Paul Sutcliffe, sustainability manager at DTZ, explains the barriers to achieving the coalition’s ambitious green targets through public property. He says a fundamental shift in thinking across the public sector is needed.

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With the new coalition government determined to be the “greenest ever”, prime minister David Cameron has announced that central government carbon emissions will be cut by 10 per cent in 2010.  This is ambitious, but is it achievable?

The government plans to implement a steering group, chaired by Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary, to drive forward these reductions.  A commitment has also been made to publish real-time carbon emissions data.  These plans and targets are commendable, however quick action is needed to achieve such a significant reduction in carbon emissions over a 12 month period.

Certain quick wins can be achieved in order to help reduce emissions.  For example, improving employee and contractor awareness to ensure that equipment is turned off when not in use, the introduction of building energy teams to identify building-specific efficiencies, and a review of heating ventilation and air conditioning setups will all improve building performance.

The general consensus within the energy industry is that such strategies can add up to approximately a 10 per cent reduction.

However, the previous government had been considering energy efficiency for a number of years. Targets were already in place to reduce carbon emissions, while the introduction of Display Energy Certificates in 2008, for example, raised the profile of energy efficiency in public sector buildings.  As a result, some progress has already been made – potentially limiting the extent to which ‘quick wins’ can be relied upon to cut emissions.

To achieve the 10 per cent target, engineering and building improvement initiatives – with medium and longer-term results – will need to be considered.  Such actions include boiler optimisation, installation of energy-efficient lighting systems, and improvements to building fabric efficiency.

However, these approaches often need significant, up-front capital expenditure and are therefore unlikely to be feasible for a government that faces the biggest budget deficit for a generation.

Of course, significant public sector redundancies and property portfolio rationalisation will reduce carbon emissions in absolute terms.  However, energy saving calculations should allow for changes in government size to enable the success of emission reduction strategies to be accurately measured.

The 10 per cent target is achievable – with commitment, focus and some investment.

However, it is critical that this goal is not met artificially through simply reducing the size of the government’s estate or workforce, but is the product of a fundamental shift of both operations and attitudes within the public sector.

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