§ Mr. Roger WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what targets his Department has for improving energy efficiency; and how he intends to achieve these targets. [116655]
§ Mr. RammellThe FCO is party to the Whitehall wide target of reducing (weather-corrected) CO2 emissions from buildings on the Government estate by 1 per cent. per annum relative to the base-year 1999–2000. To date, we have met this target through the purchase of green electricity exempt from the climate change levy and by a small reduction in consumption through closer building temperature control. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will agree new targets for 2010, based on benchmarking the performance of individual buildings where possible, by the end of this year.
We have recently reviewed energy consumption across our estate. As a result, we now intend to set further specific efficiency targets which we aim to achieve by upgrading building facilities, using more energy efficient equipment, staff awareness campaigns and improved monitoring.