A Carbon Audit and Ecological Footprint of OFCOM
November 2007 Best Foot Forward Ltd. The Future Centre, 115 Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RQ E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.bestfootforward.com Tel: 01865 250818 Fax: 01865 794586 Company Registration 3409491
A Carbon Audit and Ecological Footprint of OFCOM Commissioned by OFCOM Prepared by Xana Villa Garcia Best Foot Forward Ltd. November 2007 Checked: Danny Chivers 15‐10‐07
Claire Stentiford 16‐10‐07
Gregor Pecnik 16‐05‐08
Comments incorporated: 26.10.07, 15.11.07, 20.11.07 Annexes incorporated: 12.05.08 Corporate Stepwise™, Regional Stepwise™ and Personal Stepwise™ are trademarks of Best Foot Forward, Oxford, United Kingdom. 2 of 45 A Carbon Audit and Ecological Footprint of OFCOM © Best Foot Forward 2007
Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 4 ABOUT BEST FOOT FORWARD ...................................................................................................... 5 DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT........................................................................................................ 6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................... 6 TOTAL CO2 EMISSIONS AND ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: OFCOM ...................................................... 7 BENCHMARKING ......................................................................................................................... 9 THE TRANSPORT FOOTPRINT...................................................................................................... 12 THE UTILITIES FOOTPRINT .......................................................................................................... 15 THE OFFSITE SERVERS FOOTPRINT .............................................................................................. 18 THE CAPITAL ITEMS FOOTPRINT ................................................................................................. 19 THE COMPUTING MATERIALS FOOTPRINT................................................................................... 19 THE WASTE FOOTPRINT ............................................................................................................. 20 THE PUBLICATIONS FOOTPRINT.................................................................................................. 21 THE STATIONERY FOOTPRINT ..................................................................................................... 21 THE DRINKS FOOTPRINT............................................................................................................. 23 THE FURNITURE FOOTPRINT....................................................................................................... 23 LAND USE.................................................................................................................................. 23 OFFICES FOOTPRINT................................................................................................................... 24 LONDON (RIVERSIDE HOUSE) ...................................................................................................................... 24 BALDOCK............................................................................................................................................... 25 CARDIFF ................................................................................................................................................ 26 COMPARISON BY OFFICE............................................................................................................ 27 RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................................. 28 APPENDIX A: INPUT DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS USED IN THIS STUDY............................................ 31 APPENDIX B: DATA GAP ANALYSIS.............................................................................................. 38 APPENDIX C: REVISED RESULTS (MAY 2008) ................................................................................ 42 APPENDIX D: WHAT IS ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS? ........................................................ 44
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Executive Summary This summary outlines the major components of the annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the ecological footprint of all 14 offices comprising Ofcom. See Appendix D for a detailed explanation of ecological footprinting.
The total CO2 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 CO2 and 363 gha.
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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 CO2 in 2006.
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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 CO2 in 2006.
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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 CO2 respectively. Figure 1.1 – Breakdown of the CO2 emissions attributable to Ofcom in 2006. Capital items 14% Business travel 14%
Offsite Servers 16%
Utilities 16%
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Computing materials 9% Waste 6% Publications 3% Stationery 1% Drinks 1% Furniture 1% Land Use
