Ecologically Sustainable Development and Environmental Performance
The following information is provided in accordance with section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). It highlights how the outcomes and activities of Finance contribute to ecologically sustainable development.
Finance’s Whole-of-Government Environmental Activities
Non-Defence Domestic Property Portfolio
Finance manages a diverse portfolio of non-Defence properties within Australia, including office buildings, law courts, special purpose facilities, heritage properties, vacant land, and contaminated sites. The department manages this portfolio in accordance with the legislative framework for environmental and heritage matters including the National Environment Protection Council Act 1994 (NEPC Act) and the EPBC Act. Finance manages each property in accordance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development and considers potential environmental and heritage impacts when making management decisions. During 2008-09, Finance implemented a program to review heritage assessments and updated the heritage management plans of relevant properties within the portfolio to maintain compliance with the EPBC Act.
Finance is reviewing the energy consumption of each of the properties in its portfolio to ensure consistency with the Australian Government’s Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) policy. The department is progressively implementing the findings of these reviews to maximise the energy and environmental efficiency of each property.
In the event that a Finance property is contaminated, the department undertakes management and remediation in accordance with the NEPC Act and the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure 1999, which is the recognised standard for assessing site contamination.
Finance is also managing the planning and construction process for several new Australian Government buildings and the construction or refurbishment of several existing buildings. The department is working to ensure these facilities meet the government’s EEGO policy and applicable ecologically sustainable development guidelines. Finance is working to ensure that office buildings, in particular, achieve a minimum National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) energy rating of 4.5 stars.
Information and Communication Technology
As a result of the Review of the Australian Government’s Use of Information and Communication Technology by Sir Peter Gershon, which was released on 16 October 2008, the government has developed initiatives to improve its ability to understand its ICT energy costs and environmental footprint.
In the first half of 2009 Finance, in conjunction with the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA), developed a list of Green ICT Quick Wins based on best practice followed in Commonwealth departments and agencies and in the private sector. By implementing the Green ICT Quick Wins, agencies can quickly attain energy efficiency savings and build momentum for whole-of-government green initiatives. Finance published the list on its website on 30 June 2009, which includes replacing active screensavers with blank screens, automatically shutting down computers outside of work hours, and requiring prospective suppliers to indicate whether they are a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant.
Parliamentarians’ Electorate Office Accommodation and Support
Finance is responsible for the provision of Parliamentarians’ office accommodation and associated facilities within their electorate. Finance also provides office facilities for Ministers, other office holders and visiting Parliamentarians in each state capital.
Throughout 2008-09, Finance continued implementing a range of initiatives aimed at improving the energy efficiency of these offices, including replacing existing light bulbs with energy efficient types, installing dual flush toilets, installing flow restrictors on taps and showers, installing timers on boiling water units and providing carbon-neutral copy paper to Parliamentarians through the department’s office requisites provider.
COMCAR
In line with government policy, COMCAR uses ethanol-blended fuel (E10) where practicable and in 2008-09 COMCAR’s average usage was 87 per cent. Access to E10 fuel near COMCAR depots in Western Australia and Tasmania is limited and the department expects that overall usage will be even greater when E10 fuel becomes more widely available in those states.
Following the outcome of a trial of hybrid vehicles, which concluded on
6 June 2008, Finance added four hybrid vehicles to the ACT fleet for use on the Canberra parliamentary shuttle.
On 7 February 2008, Finance installed a 20,000-litre water tank in COMCAR’s Melbourne depot to harvest rainwater from the large warehouse roof. The depot’s in-house car-wash area uses the recycled water. This facility has provided sufficient water to meet the car washing requirements of the depot throughout 2008-09 and no mains water was used for car washing in that period.
Finance’s Departmental Environmental Activities
Finance has operating procedures for the management of energy consumption, packaging, paper usage and general waste generation. These procedures guide the recycling of paper, cardboard, printer cartridges, plastics, metals, glass, batteries, mobile phones and fluorescent tubes. The procedures also provide for building fit-out materials and furniture to include recycled material where practical and cost effective.
On 14 November 2008, Finance began an environmental awareness program for staff, which is designed to promote awareness of the environmental measures that the department currently has in place and encourage staff to participate in these activities. For example, the program has encouraged staff to use double-sided printing where possible to reduce the volume of paper used (all Finance printers that are capable of printing double-sided do so by default). At the request of staff, an enhanced waste recycling trial has commenced at one departmental tenancy. The trial aims to improve staff recycling and waste disposal habits and increase the measurement accuracy for levels of waste and recycling. Should the trial prove successful, Finance will review the current arrangements in its other tenancies.
Finance was a registered participant in Global Earth Hour 2009 on 28 March 2009. Participation involved taking steps to minimise energy usage by turning off non-essential lights and computers, closing window blinds and unplugging non-essential appliances and equipment. Finance staff are encouraged to adopt these Earth Hour strategies as standard procedure over weekends and holiday periods.
Beginning on 11 June 2009 as part of Finance's contribution to the Green ICT Quick Wins program, the department began a progressive roll-out to alter the power saving settings on the department’s laptops and desktops to reduce their electricity usage.
During 2008-09, Finance entered into voluntary Green Improvement Agreements for two of its tenancies. The objective of the agreements is to achieve a NABERS rating of 3.5 stars as a minimum by undertaking energy audits, developing energy management plans, and implementing engineering programs and tenant cultural change programs to improve building energy efficiency. The Green Improvement Agreements are similar to the DEWHA Green Lease Schedules, which oblige the tenants of buildings to achieve certain energy targets, but they have the added advantage of being able to be implemented mid-lease. Currently these agreements cover buildings where Finance is a co-tenant with the National Capital Authority and the Department of the Treasury (Treasury Building), and DEWHA (the John Gorton Building).
Finance monitors its average energy consumption and reports the outcomes to the Department of Climate Change through the whole-of-government Online System for Comprehensive Activity Reporting program. During 2008-09, the department’s total energy consumption was 4,504,550 1 kWh. The department increased its consumption of Greenpower by 0.74 per cent over 2007-08 levels. Greenpower now comprises approximately 7.25 per cent of total energy consumption.
Finance is a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant and under this arrangement reports annually to DEWHA on the volume of waste directed to recycling. Using the volume-modelling tool provided by DEWHA, Finance estimates that 17 per cent of the total volume of its waste will be recycled in 2008-09. This is the same percentage as in 2007-08.
Recycling of office waste paper, including the secure destruction of classified documents, is dealt with as a separate stream of recycling activity from that reported under the National Packaging Covenant. Under this arrangement, Finance records and monitors the total weight of recycled materials. For the period 1 July 2008 to 30 May 2009, Finance recycled a total of 58,088 kilograms of office waste paper. This total figure comprises 29,237 kilograms of general office waste paper, including newspapers and magazines, and 28,851 kilograms of classified documents.