A Carbon Audit and Ecological Footprint of OFCOM November 2007

Transcription

1 A Carbon Audit and Ecological Footprint of OFCOM November 2007 Best Foot Forward Ltd. The Future Centre, 115 Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RQ Web: Tel: Fax: Company Registration

2 Commissioned by OFCOM Prepared by Xana Villa Garcia Best Foot Forward Ltd. November 2007 Checked: Danny Chivers Claire Stentiford Gregor Pecnik Comments incorporated: , , Annexes incorporated: Corporate Stepwise, Regional Stepwise and Personal Stepwise are trademarks of Best Foot Forward, Oxford, United Kingdom. 2 of 45

3 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 4 ABOUT BEST FOOT FORWARD... 5 DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT... 6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DATA COLLECTION... 6 TOTAL CO 2 EMISSIONS AND ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: OFCOM... 7 BENCHMARKING... 9 THE TRANSPORT FOOTPRINT THE UTILITIES FOOTPRINT THE OFFSITE SERVERS FOOTPRINT THE CAPITAL ITEMS FOOTPRINT THE COMPUTING MATERIALS FOOTPRINT THE WASTE FOOTPRINT THE PUBLICATIONS FOOTPRINT THE STATIONERY FOOTPRINT THE DRINKS FOOTPRINT THE FURNITURE FOOTPRINT LAND USE OFFICES FOOTPRINT LONDON (RIVERSIDE HOUSE) BALDOCK CARDIFF COMPARISON BY OFFICE RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDIX A: INPUT DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS USED IN THIS STUDY APPENDIX B: DATA GAP ANALYSIS APPENDIX C: REVISED RESULTS (MAY 2008) APPENDIX D: WHAT IS ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS? of 45

4 Executive Summary This summary outlines the major components of the annual carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and the ecological footprint of all 14 offices comprising Ofcom. See Appendix D for a detailed explanation of ecological footprinting. The total CO 2 emissions for 2006 at Ofcom were 4,178 tonnes or 4.1 tonnes per employee. The ecological footprint of Ofcom for 2006 was 1,461 gha or 1.4 gha per employee. The most significant contributor to the carbon and ecological footprint at Ofcom is emissions arising from commuting, which equate to 805 tonnes CO 2 and 363 gha. Although Ofcom obtains 84% of its total office electricity from renewable sources, utility use is still the second most important factor affecting the overall carbon and ecological footprint at Ofcom. Utilities were responsible for 678 tonnes of CO 2 in The third most significant factor contributing to Ofcom s carbon and ecological footprint is the electricity required to run third party offsite servers, which emitted 654 tonnes CO 2 in Emissions associated with capital items bought by the central London office and emissions arising from business travel have a similar impact at 566 and 584 tonnes CO 2 respectively. Figure 1.1 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions attributable to Ofcom in Computing materials 9% Business travel 14% Offsite Servers 16% Capital items 14% Utilities 16% Waste 6% Publications 3% Stationery 1% Drinks 1% Furniture 1% Land Use <1% Commuting 19% The simplest and most effective way of reducing Ofcom s footprint would be to obtain all of the electricity used, both within the offices and for offsite servers, from renewable sources. This could reduce Ofcom s carbon footprint by over 1,000 tonnes of CO 2. Discouraging commuting by car and reducing flights by substituting short plane journeys within the UK or Europe by train travel could save over 100 additional tonnes of CO 2 per year. A revision of the results presented in this report can be found in the Appendix C. 4 of 45

5 Introduction and Scope Ofcom has commissioned Best Foot Forward to determine the carbon and ecological footprint of its operations and services. Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK s communication industries which include television, telecommunications, radio and wireless services. This carbon and ecological footprint analysis of Ofcom covers the impacts associated with the entire organisation, the London head office (Riverside House), the Welsh national office (Cardiff), a radio spectrum office (Baldock), publications and online services. This report examines the carbon footprint, measured as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, associated with Ofcom. This includes direct emissions from activities such as transport and indirect emissions arising from the manufacturing of products used by the organisation. Creating a LOW footprint economy The footprint of a particular activity or product is a measure of its impact on the environment over its entire life cycle. The higher the consumption of natural resources (energy and materials) the greater the footprint. For our national economy to be sustainable in the longer term, then our consumption of resources needs to be reduced by about 80%. Best Foot Forward refer to this as Living on One World or a LOW footprint. More information about LOW footprints can be found at: This report also examines the ecological footprint of Ofcom. Ecological footprinting has been successfully used to assess and communicate the environmental impacts of countries, regions, cities, organisations, lifestyles and products. It has proven to be a resonant and accessible indicator of sustainability, which is often seen to be a complex and intangible concept. Ecological footprints are measured in global hectares (gha). They represent the amount of land required, on a global scale, to provide the resources used by, in this case, Ofcom, and the amount of land required to absorb the wastes produced. See Appendix D for a more detailed explanation of this. The study includes an analysis of the CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint associated with transport, utilities, third party offsite servers, capital items, computing materials, waste, stationery, publications and land use for the entire organisation derived partly from data collected by Ofcom and partly from extrapolations from that data. Also included is a more in depth analysis of three offices: London, Baldock and Cardiff. For a full explanation of the assumptions used in this report, please see Appendix A. About Best Foot Forward Best Foot Forward (BFF) are one of Europe's leading sustainability consultancies specialising in energy and natural resource accounting methodologies such as resource flow analysis, ecological footprinting and carbon accounting. BFF have undertaken more than 300 footprint studies for government, business and civil sector organisations. These range from large projects such as regional studies of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the South West of England, a corporate study of the National Health Service, through product analyses of packaging, drinks, electronic goods and furniture, to auditing the operations of numerous organisations. BFF methodology conforms to the Global Footprint Network Footprint Standards Best Foot Forward were awarded a Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in April This extremely prestigious Award is for continuous achievement in sustainable development based on ecological footprint analysis, and recognises that Best Foot Forward is a global leader in ecological footprinting. 5 of 45

6 Data Quality Assessment The following data were provided by Ofcom, from FY2006: Electricity, gas/oil and water use figures for individual offices; Business travel and commuting data for the entire organisation; Electrical consumption by offsite servers used by the entire organisation; Quantity and type of computing materials purchased by the entire organisation; Quantity and type of stationery purchased by individual offices; Quantity of publications produced by the entire organisation; Land area occupied by individual offices; Quantity and type of materials purchased by three offices (capital items, drinks, furniture); Quantity, type and treatment of waste originating from three offices. Overall, the quality of the data was fair. A breakdown of the data received and its quality is shown below: Data % of complete data received Discrepancies in data? Required clarification? Quality (Bad 1, Poor 2, Fair 3, Good 4, Excellent 5) Electricity, gas/oil, water 62% no yes 3 Business travel/ commuting 53% yes yes 3 Offsite server 100% yes yes 2 Computing materials 100% no no 5 Stationery 64% yes yes 3 Publications 100% no no 5 Land Area 100% yes yes 3 Capital items 1 100% yes yes 3 Drinks 100% yes yes 2 Furniture 100% no no 5 Waste 21% yes yes 2 Recommendations for future data collection To improve the quality of data, it is recommended that Ofcom perform energy audits to determine the amount of all utilities used at different offices. An audit of the locations where off site servers are based would also help get a better picture of what utility use can be attributed to Ofcom, as server electric consumption may vary greatly. Data on commuting, obtained through a survey, were of good quality, but data on business travel, specifically air travel, obtained from an external company, were incomplete and at times incorrect. It is recommended that Ofcom put in place a quality assurance mechanism to audit the service provided by external companies. Data on material items and waste varied in quality. It appeared that communication between different departments at Ofcom was inconsistent. To enable reductions in carbon and ecological impacts, it is essential to monitor all inputs and outputs from the organisation, preferably by weight. It is recommended that Ofcom implement an environmental management system such as ISO or EMAS to ensure correct data gathering and monitoring of materials and waste. A data revision was undertaken by Ofcom following this report. A data gap analysis can be found in Appendix B. 1 Includes data from catering capital items 6 of 45

7 Total CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint: Ofcom EF Riverside House 69% other offices 31% In 2006, Ofcom s carbon emissions were equivalent to 4,178 tonnes of CO 2. In 2006, Ofcom had an ecological footprint of 1,461 gha. CO 2 other offices 21% Riverside House 79% A revision of the results presented in this report can be found in Appendix C. Ofcom are headquartered in London but have a further thirteen offices throughout the UK. The availability and quality of the data varied from office to office. Data available for all fourteen offices included: commuting, server electrical consumption, business travel, computing materials purchased, publications, and land area. For a majority of offices, data were also available on utility consumption and stationery purchased. Additional data were supplied by Ofcom on specific materials purchased and waste produced by the London, Baldock and Cardiff offices. Extrapolations were performed on utility consumption, stationery purchased and waste produced for offices where data were unavailable to give an approximation of the total carbon and ecological footprint of Ofcom. The calculated CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint during FY2006 for the organisation are shown below: Figure 2.1 Annual CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint: Ofcom, FY2006 CO 2 emissions (t) Ecological Footprint (gha) CO 2 emissions per employee (kg) EF per employee (gha) Total 4,178 1,461 4, of which Commuting Utilities Offsite servers Business travel Capital items Computing materials Waste Publications Stationery Drinks Furniture Land Use The total carbon dioxide emissions arising from the day to day operations of Ofcom were approximately 4,178 tonnes in FY2006. For comparison purposes, transport for the average UK household emits 3 t CO 2 per annum and domestic energy use accounts for 5.5 t CO 2 per household every year. Carbon dioxide arising from Ofcom operations in FY2006 is comparable to the carbon dioxide emitted by about 490 average UK households per annum. The ecological footprint of Ofcom is equivalent to 1,461gha / year. This means that Ofcom required about 15km 2 of averagely productive land to provide the energy, materials and other environmental services needed to operate during FY2006. This is equivalent to the land area of the Borough of Islington. 7 of 45

8 When thinking about the context for these figures it may help to consider that current research 2 suggests we need to stabilise annual global carbon dioxide emissions at around 1 2 tonnes per person by 2030; similarly, the average sustainable earthshare is between 1.7 and 1.8 hectares per person. This means that Ofcom s footprint per employee is almost three times their annual CO 2 target, and equivalent to about 82% of an individual s earthshare 3. Figures 2.2 and 2.3 show the relative value of each component of the carbon and ecological footprint at Ofcom: Figure 2.2 Breakdown of the CO 2 Emissions: Ofcom, FY2006 Business travel 14% Servers 16% Capital items 14% Utilities 16% Computing materials 9% Commuting 19% Waste 6% Publications 3% Stationery 1% Drinks 1% Furniture 1% Land Use <1% Figure 2.3 Breakdown of the ecological footprint: Ofcom, FY2006 Computing materials 7% Capital items 2% Business travel 13% Waste 13% Publications 8% Stationery 4% Servers 13% Drinks 1% Furniture 1% Utilities 13% Commuting 25% Land Use 1% This analysis includes extrapolations to all offices of the carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint associated with utilities, stationery and waste. Data on drinks, furniture, and capital items, which are responsible for a significant proportion of the carbon dioxide emissions attributed to Ofcom, were available only for the London office and were not extrapolated to other offices. 2 (Commissioned by HM Treasury and published in 2006) 3 Living Planet Report, of 45

9 Benchmarking This section presents the impacts for all Ofcom offices, after extrapolation, with a selection of UK offices studied by Best Foot Forward (BFF) 4. This selection is not a representative sample but is included for interest and as a way of putting Ofcom s impact in context. Figure 3.1 shows the total carbon and ecological footprint per staff member of Ofcom as compared to BFF s office and five sample offices: Figure 3.1 Annual CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint per staff member for a selection of offices 20 Tonnes CO2 Ecological Footprint (EF) Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 Office 5 Ofcom have a relatively low overall footprint as shown above. Both its annual CO 2 emissions and its ecological footprint are lower than the majority of the offices shown here. This could be due, in part, to data availability. However, the most complete data obtained were for the London office, which accounts for about 89% of Ofcom staff and can be used as representative of the entire organisation. If only data from the London office is used, the relative impact per staff member (3.4 tco 2 and 1.23 gha) is comparable to that shown above for the entire organisation. A more significant cause of Ofcom s relatively low impact is that the London office sources its electricity solely from green tariff providers, saving about 2,000 tco 2 annually and reducing overall CO 2 emissions per staff member by 2 tco 2 (this assumes that the green tariff is genuinely sourced from 100% renewable electricity) 5. Figure 3.2 to 3.5 below show Ofcom s utility consumption along with the carbon and ecological impact associated with this consumption as compared to BFF s office and five sample offices. This does not include electricity consumption of offsite servers because they are separate from Ofcom s office operations and are not comparable to the other offices in the sample. Figure 3.2 Annual utility consumption per staff member for a selection of offices 16,000 Electricity Use (kwh) Gas (kwh) 12,000 8,000 4,000 0 Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 Office 5 4 BFF: Best Foot Forward Office 1: The headquarters of a specialist food company with 22 staff in Outer London Office 2: A government agency with 100 staff in a Central London office Office 3: A membership organisation with 4 offices and 200 staff, mostly in London. Office 4: Global HQ of a major multinational, 2,950 staff Office 5: Regional HQ of government agency, 260 staff 5 According to Defra,(2007): A zero conversion factor can only be applied if [the] company has entered into a renewables source contract with an energy supplier, that has acquired Climate Change Levy Exemption Certificates (LECs) for the electricity supplied to [the company] as a non domestic electricity consumer. 9 of 45

10 Figure 3.3 Annual CO 2 emissions associated with utilities per staff member for a selection of offices Electricity Use (tco2) Gas (tco2) Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 Office 5 Figure 3.4 Annual ecological footprint associated with utilities per staff member for a selection of offices 0.08 Electricity Use (EF ) Gas (EF) Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 Office 5 From figure 3.2, it can be seen that Ofcom are the third largest consumer of electricity per staff member. However, about 84% of this electricity has a negligible impact because it is obtained from renewable sources, and subsequently, Ofcom have a very low carbon and ecological impact associated with utility consumption when compared to other offices. Both BFF and Office 5 also obtain all their electricity from renewable sources. Ofcom staff commute a significant distance each year. Only staff at Office 3 have a longer commute than Ofcom staff. However, on average, Ofcom staff travel few kilometres for business purposes in comparison to staff at other offices. Most of the commute by Ofcom staff is done by rail or underground, while a significant portion is done on foot, thus the CO 2 emissions associated with commuting are relatively lower when compared to other offices than the kilometres travelled. This can be seen in figure 3.5 and 3.6 below: Figure 3.5 Annual km travelled per staff member for a selection of offices 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 Commuter (km) Business (km) Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 Office 5 10 of 45

11 Figure 3.6 Annual CO 2 emissions from commuting and business travel per staff member for a selection of offices Commuter (tco2) Business (tco2) 0.00 Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 The paper analysed here is for office use only and excludes paper used for publications. On average, Ofcom do not use much paper when compared to other offices. On the other hand, Ofcom staff use a considerable amount of non recycled paper per year. From the selection of offices shown below, in figure 3.7, it can be seen that most use a larger proportion of recycled paper than non recycled paper. Only Office 4 uses more non recycled paper than Ofcom Figure 3.7 Annual kg of paper used per staff member for a selection of offices Non Recycled Paper (kg) Recycled Paper (kg) 0 Ofcom BFF Office 1 Office 2 Office 3 Office 4 Office 5 Utility use, commuting and business travel, and paper purchased are major factors affecting the carbon and ecological footprint of offices. Ofcom s carbon and ecological footprint per staff member appears to be fairly typical. Ofcom consumes a significant amount of electricity per staff member, but partially sources it from renewables thus reducing its carbon impact. Ofcom employees have an above average commute but as it is primarily by rail/underground or on foot, the associated CO 2 emissions are comparably low. Although Ofcom does not consume a large amount of paper, it purchases only non recycled paper which has a higher carbon impact than recycled paper. 11 of 45

12 The Transport Footprint EF business travel 36% commuting 64% In 2006, commuting at Ofcom was responsible for 805 tonnes of CO 2 and had an ecological footprint equivalent to 363 gha. In 2006, business travel at Ofcom was responsible for 584 tonnes of CO 2 and had an ecological footprint equivalent to 200 gha. CO 2 bus iness travel 42% commuting 58% Commuting and business travel account for about 33% and 39% of the total carbon and ecological footprints of Ofcom, respectively. Commuting and business travel in FY2006 account for 1,389 tonnes of CO 2 attributable to Ofcom and have an ecological footprint equivalent to 563 gha. These results are broken down further in figures 4.1, below: Figure 4.1 Annual CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from commuting and business travel: Ofcom, FY2006 Distance Footprint CO (vkm / pkm) 6 2 (t) CO 2 % (gha) gha % Total 1, % % of which Commuting subtotal % % rail and underground 9,409, % % medium diesel car 1,555, % % medium petrol car 523, % % motorbike 359, % % small petrol car 189, % % bus/coach 242, % 5 1.0% small diesel car 2,690 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% river boat 741 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% walk/cycle 642, % 0 0% Business travel subtotal % % short haul air 7 1,190, % % long haul air 1,079, % % rail 414, % 8 1.4% medium diesel car 14, % 1 0.2% Data were obtained on mode and distance of commute from about half of Ofcom employees. These data were extrapolated to account for all Ofcom employees. Figure 4.2 Conversion factors for up scaling commuting data: Ofcom, FY2006 Conversion factor based on number of Office Response Percent respondents Overall Conversion Factor Baldock 4.3% Belfast 2.6% Birmingham 2.2% Bristol 0.9% Cardiff 0.9% Caterham 2.4% Cheshunt 0.7% Glasgow 1.7% Haydock 1.5% Vehicle kilometres (vkm) or passenger kilometres (pkm) 7 Short haul flights are those less than 1,000 km. This includes flights from the UK to most Western European destinations. Long haul flights are those more than 1,000 km. 12 of 45

13 Leeds 0.2% Nottingham 0.7% Peterborough 0.4% Riverside House 80.7% Stonehaven 0.2% Home Working 0.6% The principle mode of transport used by Ofcom employees commuting to work is rail and underground. This mode of transport has a relatively low impact as can be seen from the above figure. Although about 6 times more kilometres are travelled by rail and underground than by medium diesel car, the CO 2 emissions attributable to rail and underground are only about 1.5 times greater than those attributable to medium diesel cars. The carbon intensity of air travel is worth mentioning. Short haul air accounts for almost 25% of the CO 2 emissions and 20% of the ecological footprint attributable to transport at Ofcom, however, it constitutes only about 8% of the total kilometres travelled. Similarly, long haul air represents a higher percentage of the transport carbon and ecological footprint than of kilometres travelled. Almost 146 tonnes of CO 2 could be saved each year if just half of the short haul air kilometres were travelled by rail. This is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emitted by an average computer being left on for 1,000 hours. Figures 4.3 and 4.4 show the relative significance of each mode of transport used for commuting: Figure 4.3 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions from commuting: Ofcom, FY2006 motorbike 4% medium petrol car 12% small petrol car 3% bus/coach 2% medium diesel car 33% rail and underground 47% Figure 4.4 Breakdown of the ecological footprint from commuting: Ofcom, FY2006 medium petrol car 11% motorbike 4% small petrol car 4% bus/coach 1% medium diesel car 30% rail and underground 50% Walking and cycling have a negligible carbon and ecological impact although they are the chosen mode of transport for more than 640,000 kilometres. Collective modes of transport, such as rail and buses account for about half of the commuting carbon and ecological footprints, however, they have a significantly lower impact per kilometre than cars or motorbikes. In fact, only 25% of the 13 of 45

14 kilometres travelled by Ofcom employees to work are by car or motorbike, but cars and motorbikes are responsible for half the CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint arising from daily commutes. Figures 4.5 and 4.6 depict the relative significance of different modes of business travel for Ofcom employees during FY2006. Figure 4.5 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions from business travel: Ofcom, FY2006 rail 3% long haul air 39% medium diesel car <1% short haul air 58% Figure 4.6 Breakdown of the ecological footprint from business travel: Ofcom, FY2006 rail 4% long haul air 38% medium diesel car <1% short haul air 57% As can be seen from the above figures, the most important contributor to the business travel footprint is air travel. Long haul and short haul air travel account for more than 90% of business travel s CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint. It can be argued that air travel offers a fast alternative to land travel. However, if time is allowed for arrival at the airport, security checks and boarding, then certain journeys may be less time consuming by train than by plane. During FY2006, Ofcom employees travelled more than 13,600 km between London and Manchester, about 13,200 km between London and Paris and almost 30,000 km between London and Brussels, by plane. These journeys all take under three hours by train. If these plane journeys were substituted by train journeys, Ofcom could avoid emitting about 13.5 tonnes of CO 2 annually. 14 of 45

15 The Utilities Footprint In 2006, Ofcom saved 577 gha and 2,056 tonnes of CO 2 by sourcing Riverside House s electricity from renewable supplies. If all of Ofcom s electricity were green electricity, then an additional 109 gha and 387 tonnes of CO 2 could have been saved in Utilities account for 16% of the total CO 2 emissions and 13% of the total ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom. Ofcom use grid electricity, gas and, in one instance, oil to power and heat their offices. Data were available for a majority of offices, but complete data (including water) were available only for Baldock, Birmingham, Caterham, Haydock, Peterborough, and London (Riverside House). The missing data were completed by extrapolating consumption per staff member from those offices where data were reported. This gives only an approximation of actual utility use at Ofcom. Ofcom have data only on utilities for which they are charged. It would be of value for Ofcom to undertake energy audits in order to determine the actual consumption of all utilities at all their sites. The calculated CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from utilities at Ofcom are 678 tonnes CO 2 and 188 gha respectively for FY2006. The consumption data and associated impacts for utilities at Ofcom are shown in figures , below. Extrapolated data has been highlighted in blue. Figure 5.1 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from utilities at Ofcom: FY2006 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Units 8 CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total % % Electricity 387, % % Oil 12, % 9 4.7% Water 10,000 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % % Electricity 26, % 4 2.0% Gas 24, % 1 0.7% Water 175,472 1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 5 2.8% Electricity 43, % 6 3.4% Gas 64, % 4 1.9% Water 777, % <1 0.1% % % Electricity 25, % 4 2.0% Gas 16, % 1 0.5% Water 97,485 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 5 2.5% Electricity 41, % 6 3.2% Gas 26, % 1 0.8% Water 155,975 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 8 4.0% Electricity 38, % 6 3.0% Gas 68, % 4 2.0% Water 136,000 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 9 5.0% 8 Units of consumption for utilities: Electricity (kwh), Gas (kwh), Oil (kwh), water (litres). 15 of 45

16 Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven Electricity 30, % 4 2.4% Gas 19, % 1 0.6% Water 180,000 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 6 3.0% Electricity 37, % 5 2.9% Gas 36, % 2 1.1% Water 214,466 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 7 4.0% Electricity 66, % % Gas 63, % 4 1.9% Water 154,000 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % % Electricity 18, % 3 1.5% Gas 13, % 1 0.4% Water 51,000 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% % 3 1.8% Electricity 6, % 1 0.5% Gas 19, % 1 0.6% Water 116,982 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% 7 1.1% 2 1.1% Electricity 13, % 2 1.0% Gas 3, % <1 0.1% Water 20,900 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% 8 1.1% 2 1.1% Electricity 3,931, % 0 0% Gas 853, % % Water 15,745, % 3 1.9% % % Electricity 5, % 1 0.4% Gas 3, % <1 0.1% Water 19,497 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% 3 0.5% 1 0.5% These data are shown graphically in figure 5.2 to 5.4, below: 18,000 Figure 5.2 Annual consumption of utilities per staff member at Ofcom offices: FY ,000 14,000 electricity gas/oil water annual kwh/staff 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven 9 Water consumption is given in decilitres per capita. 16 of 45

17 kg CO2/staff Figure 5.3 Annual CO 2 emissions arising from utilities per staff member at Ofcom offices: FY2006 9,000 8,000 7,000 electricity gas/oil water 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven Figure 5.4 Annual ecological footprint from utilities per staff member at Ofcom offices: FY electricity gas/oil water gha/staff Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven Baldock, is by far, the office with the highest electrical consumption per staff member. This may be due to the nature of the work being performed there. As can be seen from figures 5.4 and 5.5, Riverside House has zero contribution from electricity towards its utilities carbon and ecological footprint, although electricity consumption at Riverside House accounts for about 84% of the total electricity consumed by Ofcom. This assumes that the green tariff purchased by Riverside House uses electricity from 100% renewable sources; note that this claim is worth checking, as not all energy providers guarantee that their green tariffs represent 100% renewable electricity. If the remainder of Ofcom offices were to switch to reputable green electricity, the utilities footprint could be reduced by a further 58%. Gas is used for heating at most offices. At Baldock, oil is used instead of gas; on a per staff member basis this fuel has a similar footprint to gas. However, heating oil has a footprint per kwh 20% higher than gas. This means that to obtain the same amount of heat, gas emits about 1/5 less CO 2 than oil. Water has a relatively insignificant impact on the ecological and carbon footprints, but is an important issue in its own right. It is worth noting that the Birmingham office consumed more than 700 thousand litres of water in FY2006. That is 64,500 litres per member of staff for a year, or 287 litres per staff member each working day. On average, a UK citizen uses 160 litres of water per day 10. The reported figures for utility use at Ofcom account for 99% of the electricity, 89% of the gas (oil) and 96% of the water accounted for after extrapolation. In other words, if utilities were not extrapolated, the CO 2 emissions associated with reported figures would be 618 tonnes instead of the 678 tonnes calculated here. Similarly, the ecological footprint of reported figures is 171 gha compared to 188 gha after extrapolation. In total extrapolation adds about 10% more impact to the utilities component of 45

18 The Offsite Servers Footprint In 2006, Ofcom s ecological footprint for servers was equivalent to 0.18gha per staff member and responsible for 644 kilograms of CO 2 per staff member. Ofcom have 260 offsite servers to host an external website, certain e licensing and other management applications and to function as a disaster recovery site. Data were available on the electricity consumption of the offsite servers and their auxiliary equipment such as cooling units. Cooling units consume as much electricity as servers, thus the total consumption of offsite servers was doubled to account for auxiliary equipment and included in the total. During FY2006, over one million kilowatt hours of grid electricity were used by Ofcom s offsite servers. This gives rise to 654 tonnes of CO 2 emissions and is equivalent to an ecological footprint of 184 gha. Offsite servers account for 16% of the CO 2 emissions and 13% of the ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom. Figures 6.1 and 6.2 show the breakdown of these values: Figure 6.1 Ecological footprint and annual CO 2 emissions from offsite servers: Ofcom, FY2006 kwh CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total 1,251, % % of which Toltech 535, % % London City 400, % % Sunguard 259, % % Ultima 45, % 7 3.8% Telstra 9, % 1 0.5% Figure 6.2 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions from offsite servers: Ofcom, FY2006. S unguard 21% Ultima 4% Telstra 1% London City 32% Toltech 42% Data centres, which house many servers, consume up to 40 times more electricity per square metre than a typical office 11. Energy saving schemes can reduce electrical consumption of data centres by up to 61% 12. Installing water based cooling systems which require less energy to operate than conventional AC can reduce electrical consumption significantly. Optimizing server usage by increasing utilisation and reducing the amount of servers required for a particular task can also provide significant savings. 11 US EPA, Report to Congress on server and data centre energy efficiency. 12 ENDS, Data Centre Energy Consumption Set to Soar. Ends Report, 392 (22). 18 of 45

19 The Capital Items Footprint Data were available on capital items purchased for the London office at Ofcom in FY2006. These data were not extrapolated to the rest of the offices because the items purchased are characteristic of machinery needed for large buildings and not necessarily for individual small offices. Data on capital items purchased by catering at the London office in FY2006 were also included in this section. An exhaustive inventory list of other capital items at the London office was made available by Ofcom but accounting for these was deemed outside the scope of this study. An annually comparable footprint was obtained by accounting only for yearly purchases without amortising for all capital items owned. The impacts arising from the manufacture of the capital items purchased by Ofcom, account for 14% of the overall CO 2 emissions and 2% of the ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom. In total, capital items are responsible for 566 tonnes of CO 2 emissions and 29 gha. Figure 7.1 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from capital items: Ofcom, FY2006 kg CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total 72, % % of which Chillers 29, % <1 0.2% Lifts 15, % <1 0.1% AC 15, % % Electrical and Mechanical 1, % 0 0.0% AC supplementary 4, % % Boilers 1, % <1 <0.1% AC computers 1, % 2 6.6% Dry air coolers 1, % 2 6.4% Gym Equipment % <1 <0.1% Catering % 0 0.6% The Computing Materials Footprint The CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint associated with computing materials purchased during FY2006 by Ofcom are 377 tonnes CO 2 and 98 gha, respectively. This accounts for 9% of the total CO 2 emissions and 7% of the ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom. All computing materials except the faxes and copiers of London, Baldock and Cardiff offices are for the entire organisations and have been allocated to each individual office considering the number of staff. Figure 8.1 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from computing materials: Ofcom, FY2006 kg CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total % % of which London fax/copier 15, % % Desktop computing % % Printing consumables % % Desktop printing % 3 2.9% Cardiff fax/copier % 1 0.8% Baldock fax/copier % 1 0.7% Servers % 1 1.2% Mobile PDA 39 <1 0.1% <1 0.1% Mobile phones 4 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% 13 Printer cartridges 19 of 45

20 The Waste Footprint Data on waste produced were available for the London (Riverside House), Baldock and Cardiff offices. An average figure from several UK offices was used to extrapolate waste data to the rest of the 11 Ofcom offices. To avoid double counting, 80% of the CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from stationery were deducted from the impacts of waste, as more reliable stationery data were available than waste data. Specific data on waste from catering at the London office were also included in this analysis. Waste accounts for 6% of the total CO 2 emissions and 13% of the ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom. This totals 263 tonnes of CO 2 and 183 gha. Figure 9.1 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from waste per office: Ofcom, FY2006 kg CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total 98, % % of which Baldock 19, % % Belfast 1, % 3 1.4% Birmingham 2, % 3 1.7% Bristol % 1 0.7% Cardiff % 1 0.6% Caterham 2, % 4 2.5% Cheshunt 1, % 2 0.8% Glasgow 2, % 3 1.7% Haydock 2, % 3 1.8% Leeds % 1 0.6% Nottingham 1, % 2 0.8% Peterborough % 1 0.3% Riverside House Office 47, % % Riverside House Catering 15, % % Stonehaven % 0 0.1% For offices for which waste data were unavailable, it was assumed from the extrapolating average that about 55% of the waste by weight was being recycled. For the three offices with available waste data the recycling rates by weight were between 6 and 67% for London, 4% for Baldock and about 22% for Cardiff. 35,000 Figure 9.2 Kilograms of landfilled 14 and recycled waste per office: Ofcom, FY ,000 25,000 20,000 landfilled recycled kg 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Office Riverside House Catering The London and Baldock offices, for which waste data were reported, account for the majority of waste produced by Ofcom during FY2006. Stonehaven 14 This includes about 5,000 kg of incinerated waste originating at Riverside house 20 of 45

21 The Publications Footprint More than three million individual pages and two books comprising another million pages were printed in FY2006 at Ofcom. Included in these data is an allowance for extra printing jobs commissioned outside the design department. Publications account for 3% of the total CO 2 emissions and 8% of the overall ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom during FY2006. The CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from publications for Ofcom are 109 tonnes CO 2 and 111 gha respectively for FY2006. Publication quantities and their associated carbon and ecological footprints are shown in figures 10.1, below: Figure 10.1 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from publications at Ofcom: FY2006 kg CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total 39, % % of which paper 38, % % cardboard 1, % % Publications printed at Ofcom have a relatively significant ecological footprint because both paper and cardboard are organic resources which require land area for the growth of trees. It has been assumed that paper and cardboard used for publications at Ofcom is non recycled or virgin. If recycled paper and cardboard were to replace the virgin variety for publications, almost 14 tonnes of CO 2 emissions could be avoided. The Stationery Footprint Detailed data were available on the quantity and type of stationery purchased by nine of the fourteen offices. An average of the weight, CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint per staff member was used to extrapolate stationery data to the five remaining offices. The CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from stationery are 62 tonnes of CO 2 and 63 gha respectively for FY2006, which represent 1% of the CO 2 emissions and 4% of the ecological footprint attributable to Ofcom. This is broken down further in Figures 11.1 and 11.3, below: Figure 11.1 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from stationery at Ofcom: FY2006 kg CO 2 (t) CO 2 % Footprint (gha) gha % Total 27, % % of which Baldock 2, % 5 7.2% Belfast 10 <1 <0.1% <1 <0.1% Birmingham 221 <1 0.6% 1 0.8% Bristol 119 <1 0.8% <1 0.3% Cardiff % <1 0.3% Caterham 60 <1 0.1% <1 0.2% Cheshunt % <1 0.4% Glasgow 28 <1 0.1% <1 0.1% Haydock 251 <1 0.8% 1 0.8% Leeds 11 <1 0.1% <1 0.0% Nottingham % <1 0.4% Peterborough 48 <1 0.3% <1 0.1% Riverside House 23, % % Stonehaven 24 <1 0.2% <1 0.1% 21 of 45

22 The offices for which data were extrapolated, and which are highlighted in blue, account for about 3% of the CO 2 emissions and 1% of the ecological footprint of the total impact derived from reported data on stationery bought. Figure 11.2 Total CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint from stationery per office: Ofcom, FY tonnes CO2 gha 0 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven Figure 11.3 CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint per staff member from stationery at Ofcom offices: FY tonnes CO2 gha 0.0 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven The total impact from stationery (figure 11.2) is notably different from the impact per staff member (figure 11.3). As expected, the London office (Riverside House) has the largest total impact from stationery since a majority of Ofcom staff work at this site. Baldock, however, has the largest impact per staff member, as it buys a relative large amount of stationery. Furthermore, Baldock s stationery has a more significant plastic component than the remainder of the offices and therefore, is responsible for a larger proportion of CO 2 emissions per staff member. It is estimated that Ofcom bought 18,701 kg of paper in FY2006, of which 18,319 kg were reported for this study. This paper has been considered virgin paper in this analysis and is responsible for about 30 tonnes of CO 2 emissions. Buying recycled paper instead of virgin paper would have saved about 8 tonnes of CO 2 during FY of 45

23 The Drinks Footprint The London office provided data on catering items. Part of these items were milk bottles, soft drink bottles and soft drink cans. The liquid in these containers was calculated at about 60,288 kg and accounts for 1% of the carbon and ecological footprint associated with Ofcom in FY2006. This equals 43 tonnes of CO 2 and has an ecological footprint of 20 gha. The Furniture Footprint Data were available for the furniture purchased by the London office during FY2006. Almost 8,000 kg of furniture including tables, chairs, coat racks, cupboards and filers were bought. This gave rise to 36 tonnes of CO 2 and had an ecological footprint of 11 gha, which accounts for about 1% of the total carbon and ecological footprint of Ofcom. Land Use The ecological footprint includes the area of land covered by all fourteen offices (2 ha), which has a footprint of 10 gha per year. This accounts for 1% of Ofcom s total ecological footprint. Figure 12.1 Ecological footprint of land use at Ofcom: FY2006. ha Footprint (gha) gha % number of staff Total % 1016 Baldock % 23 Belfast % 9 Birmingham % 12 Bristol % 5 Cardiff % 8 Caterham % 16 Cheshunt % 6 Glasgow % 11 Haydock % 13 Leeds % 4 Nottingham % 6 Peterborough % 2 Riverside House % 900 Stonehaven % 1 23 of 45

24 Offices Footprint Specific data were available on materials purchased and waste produced from three offices: London (Riverside House), Baldock and Cardiff. These data were used along with general data for the whole organisation to determine the total footprints of these three individual offices. Equal distribution amongst all employees was assumed on server consumption, transport data and computing materials. London (Riverside House) Riverside House is Ofcom s headquarters, where 900 (88.5%) of staff work. Riverside House can be attributed emissions of 3,306 t CO 2 and has an ecological footprint of 1014 gha. This is equivalent to 79% and 69% of the overall carbon and ecological footprints of Ofcom. The impact of publications for the entire organisation was allocated to Riverside House. Figures 13.1 and 13.2 show the breakdown of these footprints: Figure 13.1 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions at Riverside House, London: FY2006 drinks and milk 1% Catering waste 1% Capital items 17% Stationary 1% Utilities 6% Furniture 1% Publications 3% Waste 2% Business travel 16% Computing materials 11% Commuting 23% offsite servers 18% Figure 13.2 Breakdown of the ecological footprint at Riverside House, London: FY2006 drinks and milk 2% Furniture 1% Publications 9% Waste 8% Business travel 15% Catering waste 2% Stationary 5% Utilities 4% Computing materials 8% offsite servers 14% Commuting 29% As Riverside House accounts for a majority of the carbon and ecological footprints associated with Ofcom, its relative footprint is similar to that of the entire organisation. The most significant factor affecting the total footprint of Riverside House is transport. The utilities footprint is relatively low because Riverside House obtains its electricity from renewable sources. The server footprint would be accordingly low if green electricity were used at Ofcom s data centres. Other materials include capital items such as air conditioning units and gym equipment. There were no data available on the amount of food consumed at Riverside House. Calculations to determine the amount of drinks and milk consumed were performed using data on bottles bought for the canteen. 24 of 45

25 Baldock Baldock is Ofcom s second largest office and has extensive electronic equipment to undertake specific tasks for Ofcom. There are about 23 employees at the office. Baldock is responsible for emissions equal to 364 t CO 2 and has an ecological footprint of 129 gha. This is equivalent to 9% of the overall carbon and ecological footprints of Ofcom. Figures 13.3 and 13.4 show the breakdown of these footprints: Figure 13.3 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions at Baldock: FY2006 Waste 17% Business travel 4% Commuting 5% offsite servers 4% Computing materials 1% Stationary 4% Utilities 64% Figure 13.4 Breakdown of the ecological footprint at Baldock: FY2006 Waste 31% Business travel 4% Commuting 7% offsite servers 3% Computing materials 1% Stationary 4% Utilities 51% By far the largest contributor to Baldock s carbon and ecological footprint is the utilities used. Since transport data was allocated by respondent ratio and staff member, the relative importance of this factor for Baldock is low. Several assumptions had to be made to allocate the waste footprint for Baldock. More precise waste data would allow for a better analysis of the actual overall footprint. Some recycling occurs at Baldock, but it is left down to individual staff to take recycled materials to the appropriate waste management centre and has not been accounted for here. 25 of 45

26 Cardiff Cardiff is Ofcom s headquarters in Wales and has 8 staff members. Cardiff can be attributed 44 t CO 2 of emissions and has an ecological footprint of 14 gha. This is equivalent to 1% of the overall carbon and ecological footprints of Ofcom. Data on waste and recycling from Cardiff were unconventionally low. Figures 13.5 and 13.6 show the breakdown of these footprints: Figure 13.5 Breakdown of the CO 2 emissions at Cardiff: FY2006. Commuting 15% offsite servers 12% Business travel 10% Waste 3% Computing materials 10% Stationary 1% Utilities 49% Figure 13.6 Breakdown of the ecological footprint at Cardiff: FY2006. Commuting 21% offsite servers 10% Business travel 11% Waste 5% Computing materials 8% Stationary 3% Utilities 43% Again, the most significant factor affecting the carbon and ecological footprint for Cardiff is utilities used. The figure for waste was unexpectedly low for Cardiff and may have not included all waste produced. 26 of 45

27 Comparison by Office To compare the impact by office only data that were available or extrapolated to all offices was used. Additional data reported for the London office was not included in this section. The majority of Ofcom staff work at Riverside House; not surprisingly, this office has the largest carbon and ecological footprint of the organisation. 800, , ,000 Figure 14.1 Total CO 2 emissions by office: Ofcom, FY2006 Commuting Utilities Servers Business travel Computing materials Waste Stationery 500,000 kg CO2 400, , , ,000 0 Baldock Belfast Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven When comparing impacts per staff member all offices, with the exception of Baldock, are fairly similar. Figure 14.2 CO 2 emissions per staff member for Ofcom offices: FY2006 kg CO Baldock Belfast Commuting Utilities Offsite Servers Business travel Computing materials Waste Stationery Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Caterham Cheshunt Glasgow Haydock Leeds Nottingham Peterborough Riverside House Stonehaven This comparison may be useful for determining where to implement measures to reduce Ofcom s footprint. Reducing the total impacts associated with Riverside House, such as those arising from commuting, would significantly reduce the overall footprint of Ofcom. Nonetheless, it is also worth considering the impacts per staff member, especially those associated with utility use and waste produced at Baldock. An audit could be useful for establishing the reasons why Baldock has such a relatively large utility and waste footprint. Nottingham s low utility footprint per staff member is also worthy of note. There may be energy efficiency measures in place at Nottingham that could be applicable to the rest of Ofcom s offices. 27 of 45

28 Recommendations When considering what action to take to reduce the CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint of Ofcom, it is important to take two factors into account: the scale of each individual impact, and how much influence Ofcom has over that impact. While it is of course important to focus on the practices with the largest environmental effects, attention should also be given to how easy those practices are to change. Transport Reducing the business travel footprint could be accomplished through greater use of teleconferencing technologies. Reducing flying by eliminating unnecessary trips or using trains and other forms of collective transport for shorter journeys would produce significant carbon savings. Most commuting kilometres at Ofcom are travelled by rail or underground. A reduction in the commuting footprint could be achieved by encouraging more cycling and walking to work, supporting local public transportation schemes outside London and promoting car pooling. Work from home alternatives could also reduce the number of staff needing to commute each day. Energy Use Ofcom already save over 2,000 tonnes of CO 2 by sourcing the electricity of their London (Riverside House) offices from a green tariff, but this assumes that the energy company genuinely obtains this electricity from 100% renewable sources Ofcom should check this claim in more detail to be sure that these CO 2 savings are reliable. Further reductions could be obtained by purchasing reputable 100% green tariffs for all offices and encouraging the companies responsible for Ofcom s data centres to do the same; an even more reliable measure would be for Ofcom to investigate setting up renewable generation capacity of its own. Energy efficiency management plans that ensure all machines and lights are completely turned off at the end of each working day, and that insulation and heat saving practices are in place, could reduce Ofcom s utilities footprint. A switch from oil heating to gas could allow for some savings at the Baldock office, but greater savings could be achieved in the longer term by investigating alternative, non fossil fuel based systems such as solar water heating, passive solar and ground source heat pumps. Ofcom could also do more to encourage greater energy efficiency and the use of renewables in the communications sector as a whole. Waste Collecting data on waste would allow Ofcom to develop waste minimisation plans and implement recycling and reuse schemes at all its offices. Significantly more paper waste was produced at Ofcom than the amount of paper purchased. This extra waste paper may originate from journals, junk mail, etc. coming into the offices. Auditing and then reducing the amount of unnecessary paper entering Ofcom would help reduce the carbon footprint of the organisation. Materials and Stationery Capital items requiring energy intensive manufacturing (e.g. electrical equipment) have a significant impact on individual offices footprint. Replacing equipment only when absolutely necessary, and purchasing second hand or refurbished equipment can have a positive impact here. Similarly, by opting for recycled paper when purchasing stationery, significant reductions in the stationery footprint can be obtained. Ofcom could also use recycled paper for its publications, which would not only reduce its own carbon impact, but also set a positive example to those who rely on its services. These recommendations are explained in more detail overleaf in figure 15.1: 28 of 45

29 Activity % of CO 2 Emissions Commuting 19% 24% Offsite Server electricity use Business Travel Office Electricity Use Office Heating Figure 15.1 Recommendations for reducing Ofcom s carbon footprint % of Ecological Possible short/medium term actions Possible long term actions Footprint 16% 13% 14% 13% 9% 7% 7% 5% Waste 6% 13% Materials 9% 7% Publications 3% 8% Office Printing Paper Use Newspapers and Journals in the Office N/A N/A N/A N/A Replacing half the commuting car kilometres by rail would save 138 tco 2 per year, which would reduce Ofcom s footprint by 3% Optimizing offsite servers could reduce this impact by 60%, which would in turn reduce Ofcom s total footprint by 10% or 407 t CO 2. Replacing flights from London to Manchester, Paris and Brussels with train travel would save 13.5 tco 2. Replacing flights from London to Belfast (the most flown to destination) with a combination of train and ferry travel would save an additional 30 tco 2. By replacing all flights under 1,000km with train travel, Ofcom could reduce its Business travel footprint by half, and its total footprint by 7% Review energy efficiency within the office, including equipment, logistics and staff behaviour. Switching all offices to a renewable energy tariff could reduce this impact to zero. Ofcom could also consider renewable energy generation on site. Investigate separate metering to allow Ofcom s offices to determine more accurately their contribution to each building s energy use; review heating efficiency within the office, including insulation, equipment, and staff behaviour. For Baldock a shift to gas rather than oil as a heating fuel would reduce the total CO 2 emissions, as would the introduction of technologies such as CHP. Carry out a waste audit to check this figure. Waste data were available only for some offices. Review waste management schemes and implement waste reduction initiatives. Sourcing recycled or refurbished materials were possible could significantly reduce this impact. About 3 tco 2 or 0.1% overall reduction is possible by purchasing remanufactured cartridges. Review size of print runs are all the publications being distributed and read? Printing the publications on recycled paper and cardboard would reduce their EF by 22% (2% of total) and their CO 2 by 13% (<1% of total) or 14 tonnes. Review the use of paper within the office, particularly as regards double sided photocopying, the printing out of s etc. Audit the amount of papers, journals and junk mail coming into the office. Establish what is and isn t needed, and set up sharing schemes to reduce the quantities being purchased. Remove Ofcom from unnecessary mailing lists. Encourage staff to live near work. Implement commuting strategies such as minibuses to pick up employees. Use Ofcom s negotiating power to demand offsite servers be powered with renewable energy and reduce the overall carbon impact by 654 tco 2. Limit overseas business travel to only absolutely necessary journeys. Half of Ofcom s air travel impact last year was due to long distance flights. Encourage the government and energy providers to generate more renewable energy. Upgrade all the offices to make them more energy efficient. Upgrade all the offices to make them more energy efficient. Encourage the government and energy providers to develop and support non fossil fuel based heating systems. Investigate recycling schemes for all wastes. Seek out furniture re use schemes and composting projects for food waste and/or cardboard. Encourage suppliers to reduce or reuse their packaging, or switch to suppliers that do. Review purchasing policies and use providers which guarantee low impact items. Review the effectiveness of online publications as compared to the printed versions. Optimize offsite server electrical consumption and publish as much material on the web as possible. Reduce physical printing. After careful consideration of the relative efficiency of offsite servers and their optimisation, greater use of the internet and internal non paperbased information systems could have a positive impact in reducing Ofcom s footprint Greater use of online information and news services 29 of 45

30 If all quantifiable actions described in Possible short/medium term actions are put into place the total annual CO 2 savings for Ofcom could be around 1,314 tonnes, or about 32% of the total CO 2 emissions from FY2006. Some of these actions are easier to implement than others. Actions to reduce CO 2 emissions are given in the table below along with qualifying statements on how easy or challenging these reductions are to achieve. BFF have no information on procurement restrictions that Ofcom may have, or on the internal functioning of the organisation, and therefore, specific actions may prove easier or more challenging than stated below. Figure 15.2 Actions needed to reduce Ofcom s footprint % reduction Action required Possible tco 2 saved 9.3% Obtain electricity for all offices from 100% renewable energy providers: Ecotricity, Good Energy, or Green Energy UK 387 Easy to achieve reductions 0.3% Substitute plane journeys from London to Manchester, Paris and Brussels with rail 0.2% Purchase only recycled paper for office use 8 0.1% Purchase only remanufactured printer cartridges. Several companies advertised on the internet provide UK wide returned cartridges services Total Easy 9.9% 412 Moderately challenging to achieve reductions Total Moderately Challenging Challenging to achieve reductions Total Challenging 9.7% Encourage third parties operating offsite servers to optimize electricity consumption 6.7% Replace all short haul plane journeys (<1,000km) by rail % Reduce office paper use by 50% and purchase only recycled paper 0.3% Use recycled paper and cardboard for all publications material % % Use 100% renewable energy to power efficient third party offsite servers 1.5% Reduce heating fuel use by 25% % Use 100% renewable energy to print publications % Reduce waste sent to landfill 14% by % 406 The list provided shows direct fixes in discrete areas of Ofcom s operations. The development of reduction strategies can be done most effectively by discussing the organisation s systems, and identifying how alternative behaviours may be implemented. BFF have proposed a workshop at the end of the project to discuss the report, and how its findings can be used to influence change. In this context it is more feasible to prepare sophisticated and useful recommendations by combining the input of Ofcom staff with the carbon accounting expertise of BFF. The UK Climate Change Bill proposes a reduction of CO 2 emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2050 with an interim target of between 26 32% by By 2005, UK CO 2 emission had been reduced by 6.4%. This means that from FY2006 to 2020, reductions of about 1.5% per year are necessary to meet these targets UK targets for reducing commercial and industrial waste: Expected 20% reduction from 2004 to 2010 (Defra, 2007). That is a 14% reduction from 2006 to of 45

31 Appendix A: Input Data and Assumptions Used in this Study Input Data The table below shows the input data used for the study, some of which came directly from Ofcom and others derived from data supplied. The following sections of this appendix explain some of the calculations and assumptions made to enable the footprint analysis of the plant. Category Total for 06/07 Per employee Transport Commuting car average diesel 1,555,432 vkm 1,531 vkm car small diesel 2,690 vkm 3 vkm car average petrol 523,313 vkm 515 vkm car small petrol 189,491 vkm 187 vkm ship inland 741 tkm 1 tkm walk/cycle 642,490 passkm 632 passkm rail, tram, metro 9,409,114 passkm 9,261 passkm motorbikes/scooters 359,520 passkm 354 passkm bus & coach 242,673 passkm 239 passkm Transport Business Travel air travel short haul 1,191,661 passkm 1,173 passkm air travel long haul 1,079,052 passkm 1,062 passkm rail, tram, metro 414,345 passkm 408 passkm car average diesel 14,964 vkm 15 vkm Offsite servers London City 400,858 kwh 395 kwh Toltech 535,762 kwh 527 kwh Sunguard 259,296 kwh 255 kwh Telstra 9,986 kwh 10 kwh Ultima 45,311 kwh 45 kwh Utilities Electricity 387,076 kwh 16,829 kwh Gas N/A kwh N/A kwh Baldock Water 10,000 litres 522 litres Oil 12,000 litres 435 litres Belfast Electricity 26,238 kwh 2,915 kwh Gas 24,486 kwh 2,721 kwh Water 175,472 litres 19,497 litres Birmingham Electricity 43,005 kwh 3,584 kwh Gas 64,487 kwh 5,374 kwh Water 774,000 litres 64,500 litres Bristol Electricity 25,503 kwh 5,101 kwh Gas 16,538 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 97,485 litres 19,497 litres Cardiff Electricity 41,630 kwh 5,204 kwh Gas 26,461 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 155,975 litres 19,497 litres 31 of 45

32 Caterham Electricity 38,754 kwh 2,422 kwh Gas 68,000 kwh 4,250 kwh Water 136,000 litres 8,500 litres Cheshunt Electricity 30,604 kwh 5,101 kwh Gas 19,846 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 180,000 litres 30,000 litres Glasgow Electricity 37,001 kwh 3,364 kwh Gas 36,384 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 214,466 litres 19,497 litres Haydock Electricity 66,085 kwh 5,083 kwh Gas 63,734 kwh 4,903 kwh Water 154,000 litres 11,846 litres Leeds Electricity 18,617 kwh 4,654 kwh Gas 13,231 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 51,000 litres 12,750 litres Nottingham Electricity 6,218 kwh 1,036 kwh Gas 19,846 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 116,982 litres 19,497 litres Peterborough Electricity 13,293 kwh 6,647 kwh Gas 3,301 kwh 1,651 kwh Water 20,900 litres 10,450 litres Riverside House Electricity 3,931,148 kwh 4,368 kwh Gas 853,394 kwh 948 kwh Water 15,745,000 litres 17,494 litres Stonehaven Electricity 5,101 kwh 5,101 kwh Gas 3,308 kwh 3,308 kwh Water 19,497 litres 19,497 litres Riverside House Stationery Bulb 0 kg kg Measuring 2 kg kg Cleaner 5 kg kg Bookend 5 kg kg Scissors 7 kg kg Clip 6 kg kg Sharpener 5 kg kg Suitcase 6 kg kg Aluminium 4 kg kg Badge 12 kg kg Bookholder 11 kg kg CD 62 kg kg Perforator 40 kg kg 32 of 45

33 Tape 58 kg kg Stapler 162 kg kg LetterTray 133 kg kg Battery 36 kg kg Pens 165 kg kg Envelopes 504 kg kg Electronics 251 kg kg Plastic 370 kg kg Cartridge 283 kg kg Metal 527 kg kg Notebook 3,288 kg kg Paper 17,647 kg kg Magnet 18 kg kg Belfast Cleaner 1.51 kg 0.2 kg Notebook 8.86 kg 1.0 kg Envelopes 0.89 kg 0.1 kg Birmingham Paper kg 17.1 kg Suitcase kg 1.0 kg Tape 2.78 kg 0.2 kg Caterham Notebook kg 2.2 kg Paper kg 1.5 kg Leeds Plastic kg 2.8 kg Electronics 1.12 kg 0.1 kg Notebook kg 1.0 kg Glasgow Paper kg 1.0 kg Pens 1.47 kg 0.1 kg Plastic 0.20 kg 0.0 kg Tape 3.56 kg 0.3 kg Cleaner 2.94 kg 0.2 kg Electronics 0.53 kg 0.0 kg Notebook kg 4.0 kg Paper kg 10.5 kg Haydock Pens 2.77 kg 0.2 kg Perforator 0.44 kg 0.0 kg Plastic kg 3.4 kg Stapler 0.25 kg 0.0 kg Suitcase 8.00 kg 0.6 kg Tape 2.70 kg 0.2 kg Envelopes 4.16 kg 0.2 kg Metal kg kg Notebook 6.75 kg 0.3 kg Baldock Paper kg 5.6 kg Pen 3.74 kg 0.2 kg Plastic kg 0.6 kg Tape 0.95 kg 0.0 kg Envelopes 5.98 kg 0 kg Metal 0.50 kg 1 kg Cardiff Notebook kg 21 kg Paper kg 1 kg Pen 4.22 kg 2 kg Plastic kg 26 kg 33 of 45

34 Computing materials Mobile phones 3.5 kg 0.00 kg Mobile PDA 39 kg 0.04 kg Printing consumables 8000 units 7.87 units Desktop printing 1000 kg 0.98 kg Desktop computing 2850 kg 2.81 kg Servers 300 kg 0.30 kg Capital Items (only for Riverside House) Electrical and Mechanical 1,850 kg 2 kg Gym Equipment 999 kg 1 kg Dry air coolers 1,500 kg 1 kg AC computers 1,552 kg 2 kg Boilers 1,505 kg 1 kg AC supplementary 4,924 kg 5 kg AC 15,152 kg 15 kg Lifts 15,450 kg 15 kg Chillers 29,100 kg 29 kg Catering Waste (only for Riverside House) steel from cans recycled 120 kg 0.13 kg aluminium from cans recycled 270 kg 0.30 kg PP packaging 4,095 kg 4.55 kg PS cutlery 2,100 kg 2.33 kg HDPE packaging recycled 252 kg 0.28 kg PET recycled 285 kg 0.32 kg PET packaging 397 kg 0.44 kg Napkins and paper cups 4,700 kg 5.22 kg Biodegradable plastic 91 kg 0.10 kg Compostables medium 2,851 kg 3.17 kg Catering Drinks (only for Riverside House) Soft drinks(c) 12,912 kg kg Milk 47,376 kg kg Catering Capital Items (only for Riverside House) PET 8 kg 0.01 kg HDPE 1 kg 0.00 kg Aluminium 0 kg 0.00 kg Stainless steel 128 kg 0.14 kg Furniture (only for Riverside House) coat stands 6 kg 0.01 kg butterfly chairs 173 kg 0.19 kg rectangular desks 612 kg 0.68 kg round tables 192 kg 0.21 kg ethos chair 30 kg 0.03 kg tambour cupboard 192 kg 0.21 kg 2 drawer filers 233 kg 0.26 kg 3 drawer filers 1,782 kg 1.98 kg peds 1,865 kg 2.07 kg pledge chairs 476 kg 0.53 kg pledge task chairs 30 kg 0.03 kg Mirra chair 58 kg 0.06 kg Aeron chair 60 kg 0.07 kg xantos chairs 1,077 kg 1.20 kg workstations 1,200 kg 1.33 kg 34 of 45

35 Publications Cardboard 1,000 kg 0.98 kg Paper 38,377 kg kg Waste Landfilled 10,726 kg 12 kg Incineration 5,000 kg 6 kg Riverside House 16 Baldock Cardiff Recycled paper 17,441 kg kg Recycled cardboard 12,790 kg kg Recycled plastic 1,292 kg 1.44 kg Recycled steel 91 kg 0.10 kg Recycled aluminium 205 kg 0.23 kg Landfilled 18,876 kg 821 kg Batteries 728 kg 32 kg Landfilled 450 kg kg Recycled glass 50 kg 6.25 kg Recycled cardboard 12 kg 1.50 kg Recycled paper 65 kg 8.13 kg Other Materials Baldock Fax/copier 172 kg 7 kg Cardiff Fax/copier 215 kg 27 kg 16 Waste not accounted for in Catering 35 of 45

36 Staff Numbers There were 1016 staff working at Ofcom during FY2006. The breakdown per office is provided in figure Transport Assumptions Weekly transport data were provided by Ofcom. A 45 work week year was assumed for commuting data. Data were obtained for 540 out of the 1016 employees and final results were up scaled to include all employees. Business travel data were provided by Ofcom for the entire year (2006). To allocate transport footprints to each office, the following proportions were provided by Ofcom: Office Response Percent Upscale Conversion factor based on number of respondents Overall Conversion Factor Baldock 4.3% Belfast 2.6% Birmingham 2.2% Bristol 0.9% Cardiff 0.9% Caterham 2.4% Cheshunt 0.7% Glasgow 1.7% Haydock 1.5% Leeds 0.2% Nottingham 0.7% Peterborough 0.4% Riverside House 80.7% Stonehaven 0.2% Home Working 0.6% Utilities Assumptions Utilities data were provided directly by Ofcom for the following offices: Baldock, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Caterham, Cheshunt, Glasgow, Haydock, Leeds, Nottingham, Peterborough, and Riverside House. Where it was specified that an office used a certain utility (i.e. gas), but was not charged for it, and extrapolation was performed using the average consumption at Ofcom. These calculations are discussed in the Utilities footprint section and have a relatively low impact on the total utilities footprint. It was assumed that the green tariff purchased by Riverside House uses electricity from 100% renewable sources; note that this claim is worth checking, as not all energy providers guarantee that their green tariffs represent 100% renewable electricity. Only three UK utility companies Ecotricity, Good Energy, and Green Energy UK have renewable electricity generation as their core purpose. Waste Assumptions Specific waste data were provided by Ofcom for London (Riverside House), Baldock, and Cardiff. Riverside House It was assumed that 100% of cans bought by catering are recycled. It was assumed that 41.8% of PET (that is all PET bottles) bought by catering is recycled. It was assumed that 100% of HDPE bought by catering is recycled. 36 of 45

37 It was assumed that 21% of landfilled waste is food waste. Baldock It was assumed that wheelie bins are emptied only when full. It was assumed that the average density of waste is 150kg/m 3. It was assumed that a box full of batteries is disposed of each month and that values for a full box were given by Ofcom. The calculated weight of each type of battery is given below: Battery Type Weight (g) small (AA, AAA, C, D) 30 Landrover 7000 UPS 1000 handheld radio batteries 200 Cardiff It was assumed that each bin bag weighs 4 kg. An average from 5 different offices previously studied by BFF was used to determine the waste on a per staff basis for the remainder of Ofcom offices, as shown below: Extrapolating waste to all offices using Benchmarking average Type per staff unit Landfilled waste 82.6 kg Recycled waste 102 kg Materials Assumptions Specific materials data were provided by Ofcom for London (Riverside House), Baldock, and Cardiff, albeit materials data for Bladock and Cardiff were comprised of one category only (fax machines). Computing materials were allocated to each office on a per staff basis. It was assumed that each staff member consumed 24 kg of stationery per year (Ofcom s average). Riverside House It was assumed that sandwich packets, soup cups, and vending drinks bottles bought by catering are made of PET. It was assumed that milk bottles bought by catering are made of HDPE. It was assumed that cutlery bought by catering are made of PS. It was assumed that clear water cups bought by catering are made of PP. It was assumed that 94% of the weight of vending drinks bottles is drink. It was assumed that 94% of the weight of milk bottles is milk. It was assumed that 95.3% of the weight of cans is drink. It was assumed that the bonnet induction hub, the gastronorm and the convotherm oven bought by catering are made of stainless steel. It was assumed that the revolving toaster bought by catering is made of 90% stainless steel and 10% aluminium. It was assumed that the coffee grinder bought by catering is made of 90% stainless steel and 10% HDPE. It was assumed that the utility trolley bought by catering is made of 85% stainless steel and 15% PET. 37 of 45

38 Appendix B: Data Gap Analysis Data collection for footprint studies requires extensive physical data from all areas of the organisation. Financial data is readily available which records the purchasing of materials and services, but often these records do not specify the physical units involved. Over the course of the study BFF worked closely with Ofcom staff to determine physical units, and, where not possible, sensible assumptions were agreed. This annex considers the initial data collection process during the audit, but also refers to the steps being taken by Ofcom since the audit to improve data quality in the future. There were some gaps during data collection for the study. Where data were unavailable, extrapolations or average national data were used to perform the calculations for the carbon and ecological footprint of Ofcom. Following the submission of this report (November, 2007), certain data became available and has been used for revised calculations of the carbon footprint of Ofcom (see Appendix C). The following headings consider discrete areas of the organisation and commentary on data collection within each. Electricity, gas/oil, water (Utilities): There were 42 data points in total required for this category (14 offices with 3 utilities each). Thirty data points were provided by Ofcom for the revised calculations, including nil entries for gas consumption at Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and Leeds. This results in a completeness of data received of 71%, and these covered all of the major sites where utilities were consumed. The remainder of utilities were extrapolated by BFF, although these gaps were limited: Reported consumption for electricity was 99%, 1% was extrapolated. Reported consumption for gas was 96%, 4% was extrapolated. Reported consumption for water was 96%, 4% was extrapolated. To ensure accurate electricity readings in the future and to allow for granularity, Ofcom have installed individual metering at Riverside House for the UPS, the computer room, the media suite, the satellite room, and on each individual floor. This sub metering will improve data quality which will lead to valuable information for Ofcom to inform them of the effectiveness of the reduction strategy. Recommendations: Metering for remainder of utilities not available at the moment: Belfast water Bristol electricity, water Cardiff water Cheshunt electricity, gas Glasgow water Nottingham gas, water Stonehaven electricity, gas, water It may not be practicable to install metering at all these locations. Furthermore, some locations may not be included in future carbon audits as closures of some regional offices are planned. Quality of revised data 17 : Good, 4. Business travel / Commuting: Originally, only data on flights, train journeys and the use some of the company car fleet were available. In the revised calculations, business travel includes aeroplane and train journeys, fleet car use (changed from medium diesel car ), use of taxis, private car use for business purposes, and field operations vehicle use. Commuting data were obtained from a survey of about half of Ofcom employees. Extrapolation was necessary to obtain final commuting figures for all Ofcom employees. 17 Please see section on data quality assessment (page 6 of this report) for previous data quality classification. 38 of 45

39 To ensure accurate data collection of business mileage for future carbon audits and travel surveys, Ofcom have implemented procedures which require employees to book travel arrangements through Ofcom s travel agency. If employees are booking flights, then a prompt will appear to question the necessity of selecting this mode, and require the employee to justify this to the travel manager. Travel data will also be linked to department managers who will be responsible for justifying the journeys taken. New field operations vehicles and fleet cars will be fitted with metering devices that will allow collection of fuel consumption data and mileage. The monitoring system will enable real time displays of fuel consumed through an internet portal. Also proposed is an automated taxi hiring service within London that will facilitate expense and mileage data collection for this form of transport. Since the carbon audit was completed, a full travel plan has been completed by TfL and a full efficiency project by EST. These focussed studies will significantly improve the understanding of travel at Ofcom, and add to the data collected for BFF. Recommendations: The planned data collection processes highlighted above will significantly improve data. In addition, completing structured, annual commuting surveys will add to the quality of commuting data. Encouragement to complete such surveys should exist, and this may be through incentive schemes or guidance from HR/line managers. Quality of revised data: Fair, 3. Offsite Servers (external hosting): BFF had some concerns over the accuracy of the data provided by the companies which supply Ofcom with offsite server capacity because of the variability in energy requirements reported. Further research into this issue by Ofcom has clarified this point, following the discovery that data variability found in server energy consumption is due to differences in hardware. Data accuracy has been calculated by Ofcom to be within 10%. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in Appendix C. To ensure more accurate data collection of offsite server electrical consumption for future carbon audits, Ofcom have identified CO 2 as a key driver for future offsite server procurement. The IS team intend to ask potential suppliers to report server efficiency figures which will form part of the procurement assessment. Ofcom recognise that carbon savings can be achieved in this way, but also realise that energy efficiency is a useful proxy for performance and cost efficiency. Recommendations: Determine which normalisation unit will be the most useful to monitor offsite server efficiency (i.e. kwh/mb processed or stored) and use it for future monitoring. Quality of revised data: Good, 4. Computing Materials: Data on computing materials were aggregated for the whole organisation. If data gaps existed, they were not visible from this data format although there is no reason to suspect there were omissions. Data on faxes and copiers were provided separately for Riverside House, Baldock and Cardiff. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in Appendix C. Ofcom will embed CO 2 into the procurement process of computing materials. Recommendations: Disaggregate data on desktop computing, printing consumable, desktop printing, servers, mobile PDA, and mobile phones to enable a clearer picture of computing material consumption across the organisation. Within the procurement process for computing materials account not only for electrical efficiency, but also enquire about material efficiency in manufacture (embodied carbon). Quality of revised data: Excellent, 5. Stationery: There were 14 data sets in total required for this category (14 offices). Nine data sets were provided by Ofcom for the original calculations. Data on stationery for Bristol, Cheshunt, Nottingham, 39 of 45

40 Peterborough and Stonehaven were unavailable and were extrapolated by BFF. This results in a completeness of data received of 64%. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in Appendix C. Recommendations: Link stationery purchasing data to composition and weight of items to enable calculations of the type and quantity of materials purchased by Ofcom through stationery procurement. It is good practice to monitor stationery use by department/site to identify sources of demand. For procurement, a gated process can be installed so any procurement decisions/requests are assessed for sustainability before suppliers are approved. Quality of revised data: Fair, 3. Publications: There were no known data gaps in this category. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in Appendix C. Recommendations: None. Quality of revised data: Excellent, 5. Capital Items: Data were only available for Riverside House. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in Appendix C. Drinks: Recommendations: Maintain an annual record of the composition and weight of capital items purchased. Quality of revised data: Fair, 3. Data were only available for Riverside House on bottles and cans bought. Calculations were performed by BFF to determine the volume of litres contained in the bottles and cans. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in the Appendix C. Recommendations: Link catering purchases to data on the type and volume of drinks purchased. Include data on food procured through Ofcom catering. Although these steps would improve data quality, the relative significance of the impact of drinks is low. Quality of revised data: Poor, 2. Furniture: Data were only available for Riverside House and no extrapolations were performed to include other offices. No new data were provided/required for the revised calculations shown in Appendix C. Waste: Recommendations: Link furniture procurement to data on the composition and weight of furniture purchased. Quality of revised data: Excellent, 5. For the original calculations, waste data were available for Riverside House, Baldock and Cardiff but not necessarily in an ideal format, (i.e. volume vs weight). Extrapolations were performed by BFF using national averages to include waste generated by other Ofcom offices. Certain assumptions used in calculating waste for Baldock were considered inaccurate by Ofcom and were corrected for the revised calculations. Recommendations: Monitor waste arising in each office by weight, composition and management practice (i.e. landfill, recycle ). This service could be provided by the waste management company. Quality of revised data: Fair, of 45

41 Data % of complete data received Discrepancies in data? Required clarification? Quality (Bad 1, Poor 2, Fair 3, Good 4, Excellent 5) Electricity, gas/oil, water 71% no yes 4 Business travel/ commuting 60% yes yes 3 Offsite server 100% yes yes 4 Computing materials 100% no no 5 Stationery 64% yes yes 3 Publications 100% no no 5 Capital items % yes yes 3 Drinks 100% yes yes 2 Furniture 100% no no 5 Waste 21% yes yes 3 18 Includes data from catering capital items 41 of 45

42 Appendix C: Revised Results (May 2008) This report was submitted to Ofcom in November Following its finalisation, Ofcom were able to undertake further research to provide BFF with additional data. BFF were requested to include these new data into the analysis to determine a more accurate baseline to benchmark future reductions against. These new data for FY06/07 and revised calculations can be found in this appendix. The total revised carbon footprint of Ofcom for FY06/07 is 4,541 tco 2, when accounting green tariff energy as having zero CO 2 emissions. If CO 2 emissions from electricity used at Riverside House are accounted as normal grid electricity then the carbon footprint of Ofcom for FY06/07 is 6,402 tco 2. Ofcom will use the latter figure as the benchmark for 06/07 CO 2 emissions because of the lack of clear governmental guidance on accounting for green tariff electricity. Ofcom will develop a carbon reduction strategy with the goal of emitting 25% less CO 2 in 2011 than FY06/07. Two main reasons exist for the differences found in the reported figures used throughout this report and the revised figures found in this appendix: 1) Original data were found to be incorrect. 2) New data became available. This element of work reflects Ofcom s commitment to use the 06/07 audit as a starting point, and work to progressively improve data certainty. BFF applaud this approach to not only commit to footprint reduction, but also to improve the certainty in the results calculated. Data changes included in revised calculations The offices located at Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Leeds do not consume gas and this parameter has now been excluded from the revised calculations. Part of the electrical consumption attributed to Riverside House is actually consumed by an external restaurant within the building which has no relation to Ofcom. This consumption has been excluded from the revised calculations. Additional data have become available regarding taxi use. Previously, no taxi data were included. In the revised calculations all taxis claimed on expenses have been accounted for. Additional data have become available on business miles travelled by private car. Previously, only business miles travelled by executive company fleet car were accounted for. In the revised calculations all business miles travelled by private car are accounted for. CO 2 emissions as calculated by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) for field operations vehicles. Waste at Baldock was overestimated by BFF as data on actual waste arising were unavailable. A better estimate has been provided by Ofcom and used in the revised calculations. Assumptions used for revised calculations General assumptions for this report are explained in Appendix A. Additional assumptions used for the revised calculations are explained below: Taxi Assumptions The standard fare rates set out by Transport for London were used to estimate distances. Assume that all travel takes place between 6am and 8pm. Assume that taxis taken elsewhere in the UK will have a similar cost as taxis in London. Assume that taxis are moving fast enough to incur the per metre fare rather than the per second fare. The data on flights shows that Ofcom staff and associates travelled primarily to wealthy, industrialised European, American and Australasian destinations. Assume taxi fares in countries visited by Ofcom employees do not differ greatly from the UK, and have been calculated at the London rate. 42 of 45

43 BFF recognise that these assumptions will not accurately represent taxi distances, but intend the result to be indicative to enable Ofcom to consider whether the impacts are significant and therefore worth targeting as part of the carbon reduction strategy. Additional business miles UK annual business mileage for all types of cars is less than 10,000 miles 19. It was assumed that all mileage expenses claimed are priced at 40p/mile, that is, less than 10,000 annual miles per individual (above 10000miles, Ofcom mileage payments reduce to 25p/mile) The breakdown of the revised footprint of Ofcom can be seen below in figure C.1 and C.2. Figure C.1 Breakdown of the revised CO 2 emissions attributable to Ofcom in FY06/07 (not accounting green electricity as zero). Business travel 15% Offsite Servers 10% Utilities 38% Commuting 13% Capital items 9% Land Use <1% Computing materials 6% Waste 4% Publications 2% Stationery 1% Drinks 1% Furniture 1% Figure C.2 Annual revised CO 2 emissions for Ofcom, FY2006 (with values different from figure 2.1 marked in red). CO 2 emissions (t) CO 2 emissions (t) (calculated Nov07) (revised May08) 4,178 6,402 Commuting Utilities 678 2,520 Offsite Servers Business travel 584 1,004 Capital items Computing materials Waste Publications Stationery Drinks Furniture Land Use DfT, Transport Statistics Great Britain of 45

44 Appendix D: What is Ecological Footprint analysis? Co originated in the early 1990 s by Professor William Rees and Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, Ecological Footprint analysis 20 has rapidly taken hold and is now in common use in many countries at national and local levels; for example, the UK, Mexico, the United States, Canada, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Spain and Australia. The Ecological Footprint of a region or community can be said to be the bioproductive area (land and sea) that would be required to sustainably maintain current consumption, using prevailing technology. More recently Ecological Footprint studies of organisations and processes have become more popular indicators of sustainability. Take only pictures leave only footprints It is important to note that Ecological Footprint analysis is a snapshot methodology. It tells us how much bioproductive area would be required based on a specific data set it does not attempt to predict future or past impacts. It is likely that, due to technology changes and variations in material flows into the economy, the Ecological Footprint will change over time. In the period which data is recorded some of the input flow of materials will stay in the organisation, as stock, and some will flow out as waste. In both cases these materials were considered to have been consumed. For the purposes of the Ecological Footprint calculation, land and sea area are divided into four basic types; bioproductive land, bioproductive sea, energy land (forested land and sea area required for the absorption of carbon emissions) and built land (buildings, roads etc.). A fifth type refers to the area of land and water that would need to be set aside to preserve biodiversity (see Figure A). Figure A: Land types used for Ecological Footprint analysis Example 1: Example 2: A cooked meal of fish and rice would require bioproductive land for the rice, bioproductive sea for the fish, and forested 'energy' land to re absorb the carbon emitted during the processing and cooking. Driving a car requires built land for roads, parking, and so on, as well as a large amount of forested 'energy' land to re absorb the carbon emissions from petrol use. In addition, energy and materials are used for construction and maintenance. 20 Those wishing to go beyond the outline given in this report are recommended to read Sharing Nature's Interest by Chambers, Simmons and Wackernagel, 2000, 44 of 45