are likely to come from.

Table 2.1 - Overall CMP reduction targets, broken down by emission sources (excluding Marine Scotland research and surveillance emissions).

	Baseline carbon footprint (tCO 2e) 2009/10	Interim Target reduction (%) 2014/15	Target reduction (%) 2019/20	Interim target carbon footprint (tCO 2e) 2014/2015	Target carbon footprint (tCO 2e) 2019/20
Grid electricity	12,895	-18%	-30%	10,563	9,019
Direct fuel use	3,474	-9%	-15%	3,165	2,956
Waste	114	-25%	-41%	85	74
Water	74	53%	32%	114	98
Business travel/fleet	4,958	-23%	-41%	3,819	2,937
Overall	21,515	-18%	-30%	18,287	15,060

CMP Reduction Strategy

Grid electricity - it is anticipated that this will be achieved through a combination of the decarbonisation of the National Grid (which could contribute around a 7% reduction in grid electricity emissions by 2019/20), reduction in the size of the SG estate and also specific carbon reduction projects to save electricity.

Direct fuel use (natural gas and gas oil) - this target should be met through a reduction in the size of the estate through non-renewal of leases for buildings no longer required and more efficient use of space in the buildings retained. There are also a number of specific carbon reduction projects to reduce consumption of natural gas and gas oil.

Waste - this target is likely to be achieved primarily through the diversion of waste from landfill to recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion, all of which have lower carbon emissions per tonne of waste treated. This will be achieved through better segregation of waste, management of waste contracts and internal waste policy. There are also likely to be some gains through reduction in overall waste quantity.

Water - this is the only area where emissions are predicted to increase due to a large increase in consumption (Marine Scotland scientific research facilities) between the baseline year of 2009/10 and 2010/11. The water target set means that emissions from water would need to reduce by 20% from the most recent footprint year (2011/12) by 2019/20. This reduction is likely to come from a combination of estate reductions and also some external efficiency gains by Scottish Water in the supply and treatment of water.

Business travel/fleet transport - this is an area where significant gains are predicted through reinforcing the existing travel policy, leading to staff using lower carbon modes of transport ( e.g. switching from planes to trains), making increased use of alternative technologies such as video, telephone and desktop conferencing rather than travelling and reducing use of taxis/private cars. In addition, there is likely to be some external reduction through the introduction of more efficient vehicles/lower carbon fuels.

CMP Strategy Actions

The CMP operations will be managed and delivered through the work of the Carbon Management Team and the higher level Resources Board. This work includes securing funding and support to implement the measures outlined in the CMP and the project register. Our CMP has a number of strategic actions which include:-

• To establish year-on-year financial support from Senior Management to implement the CMP;
• To improve practices and procedures within Facilities Services to ensure carbon management is a key driver in determining the projects to be taken forward;
• To embed carbon reduction into wider policies and practices across the estate;
• To integrate carbon management throughout the SG, particularly in IT, Procurement, Transport, Travel, Finance, HR and contractor services.
• To encourage behaviour change through increased staff awareness.
• To align the low carbon strategy for the estate with wider policies and targets.

CMP- Staff Involvement

Staff at all levels of the organisation, as well as contractors, have an important role to play in delivering carbon reductions over the next six years by implementing the following corporate actions:

• Help reduce business travel emissions by avoiding the need to travel through increased use of audio, video and desktop conferencing facilities and choice of lower carbon travel options when it is necessary;
• Help reduce our electricity consumption through best practice use of controls for heating, lighting and IT;
• Help reduce heating fuel consumption, particularly through the monitoring and regulation of room temperatures in line with SG thermal comfort guidance;
• Help reduce our waste produced and increase our recycling of waste products;
• Help reduce water consumption through conservation practices;
• Participate in environmental management training and other activities; and
• Become aware of environmental management information in the building where you work and promote understanding and actions to others.