Environmental performance
Departmental activities
This section describes the department’s environmental performance, in accordance with government policy. Environmental impacts are managed by engineering and administrative controls. The department also uses a range of signage, intranet messages and induction content to support employees in mitigating environmental impacts.
Office energy use
The department minimises its consumption of office energy wherever possible, including using automated light switching and the power management features of ICT equipment. In Finance’s primary tenancy, One Canberra Avenue, Forrest, we use 10 per cent Greenpower, sourced through a cooperative government arrangement.
Transport
Finance employees are authorised to travel only when there is a demonstrated business need and when alternative communication tools, such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing, are an ineffective option. The Finance vehicle fleet is made up of departmental pool vehicles and executive vehicles. A subscription to Greenfleet offsets the associated vehicle emissions.
Resource efficiency and waste
Finance provides a number of recycling streams (including co-mingled, cardboard and paper recycling) in all of its tenancies.
Organic waste bins were introduced to the department’s ACT tenancies in November 2016. Thus far this initiative has diverted 3.16 tonnes of general waste from landfill. The organic waste is collected by a worm-farming company to be recycled into organic fertiliser.
The Finance printing system is designed to purge print jobs that are not completed within a set timeframe. Print jobs totalling 299,233 pages were automatically purged in 2016–17. The printer fleet’s default settings automatically print in grayscale on both sides of the page and all spent printer cartridges are recycled.
Depending on site requirements, Finance uses a mix of different types of flow-restriction and water-efficient dual-flush toilets to minimise water use in its tenancies.
The non-Defence domestic property portfolio
Finance manages a diverse portfolio of some 90 non-Defence Commonwealth-owned properties in Australia, including office buildings, law courts and other special-purpose facilities, heritage assets, vacant land and contaminated sites. This portfolio is managed in accordance with the legislative framework for environment and heritage matters, including the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Management is in accordance with the principles of environmentally sustainable development, and Finance considers potential environmental and heritage impacts when making decisions about each property, including maintenance, retention and divestment.
To improve the environmental performance of the portfolio and in accordance with relevant asset management plans, Finance targets energy efficiency works in the buildings it manages. We carry out works to improve environmental performance—including upgrades to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, building management systems, and lighting controls in various buildings.
Table 12 summarises the department’s environmental performance in 2016–17 as compared with 2015–16.
Table 12: Environmental performance summary, 2015–16 and 2016–17
|
Indicator |
2015–16 |
2016–17 |
|
Office energy use |
|
|
|
Total office tenant light and power energy consumption (kWh) |
1,870,210 |
1,527,860 |
|
Total office tenant light and power energy consumption (MJ) |
6,732,756 |
5,500,294 |
|
Office tenant light and power energy use per full-time equivalent (MJ/FTE) |
4,391 |
3,521 |
|
Office tenant light and power use per square metre (MJ/m2) |
244 |
236 |
|
Base/central building energy consumption (MJ) |
46,045,104 |
45,567,809 |
|
Base/central building energy consumption per square metre (MJ/m2) |
450 |
449 |
|
Greenhouse emissions attributed to office tenant light and power and base/central building energy use (tonnes CO2-e) |
9,787 |
9,240 |
|
Green power purchased (kWh) |
877,347 |
837,186 |
|
Non-office energy use |
|
|
|
Greenhouse emissions attributed to non-office energy use (computer centres, other properties and uses) (tonnes CO2-e) |
1,832 |
1,411 |
|
Vehicle fleeta, b |
|
|
|
Total number of fleet vehicles |
31 |
33 |
|
Total fuel purchased (litres) |
34,907 |
24,283 |
|
Total distance travelled (kilometres)c |
327,938 |
236,226 |
|
Average fuel consumption of fleet vehicles (litres/100 kilometres)c |
10.6 |
10.3 |
|
Total direct greenhouse emissions of fleet (tonnes CO2-e) |
82.4 |
57.3 |
|
Greenhouse emissions |
|
|
|
Total greenhouse emissions (tonnes CO2-e) |
11,702 |
10,708 |
|
Total greenhouse emissions per full-time equivalent |
7.6 |
6.9 |
|
Air travelb |
|
|
|
Total number of flights |
4,986 |
4,157 |
|
Total distance of flights (kilometres) |
4,850,176 |
4,112,248 |
|
Potable water consumptiond |
|
|
|
Total potable water use (kilolitres) |
16,377 |
12,068 |
|
Potable water use per full-time equivalent (kilolitres/FTE) |
10.682 |
7.73 |
|
Potable water use per square metre (kilolitres/m2) |
0.593 |
0.49 |
|
Resource efficiency and waste |
|
|
|
Total office paper purchased by full-time equivalent |
8.5 |
8.7 |
|
Percentage of office paper purchased with recycled content |
86.1% |
83.6% |
|
Office paper recycled (tonnes) |
99.8 |
38.7 |
|
Total waste produced (tonnes) |
254.6 |
166.91 |
|
Total waste produced per full-time equivalent (kilograms/FTE) |
166.0 |
106.9 |
|
Percentage of waste diverted from landfill |
50.9% |
49.5% |
kWh = kilowatt hour; MJ = megajoule; CO2-e = carbon dioxide equivalent.
aFinance vehicle fleet only (excludes the COMCAR fleet).
bThe fleet and air travel data are for the period 1 April to 31 March in each year.
cThe kilometre data includes estimates for vehicles where the data was considered unreliable. Vehicles with reliable kilometre data were utilised to develop figures for departmental average litres per 100 kilometres, and this average was used for each reporting period to estimate kilometres travelled for vehicles with unreliable data.
dThe water consumption reported applies to Finance-occupied office buildings only. Tenancy-specific water metering is not available in shared buildings, resulting in the use of estimates based on pro rata calculations. The water data is adjusted on a pro rata basis to account for the unavailable information.
Cross-government activities
Finance contributes to the environmental outcomes of a number of additional areas in line with government policy and relevant legislation. This includes managing the COMCAR vehicle fleet and providing electorate office accommodation for parliamentarians. These activities are additional to those listed in Table 12.
COMCAR
In 2016–17 COMCAR continued to deliver on its strategy of ensuring an environmentally responsible fleet of vehicles. At 30 June 2017 COMCAR had 104 LPG and 44 petrol-powered sedans in its fleet of 159 vehicles. The LPG vehicles burn fuel more efficiently, improving fuel consumption and contributing to reductions in carbon dioxide output of up to 15 per cent per vehicle. All COMCAR petrol-powered vehicles employ variable cylinder technology, further reducing fuel consumption. Where possible, COMCAR uses E10 fuel for its petrol-powered sedans.
More than 60 per cent of the COMCAR fleet is regularly washed using harvested rainwater, which helps minimise the use of potable water.
