This weekend, negotiators from across the world will be concluding the latest set of climate change talks in Lima.  We wish them well as they seek to lay the foundations for a fair, ambitious and binding deal at next year's crucial summit in Paris.   There is huge support for a shift to a low Carbon future and the UK even has legal targets to achieve this.  The RSPB has also been playing its part as the business tries to wean itself off fossil fuels.  Here, Sarah Alsbury, our Environmental Manager, highlights the progress that we have made over the past few year.  This is not easy stuff and we are by no means perfect, but it is symptomatic of what society needs to achieve if we are to stop catastrophic climate change and I thought it would be good to share our experiences here.  

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Nature is in trouble because of the way we humans do business.

The RSPB is a force for positive environmental change - fighting battles for wildlife on many fronts and inspiring others to do their bit. To do this amazing work, we have to travel, use energy, and buy things. Inevitably these have negative impacts.  And we don’t want those. We can’t do everything and we can’t magically make the things we need to do our jobs “environmentally friendly” but we are taking action.

The RSPB has had a greening programme since the 1990s, which included many innovative projects such as RSPB Energy (an early green energy supply scheme), promoting peat-free compost, a solar panel package for members and our new visitor centre at Rainham Marshes, Essex with its award-winning BREEAM sustainable design. We knew then it was not enough, and we have increased our commitment.

The RSPB is now working to an environmental management system with 5 objectives, covering carbon & renewable energy, legal compliance, waste, water and purchasing of tropical commodities. I’m going to cover the work we’ve doing to reduce our carbon emissions, which has grown as the threat of climate change has become clearer and more urgent.

In 2006, we set up a carbon budget system for our travel and energy use in buildings with 2007/08 as our baseline year. We set ourselves the target of a three per cent reduction per staff member each year, which we have achieved. Indeed in 2013/14, we produced 150 tonnes less of CO2e from travel and energy use in buildings compared with our 2007/8 baseline, despite having taken on an additional 340 staff.

Solar or photovoltaic panels being installed at Old Hall Marshes. Photo by Andy Hay (www.rspb-images.com)

This is due to the dedication of staff putting thought into how not to travel in the first place and to travel in a different way e.g. switching to trains rather than planes for short haul destinations and using smaller, more efficient fleet vehicles. In addition, we have installed voltage optimisers at our Headquarters in Sandy and other sites, video conferencing facilities, upgraded our PCs to save at least seven percent on energy and have three electric cars. We put in more energy efficient computers servers and double glazing and renewable energy systems on many sites.

In 2010 we expanded our carbon budget to bring in other areas, such as our magazines and distribution of our retail goods. Absolute emissions including the travel and building energy use decreased by 500 tonnes between 2010/11 and 2013/14 with switching to a more efficient warehousing business and reducing the size of our magazine also making a difference. It just shows that sometimes savings are very simple to do. 

However, having done the (relatively) easy stuff, we know we need to look harder for savings. We plan to invest further in energy efficiency and renewable energy across our estate. Smart meters have now been fitted to 50 of our higher energy-using workplaces. With this data we can identify savings straight away by quickly spotting when things aren’t right and identify the workplaces, which offer the greatest opportunities for savings. 

To maximize the savings opportunities from energy conservation in our buildings we will assess energy conservation opportunities at our larger workplaces. Digital Energy will complete an overview of our estate in the next few months and then go on to do more detailed site assessments.

The energy efficiency work identified through this process will be funded by our Energy Pot, established in November 2013 to bring a greater focus on energy efficiency. It is funding projects to improve the energy efficiency of our buildings e.g. installing LED security lights at our Headquarters. The estimated financial savings and/or income are added back into the Pot so that the amount of money available for investment in further schemes increases every year.

As well as our carbon reduction objective, we have a target in our corporate strategy Saving Nature that “By 2015, renewable energy projects installed or in the planning process will be sufficient to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use in buildings and offices by 50%, which should be achieved by 2020.”

Working with Ecotricity, we have planning permission for a wind turbine, which will produce an estimated 2.36 million kWh/annum and reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by around 1,000 tonnes. We will use as much electricity as we can on site and the turbine will make an important contribution to our renewable energy target. However, it is not enough by itself as much of the electricity will be exported.  So we know that we will miss our target. The target is there to galvanise action and missing it has certainly galvanised action, as it should.

In order to address the shortfall on the Renewable Energy target, we have earmarked £417,000 for renewable energy installations. This money has come from a partnership with SSE and it was agreed that we would ring-fence it for energy projects. We already have a long list of exciting projects we would like to do and we are pulling them together into a prioritized programme. In addition, we have commissioned  a report to identify opportunities for additional renewable energy installations on our land. 

These actions will ensure that we do achieve our target and make an important contribution to the battle against climate change. The great thing is that they also make us more efficient, so more of our income can go to saving energy, saving nature and not paying bills. 

Green house Gas Emissions from 1st April 2013 to 31st March 2014 in tCO2e
Scope 1: Natural Gas
572
Scope 1: Fleet cars
622
Scope 1: Fuel use on reserves
387
Sub-total
1,581
 
 
Scope 2: Electricity
1,338
Sub-total
1,338
 
 
Scope 3: Transmission & Distribution of electricity
114
Scope 3: Transmission & Distribution of gas
87
Scope 3: Travel
2336
Scope 3: Contractors on reserves
218
Scope 3: Waste
11
Scope 3: Water supply & treatment
19
Scope 3: Pallets & parcels
368
Scope 3: Warehouse & CC
191
Scope 3: Magazines
1170
Sub-total
4,513
 
 
Total Gross emissions
7,431
 
 
Intensity ratio - tCO2e per staff member
3.43
 
Table 2: Absolute carbon emissions (tonnes CO2e*)
 

Baseline
 
 
 
 
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
 
 
Travel
2,684
2,946
2,848
2,958
 
 
Energy buildings
2,392
2,229
2,110
2,111
 
 
Main publications
1,624
1,624
1,488
1,170
 Resources
 
Water use
19
17
14
19
Parcels and pallets movement
76
76
264
368
Warehouse & Call centre
268
268
151
191
Waste disposal
25
9
9
11
Sub-total
387
370
438
588
 
 
Fuel on reserves
Own machinery
644
626
624
387
Reserve contractors (estimate)
218
218
218
218
Sub-total
862
844
842
605
 
 
Total
7,950
8,013
7,726
7,431

Figures in blue are estimated or include some estimated data

* CO2e – carbon dioxide equivalent e.g. methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide

  • Dear Sarah,

    Isn't there a huge opportunity for RSPB in material produced from management ? So many habitats - woodland, heathland, reedbed, depend on vigorous management to prevent them moving up the successional scale and losing their special birds. Traditionally, that has been a huge cost, but most of what is produced has the potential to become low carbon fuel - logs, woodchip, pelleted reeds. I wonder whether RSPB could actually become carbon neutral ? and whether woodland and heathland management at the Lodge itself could have a big impact on energy use in the less efficient older buildings. A nice conservation grade log fire in the CEOs' office ?!