DVSA sustainability strategy
Published 12 March 2024
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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What sustainability means for DVSA
Sustainability means different things to different people and organisations.
In a global context, it’s framed by international initiatives like the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the combined international effort to tackle the climate emergency.
Being a government agency, we also have a responsibility to contribute to the sustainability ambitions of the UK at a transport sector and national level. This strategy is our interpretation of these broader frameworks and drivers, which sets out our sustainability ambitions and commitments in a way that is personal to DVSA and what we do as an organisation.
We are committed to achieving the UK Government’s Net Zero Carbon target by 2050, and measures to decarbonise over the next 25 years. We’re incorporating carbon reduction and net zero capability into the decision making processes of our business. This highlights our level of commitment and ambition to making a real difference.
Terms we use in this document
‘Carbon’ refers to the carbon dioxide equivalent of the 7 greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
‘Net zero’ means that the greenhouse gases we produce as a business and those that we remove from the atmosphere balance out to zero.
It’s important that DVSA uses its position in society to contribute to delivering government’s goals with regard to social, environmental and climate change. Transport has an impact on the environment and on people, and as an organisation fundamental to the UK transport sector, we have an opportunity and an obligation to minimise the negative and maximise the positive impacts of our activities.
We want to be a sustainable and responsible executive agency of government. For us, this means positively contributing to UK sustainable development whilst continually evolving and improving to ensure the organisation is relevant now and in the future, for our colleagues, stakeholders and customers.
Why we’re doing it
We have developed our sustainability strategy to help us deliver our vision of keeping Britain moving, safely and sustainably.
What we are not trying to achieve from this strategy is to create an ‘add on’ or a box to tick. We want this strategy to be an integral part of the way we do business, to enable us to make better business decisions and achieve safer and more sustainable roads.
That’s why we’ve developed our sustainability strategy to align with our core business plans and visions.
Currently, the sustainability strategy is separate to the DVSA vision to 2030 and DVSA strategic plan to 2025. However, the documents are on a converging path, with the aim that in the future, our sustainability targets and plans are completely embedded into business operations.
We're passionate about achieving sustainability gains, future-proofing the delivery of our services whilst reducing our consumption and waste and reaching net zero carbon.
The strategy will help us to play our role in delivering a number of national and international targets and ambitions, but we want our strategy to do more than this.
How we developed this strategy
Our strategy is our response to the most important challenges that we’re facing as a country and the planet.
Our approach in developing the strategy has been shaped by the global trends that are having, or could have, a significant impact on our business model. There are likely to be significant changes in the world we live in even within the timeframe of this strategy.
Addressing climate change, improving biodiversity and utilising innovation in technology and the use of data will challenge how we deliver our services and also provide opportunities to adapt what we do.
What our strategy will do
Our sustainability strategy will help us to meet the targets within the 2025 Greening Government Commitments (GGCs). The Greening Government Commitments framework sets the targets that UK government departments need to reach in the period 2021 to 2025 to reduce their impacts on the environment, in line with the 25 Year Environment Plan and Environmental Principles Duty.
Our strategy also sets out our plans for rapidly reducing our carbon emissions. In 2019, the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. The target requires the UK to reduce all carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
People are critical for delivery of our operations, from our colleagues across the country that help keep us safe on the roads, to the communities in which we serve and work. It’s therefore crucial for us to place just as much importance on the social community, people, and governance aspects of sustainability, as the environmental aspects.
What we’re already doing
Delivering on sustainability is not new for us, and we have a strong foundation on which to build.
As an executive agency of the Department for Transport (DfT), we have been working towards a range of central government and DfT sustainability targets. For example, the Greening Government Commitments require DfT to reduce overall greenhouse gases by 62% and direct greenhouse gases by 19%, from a 2017 to 2018 baseline, whilst the Government Buying Standards require government organisations to procure zero emissions vehicles by 2027.
We’re incorporating carbon reduction and net zero capability into the decision-making processes of our business. We continue to seek opportunities to make investments which reduce greenhouse gas emissions and realise savings in the long term.
As a road safety organisation, we recognise that we have an opportunity and an obligation to be a responsible organisation and employer, and to contribute to sustainability in the UK. We’re proud of our contribution so far.
We have already:
- increased our on-site renewable electricity generation by 430% (126 kWp) by installing solar panels at our Chadderton, Burton-on-Trent and Enfield sites
- replaced the gas heating at Burton-on-Trent and Enfield test centres with electric air source heat pump systems
- achieved the 2022 Government Fleet Commitment, converting 25% of our fleet to Ultra Low Emission Vehicles
- reduced our travel carbon emissions by 27%
- ensured our 4,700 colleagues have completed dignity at work training
- trained 63 mental health first aiders
- trained 500 colleagues in mental health awareness
- given everyone across the business a laptop to allow them to work flexibly
- created accessible theory test video clips
- allowed all of our permanent colleagues to use 3 days per year to volunteer
What we’re doing next
We have 5 sustainability priorities to help shape and focus our efforts up to 2030.
Our priorities are:
- sustainable road use
- sustainable service delivery
- sustainable estates
- sustainable partners and suppliers
- sustainable communities
For each of these 5 priorities we have set out our 2030 ambitions and our strategic plans up to 2025.
Our plans to 2025 align with the Greening Government Commitments and DVSA’s strategic plan to 2025 and aim to generate momentum and short-term actions that can be assigned responsibility and completed.
The 2030 ambitions give us a forward-looking perspective to make sure the sustainability strategy is complementary to the long-term business vision. They also reflect that sustainability is a long-term issue and we need to give enough time for enabling actions to be put in place now to enable us to meet 2030 ambitions.
The commitments and ambitions are inherently interlinked and are not completely independent of each other. Therefore, our approach to achieving progress in each priority will be holistic to reflect this.
Sustainable road use
Road use is changing to a more automated and digitised way of travelling. We want to be at the forefront of this transition.
Our ambitions to 2030
We will:
- play our part in the Government Fleet Commitment by investing in decarbonisation of our car and van fleet – replacing existing hybrid and diesel vehicles with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to achieve near to zero tailpipe emissions by 31 December 2027 and significantly reduce our travel emissions
- improve air quality in connection to road use in the UK
- improve the safety and sustainability of vehicles and drivers on the road
- monitor changing vehicle and transport technology, to have a leading voice in maintaining safe and sustainable road use
Our targets to 2025
We will continue to:
- reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions and direct emissions from a 2017 to 2018 baseline – this is a total scope reduction of 33%, including fleet emissions (scope 1) reduced by 35%
- identify and take action against vehicle emissions cheating
- contribute to UK road safety through our enforcement transformation programme
- take all the measures we can to reduce car practical driving test waiting times - this will contribute to safe and sustainable road use
- improve our own safety checks for driving at work
- develop future visions for how in-service compliance and driving services need to change and develop - in particular as partially or wholly autonomous vehicles come into service
Sustainable service delivery
It’s critical for us to maintain a diverse, skilled workforce and a financially sustainable organisation.
Our ambitions to 2030
We will:
- be proactive in identifying new ways to deliver our services. Projects are underway to further explore the alternatives to our current fixed driving test centre estate: the flexible test delivery service (FTDS) and automated route generation initiatives. These, supported by the new driver services platform project, will help us to reduce our future reliance on the use of fixed driving test centres, while improving our service offering to our customers
- make our work arrangements more flexible and be adaptable to different working styles
- be recognised as an inclusive employer who supports our workforce in improving health and wellbeing
- train and develop existing and potential staff, and take a long term view on recruitment and retention
Our targets to 2025
We will:
- improve the mental and physical wellbeing of our staff
- implement diversity and inclusion plans and become more representative of the communities we serve
- continue to focus on driving bullying and harassment out of DVSA by ensuring all staff are aware of what unacceptable behaviours are and what their role is in tackling them
- encourage personal and professional development and career progression through the capability and pay framework to ensure we have all the skills required in this field
Sustainable estates
We want to play our part in tackling climate change and the biodiversity crisis by reducing our estate and becoming more efficient. We will only invest in sustainability measures for our existing estate where it represents good value for money, and where we know that there is a strong strategic case for retention of that site for the long term.
Our ambitions to 2030
We will:
- reduce energy use and carbon emissions associated with our estate to support us in reaching our net zero target and operating more efficiently
- continue to explore options to consolidate our estate and invest in modernisation and decarbonisation measures at sites we intend to retain. This includes exploring options to deliver our services in a way that does not rely on an extensive fixed estate. These measures will improve our working environments and enable further performance gains against the Greening Government Commitments
- minimise water use and waste sent to landfill on our estates
- maximise biodiversity and climate resilience on our estates and through our operations
- reduce environmental impacts from ICT and digital
Our targets to 2025
We will:
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 79% and fossil fuels by 6% from a 2017 to 2018 baseline
- reduce the overall amount of waste generated by 15% from the 2017 to 2018 baseline
- reduce water consumption by at least 8% from the 2017 to 2018 baseline
- support the government’s commitment to improve nature and develop and deliver nature recovery plans for our land, estates and operations
- develop an organisational climate change adaptation strategy across estates and operations
- reduce environmental impacts from ICT and digital
Sustainable partners and suppliers
To meet our legal obligations, we need to embed sustainability into procurement and collaborate with our partners and suppliers to enable them to contribute to sustainability.
Our ambitions to 2030
We will:
- collaborate with our key partners to harness opportunities to share and learn from others to improve our sustainability together
- embed sustainability into our decision-making when choosing our partners and suppliers and reviewing contracts in accordance with HM Treasury guidance – this will allow us to reduce the impact of the products and services we buy
Our targets to 2025
We will:
- encourage our key partners to apply good practice in energy and resource use, carbon emissions, waste management and health and safety
- continue to buy more sustainable and efficient products and services with the aim of achieving the best long-term, overall value for money for society
Sustainable communities
We want to positively contribute to people’s lives in the areas that we work and support businesses and communities.
Our ambitions to 2030
We will:
- enable and support people to develop their skills, through practical and vocational training and career opportunities
- be actively involved in community improvement schemes in the communities we live and work in
- support small businesses and provide the community with convenient and accessible services
Our targets to 2025
We will:
- continue to build on our award-winning apprenticeship programme supporting colleagues to acquire new knowledge and skills through the completion of nationally recognised qualifications
- encourage our staff to be actively involved in local community improvement schemes
- work towards well maintained, fit for purpose buildings located in the right place to support efficient and effective services
Our plans
To meet our ambitions and targets, particularly the Greening Government Commitments, we have developed plans for:
- waste
- nature recovery
- climate adaptation
- zero emission vehicles
These plans provide a further breakdown of the targets and sub targets to meet the commitments with key performance indictors (KPIs) to track them, along with actions, initiatives and milestones to support the targets. The KPIs and actions have identified owners to ensure we do not lose sight of what we have to achieve.
These plans are only for those areas in direct support of the Greening Government Commitments but we have identified further targets, along with actions to support all the priorities within this strategy. Many of these are already or will become embedded within the DVSA strategic plan to 2025. Where targets or actions are not clearly part of the strategic plan to 2025, we will track them through a sustainability initiatives tracker.
Our targets
We already report our scope 1 and 2 emissions to DfT, which has set our 2025 targets as part of the Greening Government Commitments. The trajectory below shows that we’ll have to continue to be ambitious after 2025 to meet our net zero target.
| 2017 to 2018 baseline (tCO2e) | 2024 to 2025 target (tCO2e) | |
|---|---|---|
| Estate fossil fuel (scope 1) | 1,798 | 1,690 |
| Estate electricity (scope 2) | 3,110 | 645 |
| Fleet | 920 | 594 |
| Other business travel | 3,912 | 3,586 |
| Year | Estate fossil fuel (scope 1) | Estate electricity (scope 2) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 baseline | 1,798 | 3,110 | 4,908 |
| 2025 target | 1,690 | 645 | 2,335 |
| 2050 net-zero | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Year | Fleet | Other business travel | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 baseline | 920 | 3,912 | 4,832 |
| 2025 target | 594 | 3,586 | 4,180 |
| 2050 net-zero | 0 | 0 | 0 |
How we will support our strategy
Effective governance will support the success of this strategy and the supporting plans.
Governance will be enabled via 4 main components:
- sustainability steering group reporting into the Executive Committee
- embedding actions and initiatives within existing DVSA governance activities for the business plan and strategic plan to 2025 where possible, ensuring clear responsibility for key performance indicators and creating a sustainability tracker
- ensuring sustainability is embedded within business processes
- reporting on our progress in an honest and transparent way externally through our annual report and accounts as well as internally
Sustainability steering group
This steering group will:
- promote leadership on sustainable development
- manage implementation of sustainability actions and initiatives (focusing on those within the sustainability tracker rather than those that are already within the business plan)
- report to the Executive Committee on sustainability KPIs
- intervene and help to remove barriers to implementing initiatives
- build a sense of common ownership and shared responsibility across DVSA
The strategy and enabling plans cut across multiple directorates and teams, so strong leadership and an ethos of collaboration and willingness to change is required.
The steering group will meet 3 times per year and will ensure the implementation of the strategy is on track.
Embedding and implementing sustainability within our strategic plan to 2025 and vision to 2030
Where the sustainability initiatives fall within the wider DVSA strategic plan to 2025, we’ll embed these within the reporting mechanisms for those plans, with responsibility for delivery being the operational directorates.
We’ll seek to include the achievement of actions and KPIs within responsible owners’ annual performance goals and objectives.
Where the targets, KPIs, initiatives and actions are not clearly aligned to a service plan, for example where they relate to an enabling business function rather than a DVSA service, they will be managed via the sustainability tracker and steering group. The tracker has the targets, KPIs and actions with responsible owners.
Business processes
We have begun to update many of our business processes to ensure sustainability is at the heart of how we operate and how we interact with our value chain.
For example, our business change process has been updated so that a change is assessed for how it delivers against social value and sustainability. This supports achieving the best sustainability outcomes in projects and change decisions.
We have updated our procurement processes in line with government procurement policy to ensure that social value and carbon net zero have a prominent place in our tender evaluation.
We’ll also be developing questions and evaluation criteria for each sustainability priority area to go in the tender evaluation process.
Reporting
We will externally report on our performance against our KPIs annually via the DVSA annual report and accounts. This information will be available on our website, demonstrating transparency.
We will report our KPI performance internally to the Executive Committee and will regularly share updates across our colleagues to provide motivation and promote a culture of change.
We will also report on sustainability KPIs and initiatives in the DVSA annual review.