Policy paper

Greening government commitments 2021 to 2025

Updated 15 December 2022

The greening government commitments (GGCs) set out the actions UK government departments and their partner organisations will take to reduce their impacts on the environment. This target framework is set for the period between April 2021 to March 2025.

The commitments apply to the office and non-office estate of central government departments and their executive agencies (EAs), non-ministerial departments (NMDs) and executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), unless specifically exempted.

With the exception of greenhouse gas emissions, the targets are aggregate central government targets and not bespoke minimum performance targets for individual departments. They should, nonetheless, act as a guide for departments to work to.

This framework supersedes the greening government commitments framework for 2016 to 2020.

Key changes to the GGCs compared to 2016 to 2020 are:

• changing the target baseline year from 2009 to 2010 to 2017 to 2018, to more accurately reflect the current government estate and ensure government builds on the progress it has already achieved since 2009 to 2010
• setting more stretching targets on the core areas of emissions, water, waste and domestic flights, and introducing new measures on biodiversity, climate adaptation and food waste
• integrating the transparent reporting requirements into the core GGC targets for biodiversity and climate adaptation
• reorganising the targets into headline commitments and sub-commitments, so that departments can commit to common overall objectives, with sub-commitments which contribute to the overall aims

We may need to review the GGCs target framework before 2025. This is to ensure targets remain ambitious if people continue to work from home more frequently, or if office use and commuter and travel plans change significantly, as a result of ongoing changes arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

A: Mitigating climate change: working towards net zero by 2050

Headline target:

Reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions from a 2017 to 2018 baseline and also reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions from estate and operations from a 2017 to 2018 baseline (set by BEIS in agreement with individual departments – see table in annex A for details of individual targets).

Sub-targets:

1. Meet the government fleet commitment for 25% of the government car fleet to be ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV) by 31 December 2022, and for 100% of the government car and van fleet to be fully zero emissions at the tailpipe by 31 December 2027.
2. Reduce the emissions from domestic business flights by at least 30% from a 2017 to 2018 baseline, and report the distance travelled by international business flights, with a view to better understanding and reducing related emissions where possible.
3. Departments that already have policies in place to compensate for emissions are encouraged to report on their implementation.
4. Update organisational travel policies so that they require lower carbon options to be considered first as an alternative to each planned flight.

B: Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency

Headline target:

Reduce the overall amount of waste generated by 15% from the 2017 to 2018 baseline.

Sub-targets:

1. Reduce the amount of waste going to landfill to less than 5% of overall waste.
2. Increase the proportion of waste which is recycled to at least 70% of overall waste.
3. Remove consumer single use plastic (CSUP) from the central government office estate.
4. Measure and report on food waste by 2022, for estates with over 50 FTE (full time equivalent staff) and or over 500m2 floor area offering a food service.
5. Report on the introduction and implementation of reuse schemes.
6. Reduce government’s paper use by at least 50% from a 2017 to 2018 baseline.

C: Reducing our water use

Headline target:

Reduce water consumption by at least 8% from the 2017 to 2018 baseline.

Sub-targets:

1. Ensure all water consumption is measured.
2. Provide a qualitative assessment to show what is being done to encourage the efficient use of water.

D: Procuring sustainable products and services

Headline commitment:

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.

Departments will report on the systems they have in place and the action taken to buy sustainably, including to:

• embed compliance with the Government Buying Standards in departmental and centralised procurement contracts, within the context of government’s overarching priorities of value for money and streamlining procurement processes
• understand and reduce supply chain impacts and risks

This reporting should set out achievements and cover departmental use of tools such as:

• the prioritisation tool, to help them identify and address their most important areas
• the flexible framework tool, which enables them to measure and monitor their progress on sustainable procurement over time (or other equivalent tools)

This sustainable procurement commitment is a continuation of the requirement for the 2016 to 2020 commitments. The commitment is awaiting review and government will update the procurement commitment and target within the 2021 to 2025 period to include a renewed focus on global impacts and government priorities to address sustainability.

The review will take into account the work that BEIS, Cabinet Office and other government departments are leading on to ensure government procurement is aligned with addressing our net zero commitments, and work delivering the recommendations of the Global Resource Initiative (which is tackling deforestation in government procurement supply chains specifically for food and agricultural commodity procurement).

E: Nature recovery – making space for thriving plants and wildlife

Headline commitment:

Departments and partner organisations with the greatest potential to improve biodiversity should develop and deliver nature recovery plans for their land, estates, development, and operations.

All other departments and partner organisations should consider what they can do to support the government’s commitment to improve nature and develop and deliver nature recovery plans for their organisations, where suitable.

By developing and delivering a nature recovery plan, a department or partner organisation will show that it has:

• identified and taken opportunities to integrate biodiversity considerations into all relevant service areas and functions, and ensured that biodiversity is protected and enhanced in line with current statutory obligations at a minimum
• recognised the potential of, and taken action to deploy nature-based solutions, including to mitigate their own and the country’s carbon emissions
• raised awareness of staff and managers about biodiversity issues
• demonstrated a commitment and contribution to reporting against their nature recovery plans as part of the GGCs, and where appropriate, demonstrated progress against key biodiversity indicators and targets

All nature recovery plans should include a specified commitment, where relevant, to:

• protecting and enhancing (ideally expressed through increased hectarage or percentage of land holdings):
  • tree planting and woodland cover
  • total peatland owned and leased
  • pollinator-friendly habitat
  • land as a contribution to the nature recovery network and in addition, where possible, as a contribution to government’s commitment to protect 30% of land by 2030 (30x30)
  • all protected sites under their management
• biodiversity considerations in development projects or programmes

All nature recovery plans will, at a minimum, seek to align with requirements set out in the current Environment Bill and could go further.

F: Adapting to climate change

Headline commitment:

Develop an organisational climate change adaptation strategy across estates and operations. This headline commitment is broken down into 2 parts:

• departments should conduct a climate change risk assessment across their estates and operations to better understand risk and to target areas that need greater resilience
• departments should develop a climate change adaptation action plan, including existing or planned actions in response to the risks identified

Departments should develop a strategy as most appropriate to the size and diversity of their estates and operations and their existing approach to adaptation.

Sub-targets:

1. Accountability – departments should establish clear lines of accountability for climate adaptation in estates and operations and engage in wider governance and risk structures when appropriate.
2. Transparent reporting – in their annual report and accounts, departments should provide a summary of how they are developing and implementing a climate change adaptation strategy for their department. Departments may wish to give a high-level statement and describe specific actions they are undertaking where appropriate.

G: Reducing environmental impacts from information communication technology (ICT) and digital

Headline commitment:

Departments should report on the adoption of the greening government: ICT and digital services strategy and associated targets and ensure they provide membership to the sustainable technology advice and reporting team, who manage and deliver the GGCs ICT reporting.

In summary, this will include delivering an annual ICT and digital footprint, waste and best practice data for each department and their partner organisations.

Annex A: table of individual departmental emissions targets

Department	Overall emission reduction target	Direct emission reduction target
Attorney General’s Office (AGO)	49%	25%
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)	62%	30%
Cabinet Office (CO)	52%	20%
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)	58%	33%
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)	50%	15%
Department for Education (DFE)	56%	36%
Department for Transport (DFT)	62%	19%
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)	44%	20%
Department for International Trade (DIT)	48%	20%
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)	45%	17%
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)	56%	30%
Food Standards Agency (FSA)	27%	21%
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)	60%	40%
HM Treasury/UK Export Finance (HMT/UKEF)	69%	25%
Home Office (HO)	44%	25%
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)	47%	25%
Ministry of Defence (MOD)	30%	10%
Ministry of Justice (MOJ)	41%	23%
National Crime Agency (NCA)	43%	15%
Office for National Statistics (ONS)	38%	43%

Guidance on direct greenhouse gas emissions target under the GGCs is that:

• this target comprises direct emissions from estate and operations – this includes emissions arising from fuel use and fugitive emissions across the estate and on sites
• this target does not include transport emissions or emissions arising from grid electricity use – these are still captured under the overall emissions target under the GGCs

Existing guidance on overall greenhouse gas emissions reduction for 2016 to 2020 is available for reference.