©InfoThere is a strong consensus within the scientific community that climate change is occurring and is caused by human activity. The British Red Cross is taking steps to reduce our own carbon emissions. This makes sense good sense environmentally and economically.
We have been working on this for several years. Our first step was to audit our carbon emissions. This showed that, in 2006, we generated 11,500 tonnes of CO2 in the UK alone. Using figures from the audit, which we tested in 2007 and 2008, we know that the main causes of these emissions are:
- energy use in properties – 58 per cent
- vehicle use – 31 per cent
- air and rail travel – 8 per cent
- other – 3 per cent.
We have now set carbon reduction targets for all our properties for 2010, our first priority being to cut down on energy use, and for 2011 we will set reduction targets for travel.
However, we have already achieved some reductions. For instance, we have cut carbon emissions from our fleet of cars from 165g per kilometre travelled in 2002 to 119g today – a cut of nearly 28 per cent. We have also reduced electricity consumption at our main London office by 30 per cent through more effective use of heating and lighting.
As part of this programme, we are encouraging all our staff and volunteers to take steps to reduce their own carbon emissions at work. These include:
- cutting down on air travel
- using trains instead of cars
- greater use of tele- and video-conferencing.
We will continually monitor our progress towards our own targets and publish regular updates.
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