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Carbon Emissions

Volume 448: debated on Monday 3 July 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate he has made of the carbon emissions of his Department; what commitment he has made to reducing such emissions; and if he will make a statement. (81063)

2004-05 carbon emissions from energy use in Ministry of Defence buildings and facilities on the defence estate were 2 per cent. below the 1999-2000 baseline level. Equivalent figures for 2005-06 are not yet available. However, they will be published in the MOD’s Sustainable Development in Government Report 2005-06, a copy of which will be placed in the Library of the House.

More widely, this Department supports and was closely involved with the development of the targets in the new Framework for Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate, announced by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 12 June 2006. These targets include achieving carbon neutrality on the Government office estate by 2012 and a reduction in carbon emissions from our office-based estate of 30 per cent. by 2020.