Public service must go green, not waste spending

16 July 2007

Media Release

Public service must go green of face exposure over wasteful spending

The world is going green and the public service won't and can't be separate from that, a carbon neutral public sector conference is being told today.

While moves to have government departments go carbon neutral, introduce sustainable procurement, lease green buildings and buy low emission vehicles might sound cool and trendy, they are also delivering savings for taxpayers and freeing funds for more effective use elsewhere, the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, Peter Neilson, says in opening remarks to the two-day conference at Wellington.

Mr Neilson says property owner Bob Jones is wrong when he says this is a short term fad.

After a slow start, a sleeping giant is rising in the public sector:

• The Govt3 sustainable procurement programme is gaining momentum
• Even the Treasury is able to win an award for halving the amount of rubbish it produces
• Departments and agencies are monitoring their waste and carbon footprints
• Face to face meetings are being replaced with state-of-the-art video conferencing, reducing air travel
• Six agencies are leading off a programme to become carbon neutral
• More fuel efficient and low emissions vehicles are being purchased.

"This is no short term fad. It reflects a worldwide trend in developed countries for taxpayers and consumers to want both a better material standard of living and better quality of life. People increasingly want to buy products and work for organisations that respect people and the environment," Mr Neilson says.

He cites cases in which Business Council members are making dramatic production gains while substantially cutting emissions and energy costs.

At the Bluff aluminium smelter industrial process investments and energy efficiency projects have seen production rise 25% and emissions cut by 40% since 1990 – the equivalent to keeping 40,000 tonnes of CO2 a year out of the atmosphere, or taking 120,000 cars off the road.

Saving and production gains are worth millions.

Mr Neilson says 70% of business people polled by the Business Council support creating a green public sector procurement policy. 71% say they will support moves by Government to make sustainable procurement mandatory for Government agencies.

He advised public servants: "Run with and benefit from this tide. Try holding it back at your peril. Public and business expectations for sustainable procurement are already well ahead of practice delivery by the public sector.

"Expect increasing intolerance of environmentally damaging and wasteful buying decisions in the public sector. Future 'scandals' will see wasteful practices exposed. Why would you waste millions in public money buying inefficient light bulbs on day-one price? Why would you pay the same to stay with a hotel chain not engaging in sustainable heating, water conservation and lighting practices when you have the choice to go elsewhere and do the right thing?"

Mr Neilson also told public servants to expect sustainability performance measures and reviews to become part of their employment contracts, specially for CEOs.

"Carbon neutral behaviour will become the new benchmark and part of business as usual."

There will also be a "sea change" in small to medium businesses' sustainable practice when Government procurement contracts go green, with additional weightings in favour of sustainable suppliers, during the next year.

Peter Neilson's speech to the Towards a Sustainable Public Sector conference is at www.nzbcsd.org.nz, along with the latest polling on public and business views on how the country should respond to climate change.

ENDS