Delivering change, promoting excellence is the fifth annual national Greening Government conference, examining the progress by Central Government in promoting and achieving measures that incorporate sustainable development. The conference will consider progress on the Government’s aim to embed sustainability across UK Government policy and to lead the sustainability agenda by example, with the reform of operations and procurement through a “step change in leadership, efficiency, transparency and accountability”.

The conference will be chaired by Martin Townsend, Director of BREEAM BRE, and will focus on areas such as:

• Sustainable procurement
• Historic estate management
• Estate rationalization and refurbishment
• Behavioral change and modern working methods

Funded delegate places

A limited number of fully funded places are available at no cost for delegates from the public and third sectors. To apply for a funded place contact bookings@govtoday.co.uk with your contact details and quoting reference DPN6

More information and bookings…

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The Ministry of Defence (MOD) supported this year’s Climate Week through a number of internal events aiming to raise awareness about sustainable development and work to combat climate change across the Department. Events involved teams from locations across the department including; Westdown Camp, Northern Ireland, RAF Odiham, Service Personnel and Veteran’s Agency Norcross, Corsham, Northwood Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) and MOD Abbey Wood.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation at Abbey Wood

The event at Abbey Wood brought together teams from Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Debut (one of the Department’s Industry Partners) who organised a two day stall event to raise awareness about why climate change matters to MOD. The event demonstrated what has already been achieved to increase operational capability, whilst reducing the carbon footprint of equipment and the estate.

Climate South West Partnership stand at the Abbey Wood Climate Week event

The event at Abbey Wood also included external exhibitors including South Gloucester Council, First Great Western, Severnside Partnership, Alupro, Local Sustainable Travel Fund, First Bus, the Met office, Climate South West Partnership and Defra/Environment Agency Climate Ready team giving an opportunity to staff to discuss sustainability best practice with external organisations and learn about what it is being done by UK Government and across the South West to increase resilience against climate change.

Greening operations and procurement

MOD has been an exemplar of sustainable development for a number of years and has made good progress to “green” its operations and procurement and to help combat climate change.

Last year’s first Greening Government Commitments report identified that MOD had scored a number of successes in 2011-12 including; reducing MOD greenhouse emissions by over 11% against the baseline set in 2009-10, achieving £14.3 million savings and being on track of meeting the Government’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments of 25% by 2015.

In addition MOD is on track to deliver Climate Impacts Risk Assessments across key sites by 2015. MOD has also been working with other government departments to identify and understand the global impact of climate change and the effects on UK interests and security.

DIO Head of Policy and Sustainability, Julia Powell said:

“DIO’s priority is to support our Armed Forces as they prepare for operations, but the MOD has a duty to balance delivery of this support with measures that help to achieve Government targets that will help ensure the defence estate is resilient to climate change.

“Our efforts in Climate Week highlight the fact that MOD is making significant progress in ‘greening’ our operations and supporting important environmental goals set by the Government.”

Recognising sustainability

MOD’s efforts to become more sustainable have been recognised by this year’s Climate Week Award through a nomination for Northwood Permanent Joint Headquarters for the site’s significant accomplishments in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste and water consumption.

The Department’s annual Sanctuary and Energy Awards commend individual and team efforts to promote environmental improvement, conserve energy and cut carbon emissions, benefit wildlife, heritage, and raise awareness of sustainable development on MOD land in the UK and overseas.

Further reading

• Defence Infrastructure Organisation estate and sustainable development: how the Ministry of Defence estate is adapting to climate change, including nature conservation on the estate
• Sanctuary: more about the annual Sanctuary and Energy Awards

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Developed by WRAP as part of its work for EPOW (European Pathway to Zero Waste) and supported by Defra, the innovative modules are designed to help practitioners realise the cost savings associated with implementing more sustainable practices when procuring goods and services, as well as meeting their Greening Government Commitments.

The modules contain guidance on tools to embed sustainability within an organisation’s procurement, and highlight key learning concepts and exemplar case studies that demonstrate the benefits that can be achieved through sustainable procurement.

Unlocking cost savings and reducing waste

The simple to follow and free to use online modules offer procurement practitioners the tools and knowledge to assess their own procurement processes, with a view to adopting more sustainable practices, unlocking potential cost savings through using resources more efficiently, and sending less waste to landfill.

The six modules comprise an Introduction to Sustainable Procurement module and five independent tutorials on high priority areas:

• Construction and Major Refurbishment Projects
• Furniture
• Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)
• Re-use and Remanufacturing
• Textiles

The modules include good practice procurement wording and sample contract clauses, to help users implement sustainable procurement decisions simply. They can be used as part of a work schedule and can be completed over time, rather than in one sitting.

The modules adopt the principles of Defra’s National Sustainable Public Procurement Programme, itself based on the Marrakech Task Force approach developed by WRAP and piloted in the health, higher and further education and local authorities throughout England. The interactive modules were developed in collaboration with industry and public sector procurers.

Supporting sustainable procurement

Dr Mervyn Jones, Head of Products & Materials at WRAP, outlined their work to support sustainable procurement and the further benefits expected of the new resource:

“Through EPOW, WRAP has worked directly with more than 40 public sector organisations in the south east as part of our targeted assistance programme. This has helped many to not only implement the Marrakech Approach to sustainable procurement into their policies and contracts, but also shape the behaviour of their private sector supply chains. By so doing, we’ve influenced more than 5.75 billion euros in policy spend, and almost 460 million euros-worth of contracts, in moving towards more sustainable procurement.

“WRAP developed this suite of E-learning modules to expand on this engagement work through online learning and further promote the impact sustainable procurement can have. The launch of the modules today will enable the public sector and its supply chains to increase their potential for economic, environmental and social benefits through sustainable procurement.”

European Pathway to Zero Waste

EPOW is an EU demonstration project part funded by LIFE+, the EU’s funding instrument for the Environment, and is a partnership between the Environment Agency and WRAP. The project has been set up to investigate practical ways to achieve zero waste to landfill in the South East of England. It will share the results with colleagues both in the UK and in relevant EU Member States.

Zero waste in this context is an approach to supporting the sustainable use of resources by business to benefit both the economy and the environment. It concentrates on reducing, re-using, recycling and recovering energy from waste. The project runs to March 2013.

Further reading and resources

• Sustainable procurement e-learning modules: access the resource
• European Pathway to Zero Waste: more information from the Environment Agency

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In this round-up:

• Climate Factsheets for climate change communicators and campaigners (Public Interest Research Centre)
• The Uptake of Green Public Procurement in the EU27 (Centre for European Policy Studies report to the European Commission)
• Database for Sustainable Development Policies and Measures (World Resources Institute)
• Well-being evidence for policy: A review (New Economics Foundation)
• Standards for Change? ISO 26000 and sustainable development (International Institute for Environment and Development)

Read about more recent publications and research in the latest SDRN bulletin…

Climate Factsheets for climate change communicators and campaigners

With the overarching aim of helping to responsibly inform the public about climate science, the Public Interest Research Centre has put together a set of factsheets for climate change communicators and campaigners. Covering a broad range of topics, from temperature, Arctic sea ice and flooding to species extinction, these factsheets draw on peer-reviewed studies to present the issue in question.

Each factsheet presents one of the issues in question, setting the context, summarising the background science, and addressing the common objections raised by sceptics. Sources of evidence and claims are clearly referenced throughout, and each factsheet is accompanied by the affiliation and contact details of the experts consulted.

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The Uptake of Green Public Procurement in the EU27

In 2008, the European Commission stated that by 2010, 50% of all public tendering procedures in the EU should be ‘green’.

This study, commissioned by the European Commission aims to measure whether or not this target has been met. With no standardised data on green public procurement (GPP) in Member States, the Centre for European Policy Studies and the College of Europe conducted a survey of over 850 public authorities from 26 Member States. The study finds that the 50% target has not been met, but notes an overall positive trend in the period 2009-2010, and examines evidence to support the conclusion that some form of GPP is being done at a large scale.

In an attempt to inform future GPP policy developments, the study also explores the variation in GPP uptake between countries surveyed, and asks how difficult public authorities find it to incorporate the green criteria into their procurement process.

More from EC…

Database for Sustainable Development Policies and Measures

The World Resources Institute’s Sustainable Development Policies and Measures (SD-PAMs) database is a tool which brings together policies and measures with an impact on climate change from 18 developing countries. Policies and measures can be searched by country or by policy type. The database is currently in beta testing phase, and the WRI welcomes all feedback on both the user-friendliness of the database and the accuracy of its contents.

More from WRI…

Well-being evidence for policy: A review

This report by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) aims to help translate current academic knowledge on the causes of well-being into a practical format for policy makers.

The report reviews evidence up to the end of 2011, providing an introduction to the state of current knowledge. The policy areas identified include: the economy, social relationships and community, health, the local environment, education and care. The report also explores non-policy aspects such as personal characteristics, which play an important role in understanding the factors that are important to individuals’ well-being.

NEF intend to update this review regularly to keep policymakers abreast of the academic development of well-being research.

More from NEF…

Standards for Change? ISO 26000 and sustainable development

The ISO 26000 standard provides organisations with guidance about how to implement social responsibility and contribute to sustainable development. This International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) report examines the contribution that ISO 26000 has made to sustainable development, and what its further potential could be.

The authors conclude that ISO 26000 encourages organisations to consider a far wider set of sustainable development issues than typical at present, but that there is room for improvement in other aspects of the standard, including independent certification and guidance on how to manage sustainable development issues in a more systematic way.

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In this look-ahead:

• Employee Engagement Innovation: The collision of games, social networking and sustainability
• Exposing Corporate Water Risks: WWF unveils new water tool
• What Does Demand Response Mean for your Business?
• Delivering Sustainable Energy Savings through HVAC
• What has the CRC actually done? CRC survey results
• Designing for Behaviour Change
• Identifying Social Hotspots in your Supply Chain: Practical insights
• How Can the CIPS Sustainable Procurement Review Help Build a Strong Supply Chain for the Future?

For a full calendar of what’s planned for the coming weeks in 2degrees, including many more events, see the 2degrees calendar of events.

Employee Engagement Innovation: The collision of games, social networking and sustainability

Tuesday 8th May 2012 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): Long gone are the days when small “green teams”, coffee room posters or passive intranet sites were considered the most effective way to engage employees in corporate sustainability efforts. Use this webinar to: understand the concepts used in game mechanics and social networking to make sustainability relevant and more importantly to drive an engagement level that delivers financial results, learn about the compelling business case and the challenges involved in deploying employee engagement solutions, and discover why Salesforce.com is rolling out an employee engagement solution to its 8000 employees. More from 2degrees…

Exposing Corporate Water Risks: WWF unveils new water tool

Thursday 10th May 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT) : What do you know about water risk? In business, what you don’t know can hurt you. Join this webinar to: discuss the importance of water risk for companies and investors, view a demonstration of the Water Risk Filter, a new online tool that can help assess risk for any business, anywhere, and earn how the Water Risk Filter sets itself apart from the plethora of water risk screening tools, and learn if this might be the right tool for your company. More from 2degrees…

What Does Demand Response Mean for your Business?

Tuesday 15th May 2012 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): The UK’s first trial of a system where companies are paid to turn off non-essential systems and appliances at times of peak electricity demand is under way as part of the UK’s largest smart grid project. Join this webinar to: learn more about the UK’s biggest smart grid project and how it could help the country move towards a low-carbon economy, find out how it could help customers reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions in the years to come, and hear about technologies such as demand response and how these can be applied to any business. More from 2degrees…

Delivering Sustainable Energy Savings through HVAC

Thursday 17th May 2012 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): Driven by rising energy costs and awareness, manufacturers are producing more and more energy efficient HVAC systems. However, difficulties in properly managing and controlling these systems abound. Use this webinar to: know how to diagnose where your systems may be going wrong, learn how to control your systems to optimal efficiency, and ensure full accountability for the energy consumed. More from 2degrees…

What has the CRC actually done? CRC survey results

Monday 21st May 2012 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): Global Action Plan, interested in the impact of the CRC, undertook a survey designed to gain a deeper understanding of this directly from its participants. After gathering a wealth of information, Global Action Plan is releasing the results of this survey. Use this webinar to: discuss and refine the findings so that the true impact of the CRC is understood, understand what the impact of the reputational league tables has had on participants, and Find out what actions the CRC has encouraged organizations to take. More from 2degrees…

Designing for Behavior Change

Thursday 24th May 2012 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): In our recent series of webinars on using behavior change to improve the energy efficiency of existing commercial buildings we have looked at ways that owners and property managers can engage with occupants through initiatives such as information campaigns and recognition programs. Join this webinar to learn: why behavior change is crucial to reducing building energy consumption, what strategies can be employed by designers, and hear about case studies where designers have introduced behavior change measures. More from 2degrees…

Identifying Social Hotspots in your Supply Chain: Practical insights

Wednesday 30th May 2012 3:00 p.m. (BST) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): This webinar will describe the Social Hotspots Database system and show how it can be used as part of a Social Responsibility or Social Compliance programme. Join this webinar to: learn how to collect data in order to report about full product life cycle social impacts, understand how to put corporate social responsibility initiatives in perspective with their local and sectoral context, and understand how it is possible to systematically study the potential social risks and opportunities of product supply chains at low cost and report on them quantitatively. More from 2degrees…

How Can the CIPS Sustainable Procurement Review Help Build a Strong Supply Chain for the Future?

Thursday 31st May 2012 2:00 p.m. (BST) / 9:00 a.m. (EDT): Join this webinar to understand: why sustainable procurement is important, how implementing sustainable procurement removes risk and cost and increases a company’s competitiveness, and how the CIPS Sustainable Procurement Review supports the implementation of sustainable procurement policy, process and skills. More from 2degrees…

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Over the last few months, Defra has observed increasing interest on the part of business in the potential to use sustainable public procurement to drive eco-innovation and green growth in the UK. By using sustainable public procurement to promote innovation, the UK has the potential to create market leading industries able to compete favourably across world markets while also bringing sustainability benefits to the UK.

Ensuring sustainable public purchasing

The public sector accounts for around a fifth of all purchasing power in the UK. Public bodies bought goods and services worth £251 billion in 2009-10, of which central government spending comprised £158 billion and the wider public sector (including local public bodies such as NHS trusts, schools, hospitals and local authorities) £93 billion.

The government has been working on sustainable procurement standards – the Government Buying Standards – for several years. The Greening Government commitments announced last year included a firm commitment to taking sustainable procurement further by:

“Ensuring government buys more sustainable and efficient products and engages with suppliers to understand and reduce supply chain impacts.”

Alongside the mandatory minimum element of the Government Buying Standards, Defra sets a higher best practice standard to inform procurers of the top end of the market in terms of sustainability and innovation. BIS has also taken on the challenge of using public procurement effectively, continuing to develop Forward Commitment Procurement as a tool to drive innovation.

Greening the economy

The Aldersgate Group included sustainable public procurement as one of their recommended levers for driving green growth in their recent report Greening the Economy. In his foreword to the report Dr Jonathan Frost, Green Growth Chair for the Aldersgate Group, wrote:

“To my mind it is the demand side of innovation support and particularly the use of public procurement that provides the biggest under utilised opportunity for the public sector to drive innovation for sustainability while reducing future costs.”

Working with business

Defra recently supported the Aldersgate Group in organising a round-table discussion on sustainable procurement for a range of businesses and public sector bodies to discuss how it can best contribute to green growth.

Defra’s Minister for sustainable development Lord Taylor of Holbeach opened the discussions and gave his support to this work, explaining that the Government cannot afford not to be interested in sustainable procurement:

“Unless the whole life costs of goods and services, from energy in use to water in use, as well as wider social costs like pollution and carbon emissions, are taken into account, we will not achieve value for money in a meaningful sense.

“On the other hand, it is a powerful tool to drive and support the green economy.”

Lord Taylor paid testament to the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit and capacity for innovation, and stressed the wider benefits of sustainable procurement and a green economy:

“I was at the Royal Society of the Arts to present awards to UK businesses shortlisted for the European Business Awards for the Environment. The enormous strides taken by business – from the Olympic Development Authority’s work on construction to that of small SMEs like Aquamarine Power working on wave power in Scotland – were evident. [...]

“We expect that through driving innovation, we may be able to reduce costs to government and boost revenues in the longer term.

“And in addition through influencing industry which in turn influences its supply chain we can seek to ensure that industry in the UK is low carbon and resource efficient, increasing its resilience for the future.”

Defra awaits the outcome of this meeting and further discussions within the group, and will continue to talk to industry groups to consider how its policies on sustainable procurement can be developed with these aims in mind.

In this look-ahead:

• A New Era: Supplier Management in the Low-Carbon Economy
• How Public Procurement Can Be Used To Bring Innovative, Low Carbon Technologies To Market
• The Board Buy-In: Presenting the sustainability business case to the board
• EU Timber Regulation: The road towards successful implementation
• Moving Towards Responsible Soy: RTRS Certification

For a full calendar of what’s planned for the coming weeks in 2degrees, including many more events, see the 2degrees calendar of events.

A New Era: Supplier Management in the Low-Carbon Economy

Tuesday 3rd April 2012 3:00 p.m. (GMT) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): This webinar will provide an overview of what Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain member companies are doing to manage and reduce emissions in their supply chain.

Join this webinar to learn why your company should take part in the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Supply Chain Program and understand the main drivers for action. Get an overview of what CDP Supply Chain member companies are doing to manage and reduce emissions in their supply chain. Discuss the key findings from the CDP Supply Chain Report 2012, including trends and common challenges encountered. More from 2degrees…

How Public Procurement Can Be Used To Bring Innovative, Low Carbon Technologies To Market

Tuesday 10th April 2012 3:00 p.m. (GMT) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): SMART SPP is a European project which promoted the introduction of new, innovative low carbon emission technologies and integrated solutions onto the European market. This was done by encouraging early market engagement between public authority procurers and suppliers and developers of new innovative products and services in the pre-procurement phase of public tenders.

Join this webinar to learn more about Smart SPP, hear about the innovative technologies developed, discover more about the-approach to pre-procurement of innovative technologies and how to manage the risks in pre-procurement and find out about the tool developed for calculating life cycle costs of different products and services. More from 2degrees…

The Board Buy-In: Presenting the sustainability business case to the board

Tuesday 17th April 3:00 p.m. (GMT) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT) : Often it is difficult to express sustainability goals to the C-suite. This webinar aims to provide methods and tactics for approaching the board with the business case for sustainability.

Join this webinar to learn ways to communicate sustainability at a C-suite level, listen to case studies on corporations that have already achieved board level buy-in and discover what information is meaningful to making your case. More from 2degrees…

EU Timber Regulation: The road towards successful implementation

Wednesday 18th April 2012 3:00 p.m. (GMT) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): This webinar will explore the differences in implementation between EU Member States, what businesses need to look out for to ensure compliance, challenges in implementation of the Regulation, and methods which may help in successful implementation.

This webinar will explore differences in implementation between EU Member States, What businesses need to look out for to ensure compliance, challenges in implementation of the Regulation and methods which may help in successful implementation. More from 2degrees…

Moving Towards Responsible Soy: RTRS Certification

Thursday 19th April 2012 3:00 p.m. (GMT) / 10:00 a.m. (EDT): Learn about the new standard for responsible soy production from the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), and how it aims to promote environmental conservation, fair working conditions and management best practice.

This webinar will introduce the RTRS and provide an update on present activities and goals, share experiences with RTRS certification and trade of the first year and propose possible actions for the short and long term. More from 2degrees…

Greening Government Commitments and the Cabinet sub-committee

In February 2011, the Government signed up to the Greening Government Commitments which set ambitious but achievable targets for government departments and their agencies. These are to: reduce carbon emissions by 25%, reduce waste generated by 25%, buy more sustainable and efficient products by embedding Government Buying Standards into contracts, and reduce water use to best practice benchmarks, by 2015. This is from a 2009/10 baseline. Transparency is key to these commitments with a promise to report publicly on progress and, in addition, a commitment to transparency on a range of issues such as biodiversity protection on the government estate.

Underlying these commitments is a belief in showing leadership to the wider public sector, businesses and citizens. It is recognised that government has the capacity to do so and should share its experience of innovative practice. Sustainable procurement is a good example as central government spend is 13% of total national spend. So the Government can lead by example and influence business as suppliers and procurers and, as a result, have a major impact on supporting a green economy.

How is the Government faring one year on? In terms of meeting the targets, the data that has been reported (so far on the first two quarters) shows the Government is doing well on some of the commitments. For example, in relation to the carbon emissions target, several departments are already close to meeting their target. On the one year paper reduction target (by 10%) which feeds into the wider waste target, the figures from the first two quarters show the Government is on track. On other targets such as the broader waste target, it is recognised that the target is challenging and will take considerable planning and effort to achieve.

It is expected that government departments will be able to achieve its 2015 targets. Sharing best practice within government will be vital. We also call on others to offer ideas and advice.

The need to keep the pressure up is recognised from the Government’s experience in reducing its carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. The commitment was exceeded with emissions reduced by nearly 14% and savings made of £13 million in energy bills. In the light of this, a formal ministerial sub-committee has been set up, chaired jointly by Oliver Letwin, Minister of State for Government Policy, and Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It will seek to ensure delivery of these targets by holding departments to account. The sub-committee held its first meeting at the end of January 2012, identifying those departments that needed to report more fully.

The next step is to obtain data for the last two quarters and then for annual departmental reports to be published. The intention is to bring departmental reports together into a pan-government picture for 2011/12 to be published by the Government in the Summer. This will enable all our armchair auditors to check on the Government’s progress.

Procurement and the Government Buying Standards

The Government is committed to leading by example on sustainable procurement by buying more sustainable and efficient products and engaging with its suppliers to understand and reduce the impacts of supply chains. The benefits of sustainable procurement, which looks beyond immediate costs to lifecycle costs, is recognised by the government as important for keeping longer term costs down.

Defra is reviewing, updating and extending the Government Buying Standards, which set minimum mandatory specifications for government buyers and higher voluntary best practice standards. In particular, it is seeking to ensure waste prevention is fully taken into account in developing these standards as well as greater emphasis on impacts during the production process.

The potential for driving innovation and green growth through harnessing the purchasing powers of government is also being developed and explored. Defra is working jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on innovation projects, and with business through the Aldersgate Group on the means of achieving this.

Besides updates to specific standards, a new listing of standards for products that have a significant impact on water usage helps buyers meet the Government’s commitment to reduce its water consumption. This is critical with the increase in recent years in drought warnings.

The first standards for food and catering services came into force in September 2011, ensuring that government departments and agencies buy more sustainable food and give small and local producers fair access to public contracts worth up to £2 billion a year. As well as requiring that all fish is from sustainable sources, the standards cover animal welfare and environmental standards, energy efficiency, waste management, nutrition, seasonality and fair trading.

The last year has seen considerable development of the National Sustainable Public Procurement Programme (NSPPP), which brings greater clarity and consistency to training for sustainable procurement in the public sector. The programme aims to clarify the messages, create a consistent approach to delivery, and ensure the quality of materials that can be readily shared between public organisations and sectors. Additional modules on carbon literacy and sustainable food procurement have recently been added to the NSPPP.

In October 2011 the NSPPP launched a carbon literacy e-learning resource, which has been made available to both the public and private sectors, in an example of sharing learning to improve sustainability.

Over the coming year, Defra aims to ensure that sustainable procurement is fully embedded into practice and that tools to use government purchasing power to support the Green Economy are developed further. The negotiations on the European Public Procurement Directives also offer an opportunity to ensure greater legal clarity on the scope for sustainable procurement.

The SCI-Network (Sustainable Construction and Innovation Network) connects public authorities looking to procure innovative and sustainable solutions within their construction projects. With the public sector responsible for 40% of EU construction activity and buildings responsible for 36% of EU CO2 emissions, public sector construction needs to be sustainable and innovative.

The SCI-Network aims to:

• Jointly identify new construction solutions;
• Examine how best to encourage innovation in construction procurement.

Five working groups have been set up to achieve this, with Transport for London responsible for two workstreams – whole life costing and procuring innovation – procedures and methods. The other workstreams are innovation in sustainable renovation – application of environmental assessment systems, new technical solutions and financing & contracting.

Drawing on experience

The SCI-Network is seeking input from construction industry professionals and suppliers who have experience of public sector contracts.

The focus is on how procurement procedures can help secure more sustainable and innovative outcomes in public sector construction. This includes everything from early engagement with suppliers through to contract management. Financing models, life-cycle costing and the use of certification/environmental assessment tools are also under examination.

Views have already been gathered from the cities and other public authorities participating in the network. In order to develop guidance and recommendations, we are now actively seeking supplier input.

The time needed to complete the questionnaire is 15-20 minutes. Your views would be greatly appreciated and there is also a chance to share examples of best practice or ideas for improving public sector practices.

• The survey is available online and open until 31st March 2012.

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In this look-ahead:

• Beyond the bin: from recycling to zero waste
• The UK energy efficiency policy landscape: overview and opportunities
• Water footprinting: beyond the numbers – translating data into action
• Automated metering: improve energy consumption and occupier engagement
• Top 10 energy management tips for CRC participants
• Sustainable procurement in the banking sector: delivering efficiency and value

For a full calendar of what’s planned for the coming weeks in 2degrees, including many more events, see the 2degrees calendar of events.

Beyond the bin: from recycling to zero waste

Tuesday January 10th, 3:00 P.M. (GMT) / 10:00 A.M. (EST): Zero waste has been a controversial topic within the sustainability world. This webinar will identify best practices in zero waste as a strategy to move beyond recycling and reuse towards an integrated, whole-system approach.

More from 2degrees…

The UK energy efficiency policy landscape: overview and opportunities

Monday January 16th, 3:00 P.M. (GMT) / 10:00 A.M. (EST): Based on a recent report, this webinar will provide an overview of the energy policy landscape in the UK, including the Green Deal and European directives, and provide recommendations for businesses looking to improve their energy efficiency.

More from 2degrees…

Water footprinting: beyond the numbers – translating data into action

Tuesday January 17th, 3:00 P.M. (GMT) / 10:00 A.M. (EST): Following a successful pilot project, developer British Land is rolling out an advanced energy metering system and optimisation process across its office portfolio to deliver benefits such as reduced energy use – and emissions and fuel bills – and closer relationships between occupiers and the building management team. Join this webinar to find out How the system is delivering reductions.

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Automated metering: improve energy consumption and occupier engagement

Wednesday January 18th, 3:00 P.M. (GMT) / 10:00 A.M. (EST): Following a successful pilot project, developer British Land is rolling out an advanced energy metering system and optimisation process across its office portfolio to deliver benefits such as reduced energy use – and emissions and fuel bills – and closer relationships between occupiers and the building management team. Join this webinar to find out How the system is delivering reductions.

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Top 10 energy management tips for CRC participants

Thursday January 19th 3:00 P.M. (GMT) / 10:00 A.M. (EST): To improve your league table position for next year, and reduce the financing risk of the CRC, organizations now need to look at serious energy efficiency improvement. This webinar will share the top 10 tips for improving your energy efficiency for a typical CRC Participant.

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Sustainable procurement in the banking sector: delivering efficiency and value

Thursday January 19th 3:00 P.M. (GMT) / 10:00 A.M. (EST): This webinar will discuss how to design and execute a sustainable procurement program in order to create a “value for money” sourcing process of products and services, taking into account environmental, social and ethical aspects while enhancing the company image.

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