Corporate Environmental Report 2019-20

Our vision

Proud to be leading the way to a better future for Wales by managing the environment and natural resources of Wales sustainably.

Our purpose

Through the new Environment (Wales) Act 2016, we must:

pursue the sustainable management of natural resources
apply the principles of sustainable management of natural resources

Introduction

Our environmental management system (EMS) is helping develop Natural Resources Wales (NRW) into an excellent organisation by maintaining our ISO14001:2015 certification, our forest certification against the UK Woodland Assurance Standard and by reducing our own environmental impact and carbon footprint.

NRW is also fully supporting the Welsh Governments Climate Emergency declaration made in April 2019. NRW also recognises the need to address the associated wider environmental emergency, particularly that of biodiversity loss, and the need to make the ecosystems of Wales more resilient to climate change.

This report relates primarily to environmental sustainability, as distinct from wider sustainability actions or outcomes, these can be found throughout our annual report and accounts.

Summary of performance

In 2019/20 we have:

reduced our overall carbon footprint by 5% in relation to scope 1, scope 2 and currently measured scope 3 emissions compared with 2018/19 data
reduced our mains electricity usage in occupied buildings and depots for the sixth year in a row, with a 3% reduction in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 data
reduced our overall business miles by 3% compared with 2018/19 data
retained certification to the ISO14001 environmental standard and the UK Woodland Assurance Standard, following independent external audits and verification

Table 1: Corporate Environmental Report summary table

Category	Units	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Greenhouse gas emissions (consumption)	tCO2e	5,115	4,387	4,199	3,994
Energy consumption	million kWh	6.3	6.0	6.3	7.1
Energy expenditure	£k	776	618	583	729
Waste generated	tonnes	1,424	1,141	966	1,772
Waste expenditure	£k	225	273	218	333
Water consumption	m3	76,293	50,908	40,115	42,127
Water expenditure	£k	32	25	30	13

Table 1 reflects relative change for key areas in the last year:

organisational greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 205 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e)
energy, waste and water all increased due to operational needs relating to flood alleviation, severe storms in January 2020 and fish hatchery requirements

More detail around each can be found within the related sections of this report.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Carbon emissions decreased in 2019/20 by 4.9% compared with the previous year.

Scope 1 direct emissions decreased by 14.8%, this was mainly due to a decrease in the amount of fuel used in our pool cars and by our operational teams.

Scope 2 energy indirect emissions increased by 5.0%, this was due to an increase in electricity usage at our pumping stations to alleviate flooding.

Scope 3 other indirect emissions increased by 17.8%, this was mainly due to an increase in operational waste (e.g. debris and silt removed from water courses).

Table 2 greenhouse gas emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions	Units	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Scope 1: Direct emissions	tCO₂e	2,835	2,466	2,499	2,129
Scope 2: Energy indirect emissions	tCO₂e	1,662	1,317	1,077	1,130
Scope 3: Other indirect emissions	tCO₂e	617	603	624	735
Total gross GHG emissions	tCO2e	5,115	4,387	4,199	3,994
Outside of scopes (i.e. biomass)	tCO₂e	220	208	187	184

Note 1: Data not externally verified – limited assurance.

Note 2: The Scope 3 other indirect greenhouse gas emissions include; train travel, air travel, grey fleet travel, lease car travel, hire car travel, water and waste.

Note 3: Scope 3 emissions from the purchase of goods and services, aggregates use in construction and timber use are not included.

Energy

Mains electricity usage in occupied buildings and depots decreased by 67,721 kWh a 3% reduction in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 data.

However, our total energy use (which includes electric, mains gas, LPG, heating oil and biomass) increased by 13.5% based on the previous year’s data.

This was due to an increase in electricity use at our pumping stations from 1,298,317 kWh to 1,985,005 kWh to alleviate flooding.

Our seven largest pumping stations used over 700,000 kWh of electric to divert and manage water levels and flows to protect people, land and property from flooding.

The energy generated from renewables remained constant with a slight decrease due to seasonal variations. Two new sites were fitted with PV panels late March 2020 and with four further sites scheduled for installation in 2020/21 the amount of electric from renewables and % of electric sourced from renewables will increase in 2020/21.

Table 3 energy consumption

Resource Use	Units	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Energy used occupied sites	kWh	5,209,072	4,918,340	4,973,616	5,131,465
Energy used occupied sites	tCO₂e	1,723	1,436	1,236	1,188
Energy used unmanned sites	kWh	1,131,651	1,122,103	1,298,317	1,985,005
Energy used unmanned sites	tCO₂e	466	395	367	507
Renewable energy generated	kWh	76,649	106,856	167,879	161,193
% total energy used as renewables	%	1.4	2.2	3.4	3.1
Total Energy used - consumption	kWh	6,340,723	6,040,443	6,271,933	7,116,47
Total Energy used - consumption	tCO₂e	2,189	1,830	1,603	1,696
Total Energy used - expenditure	£k	777	618	583	729

Water

Mains water usage decreased by 565 m3 a 4.6% reduction in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 data.

Our water use intensity (m3/FTE) also decreased from 3.2 to 2.9, due to the decrease in water usage and an increase in staff full-time equivalents. (The average intensity for a typical office is 4.0 for water use).

We are also currently working with Waterwise to improve our water management in offices and visitor centres to reduce our water usage further.

Overall water consumption increased by 2,012 m3 a 5.0% increase in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 data. This was mainly due to an increase in the amount of water abstracted to enable the NRW fish hatchery to operate efficiently (25,424 m3 in 2018/19 to 28,007 m3 in 2019/20).

Table 4 water consumption

Resource use	Units	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Total mains water -consumption	m³	11,411	11,894	12,368	11,803
Total abstracted water - consumption	m³	64,850	39,014	27,747	30,324
Office mains water -consumption	m³	5,923	5,555	6,047	6,228
Office abstracted water - consumption	m³	15	22	32	26
Non-office mains water -consumption	m³	5,488	6,339	6,321	5,575
Non-office abstracted water - consumption	m³	64,835	38,992	27,715	30,298
Water use intensity (for office use)	m³/ FTE	3.3	3.0	3.2	2.9
Total water - consumption	m³	76,283	50,908	40,115	42,127
Total water - consumption	tCO₂e	26	18	14	15
Total water - expenditure	£k	32	25	30	13

Travel

Our travel needs include; travel to manage sites, responding to serious environmental incidents, taking samples, dealing with flooding, site meetings and inter-office travel.

Business travel miles decreased by 218,457 miles a 2.9% reduction in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 data.

Business travel carbon emissions decreased by 192 tCO2e a 9.6% reduction in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 data, this was due to an increased proportion of business travel being done by train.

The travel done in electric vehicles dropped slightly this was due to problems with the charging infrastructure. With plans to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points and with an additional twenty-five electric vehicles already purchased we are looking to increase our electric vehicle mileage in 2020/21.

Table 5 business travel

Travel by vehicle	Units	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Badged vehicles	miles	6,064,812	5,440,945	5,562,246	4,934,687
Badged vehicles	£k	-	749	789	720
Lease vehicles	miles	191,730	0	0	0
Lease vehicles	£k	18	0	0	0
Grey vehicles	miles	639,064	590,998	614,868	554,375
Grey vehicles	£k	287	266	277	249
Hire vehicles	miles	322,505	261,039	277,390	512,209
Hire vehicles	£k	74	88	124	195
Train	miles	864,366	938,418	993,213	1,258,211
Train	£k	223	183	328	397
Air	miles	71,057	33,661	50,299	26,663
Air	£k	19	5	7	7
Bicycle	miles	2,346	2,301	3,714	4,012
Bicycle	£k	< 1	< 1	< 1	< 1
Motorcycle	miles	2,447	1,735	1,155	729
Motorcycle	£k	< 1	< 1	< 1	< 1
Electric vehicles	miles	0	0	32,832	26,374
Total travel	miles	8,158,327	7,269,097	7,535,717	7,317,260
Total travel	tCO2e	2,249	2,019	2,002	1,810
Total travel	£k	-	1,291	1,525	1,568

Waste minimisation and management

A total of 196 tonnes of office waste was diverted from disposal to landfill in 2019/20 compared with the 2018/19 data.

Operational waste increased due to the severe storms in January 2020, large amounts of waste (debris and silt) was removed from water courses to prevent flooding. The requirement to dispose of hazardous fly-tip also led to an increase in carbon emissions related to waste.

Table 6 waste generated

Waste category	Units	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Office waste - Landfill	tonnes	241	213	286	90
Office waste - Landfill	tCO2e	101	125	168	53
Office waste - Landfill	£k	22	25	25	24
Office waste – Recycled / reused	tonnes	934	600	431	972
Office waste – Recycled / reused	tCO2e	20	13	9	21
Office waste – Incinerated	tonnes	15	27	31	31
Office waste – Incinerated	tCO2e	< 1	< 1	< 1	< 1
Operational and fly-tip waste	tonnes	234	301	218	680
Operational and fly-tip waste	tCO2e	65	135	98	269
Total waste	tonnes	1,424	1,141	966	1,772
Total waste	tCO2e	186	274	276	343
Total waste	£k	225	273	218	333

Sustainable procurement

Our vision for procurement is to provide effective procurement leadership and direction in support of NRW's mission and values and embed the fundamental concepts of a learning organisation with the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR) as its central organising principle.

Procurement and the Carbon Positive team have been working collaboratively to implement the use of a Carbon Planning Tool in our contracts. The aim of this is to reduce the carbon emissions generated indirectly by our contractors, these are the most challenging source of emissions to tackle. Funding has been secured for a specialist to work with Procurement to develop the tools and a methodology for reducing emissions in our supply chain.

Environmental incidents

In 2019/20 there were twenty environmental incidents because of our work or that of contractors we manage.

There were no incidents classed as High, fifteen were classed as Low, four were classed as Events and one was Unclassified.

When incidents occur because of our work (or that of our contractors), we review what has happened, and act to address the root cause of the incident.

Governance and reporting

We report on our carbon footprint as part of our performance framework, which is reported by the Executive Team to the Board (in open public session) four times each year.

We collect the data used within this sustainability report through a combination of meter readings (e.g. gas, electricity), invoices (e.g. fuel card purchases), supplier’s data (e.g. train miles) and finance data, using the most accurate source/s we have available. We also look to minimise use of any estimated data in our reporting.

Carbon Positive Project

The following Carbon Positive Project priorities were endorsed by the NRW board in June 2019, with NRW committing to scope and cost the following projects:

deep peat restoration
woodland creation
renewable energy generation
roll-out of electric vehicle infrastructure and vehicles
low carbon heat and energy efficiency in our buildings and assets
tackling procurement related emissions
influencing external emission reduction across Wales, by:
- extending decarbonisation support and advice to Welsh Government, Welsh-public sector bodies and Public Sector Boards
- working with Welsh Government to understand our potential role considering carbon in planning, permitting and regulatory regimes
- implementing behaviour change including staff engagement to embed consideration of carbon across NRW and beyond
- evaluating and communicating the current impacts of climate change to stimulate further public debate and support for rapid decarbonisation to minimise future impacts

These priorities were presented to the First Minister and the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs.

Future strategy

Over the next two years in line with our current corporate strategy we want to:

Continue to deliver the NRW Carbon Positive action plan 2020/22 to include; retrofit buildings with solar PV, develop an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, increase the EV mileage, identify and deliver a programme of peatland projects in order to further reduce our carbon emissions.
Develop mechanisms for active and sustainable travel to be the favoured choice of NRW commuter travel and for appropriate business journeys.
Continue to maintain certification to the ISO14001 environmental standard for all NRW activities and certification to the UK Woodland Assurance Standard for the Welsh Government Woodland Estate.

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