News 20 July 2017 News from SKAO
Ministry for Infrastructure & Environment: 18 percent CO2 reduction compared to 2015
Eighteen percent lower greenhouse gas emissions than in 2015, a certificate for the CO2 Performance Ladder and the winner of the Procura+ Award for the sustainable tender procedure with the A6 highway in Almere. The 2016 Sustainability report by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment shows that all parts of this organisation are operating more sustainably than the year prior. Reasons include the focus on energy savings and the recycling of raw materials.
This is the second time the ministry publishes the aforementioned sustainability report. It provides an overview of the ministrys own energy use, savings and the procurement of sustainably produced products and services. It also describes the measures and efforts undertaken in the past year by the ministry, Rijkswaterstaat, the KNMI, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, the Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, the Netherlands Emissions Authority and the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Authority.
CO2-emissions
In 2016, the CO2 output of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment was 126.6 KT. This equates to the CO2 output of 28,000 households. This output is 28% lower than in 2009, and 18% lower than in 2015. The bulk of the emissions is related to the energy use including lighting along roads and waterways and fossil fuel use by Rijksrederij ships.
Pairing table CO2 Performance Ladder
The reduction objective for Scope 1 and 2 of the ministry is 20%. The CO2 Performance Ladder systematics demand that organisations set an objective per scope. The ministry for Infrastructure and the Environment aims to achieve a 5% reduction within Scope 1 and 15% within Scope (20% in total). In light of our certification for the CO2 Performance Ladder, we hereby report on our CO2 emissions in conformity with the internationally recognised norm for greenhouse gas reporting, ISO 14064-1. This norm describes, among other things, what type of information must be present in a CO2 emission report.
The main CO2 reducing measures taken in 2016 are:
- The procurement of 66,000 MWh of Dutch wind energy. This is an amount equal to the energy consumption of roughly 20,000 households. In 2015, this amount was 35,000 MWh.
- An increased use of biodiesel at the Rijksrederij. In 2016, the percentage of biodiesel at the Rijksrederij rose to 10%, compared to 1.5% in 2015. Translated to litres, this marks an increase from 179 thousand litres in 2015 to 1,1 million litres in 2016.
Secretary-General Lidewijde Ongering:
‘I am very proud that we are the first ministry and second public body to certify for the CO2 Performance Ladder; a tool that aids organisations in the reduction of their CO2 output through energy savings, a more efficient use of materials and renewable energy.
With it, we show that we are leading by example. And, not entirely unimportant: the performance ladder shows our structural CO2 output and how we are reducing it. Last years 18% reduction shows that we have done exceptionally well. That motivates me to keep taking further steps.