The first report on meeting 'Greening Government Commitments' (GGC) finds that 80% of MoD construction projects are judged to have scored top environmental ratings in the MoD's version of BREEAM.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation, the MoD’s property and services provider, has compiled the first GGC annual report under its new responsibility, acquired in April, for driving sustainable development across the department.
DIO chief executive Andrew Manley said: "DIO's priority is to support our Armed Forces as they prepare for operations, but the MoD has a duty to balance delivery of this support with measures that help to achieve government targets that will help combat the threat of climate change.
"I am delighted that, in this first annual report, we are able to record that the MoD is making significant progress in 'greening' our operations and supporting these important environmental goals set by the government."
The MoD has developed its own method of assessing the environmental credentials of construction projects - the Defence Related Environmental Assessment Method (DREAM) - equivalent to the industry standard.
This demonstrates that, during 2011/12, 80% of new builds met the target rating of 'Excellent' with the remainder classed as 'Very Good'. All major refurbishment projects met the target rating of at least 'Very Good'.
The MoD has agreed a three-year programme that will see £105m invested in energy efficiency initiatives, which should secure some £110m worth of energy savings by 2014 with an ongoing saving of £70m a year afterwards.
Energy savings worth more than £14m have already been made for 2011-12, it is claimed, with the MoD investing in smart meters. Future energy upgrades will include energy-efficient boilers and energy optimisation.
The GGC targets were introduced by the government in 2010 to help meet its vision of having the greenest-ever operations and procurement. The targets require reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, travel, waste, water and paper procurement. MoD has now exceeded the required 10% reduction in paper purchased during 2011-12.
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