Carbon Emissions

Anne Main
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when his Office began to measure its carbon emissions; what the volume of those emissions was in the last period for which figures are available; when his Office started to offset those emissions; what the cost is expected to be of offsetting his Office’s emissions; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Hain
The Carbon Trust completed an audit of the Wales Office energy usage in May 2006, showing that the volume of emissions for the year was 302 tonnes.

The Wales Office are planning to offset all carbon emissions recorded by the Carbon Trust together with our carbon footprint calculated from both air and road travel at the end of the financial year. This will be achieved using one of the companies accredited with meeting the DEFRA standards for carbon offset schemes referred to in the announcement made by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 18 January 2007. We expect to spend around £4,000 offsetting our emissions.