IT is to blame for rising carbon emissions
An investigation has revealed that the government is not likely to hit its carbon neutral target in 2012 because of its increased use of IT and electronic equipment.

In a recent study from the National Audit Office (NAO), it has been revealed that it is highly unlikely the government will meet its 2012 target of being carbon neutral because of its increased use of IT equipment. The NAO's investigators, Eric Lewis and Gill Proaktor, said: "Only five out of 21 government departments have met or are making progress against their carbon reduction target. However, four of these five have done so only because of significant reductions in their estate area. The remaining 16 departments, including all the largest, have recorded increases in emissions.

"While gas consumption across the entire estate has declined by 9.5 per cent since the baseline year, electricity consumption has increased by over 12 per cent...due mainly to the growth in the use of IT-related equipment."

The investigation was made at the request of the Environmental Audit Committee. They had made their own investigation, but it has been alleged that they were baffled by the contradictory data they were sent by government departments. Amidst their initial investigation, it was also discovered that the government still has no way consistent way to measure its own energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Departments highlighted by the investigation for being particularly bad for emissions included the Department for Transport (DfT), the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The DfT's emissions increased by 50 per cent between 2003 and 2006; the DCA saw its emissions increase by 66 per cent between 2000 and 2006; and the DWP, the second-biggest consumer of energy in the civil estate, increased its emissions by 14 per cent between 2000 and 2006.

Since the Ministry of Defence (MoD) consumes more energy and produces more emissions than all other government departments put together, the apparent cuts it had achieved made the entire government look good. But, the NAO discovered that its cuts had been achieved by selling off large chunks of its estate, principally through the privatisation of QinetiQ, the former defence research agency. It failed to adjust its energy consumption and carbon-emission figures to take account of its reduced size.

Once the MoD was excluded, said the NAO report, "carbon emissions from civil departments rose 12 per cent against the baseline of 1990".

The only government agency or department on track to meet emissions reductions and energy efficiency targets was the Food Standards Agency.

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=4822&topic=e-government

Click here to find out how Civica Connect can help you to reduce your carbon footprint