CABE commissions an environmental footprint for the first time

CABE is facing up to its own environmental impact with the first fully-comprehensive carbon and ecological footprints commissioned by a non-departmental public body.

CABE is facing up to its own environmental impact with the first fully-comprehensive carbon and ecological footprints commissioned by a non-departmental public body. The findings are being launched at the THINK 2007 conference in London on 3 May.

CABE's carbon footprint is 503 tonnes a year, or 4.6 tonnes per person. CABE's ecological footprint, measuring impacts on other people as well as on the planet, totals 227 global hectares a year, or 2.3 global hectares per person. A sustainable 'earthshare' is much lower, at between 1.7 and 1.8 hectares.

CABE employs 100 staff occupying one floor of a 1960s office block in central London.

CABE chief executive Richard Simmons said:

'Our consultants say that we are average for the UK. We never like being average, but in this case it gives real cause for concern. Carbon emissions have to be stabilised worldwide at between one and two tonnes per person by 2030, and our audit shows we generate more than that, just by commuting and working. We want to share the learning from our efforts to reduce this footprint.'

CABE has calculated its ecological footprint as well as its carbon footprint because it believes sustainable development is about more than the issues of carbon and climate change.

An ecological footprint measures how your lifestyle impacts not only on the planet but also on other people. It is measured in global hectares because it calculates how much productive land and sea is needed for food and to provide all the energy, water and materials used. It also calculates the emissions generated from the oil, coal and gas burnt, and how much land is required to absorb the waste generated. A carbon footprint measures the carbon emissions associated with activities including travel, water, electricity and oil use, direct land use, office catering and waste production.

CABE's impact from direct energy and water use is less per staff member than comparable organisations, and how CABE staff travel to work is exemplary. The largest negative impact came from office materials and waste, business travel, office electricity use and publications. Air travel makes up 15 per cent of CABE's ecological footprint and 19 per cent of its carbon emissions. CABE's publications contributed 9 per cent of its carbon emissions but 14 per cent of its ecological footprint.

The footprinting is part of a sustainability audit which CABE commissioned into the building that it works in and the resources, goods and services that it consumes; the wider activities of those it works closely with, and the contractors and service providers it spends its money on. Undertaken in the nine months to March 2007 by consultancy Beyond Green and footprinting experts Best Foot Forward, the audit also looked at how, as the government's advisor, CABE should reduce the contribution of the built environment to climate change.

CABE is now looking at practical ways to significantly reduce its carbon and ecological footprints. A detailed plan of action will be published this summer.