FCDO Services »About us »Environment and sustainability »Environmental policy statement

Environmental policy statement

Our commitment to improving the environmental sustainability of FCDO Services

FCDO Services is committed to improving the environmental sustainability of our organisation and operations. We are guided by this overarching environmental policy, which covers all our employees, contractors, suppliers and partners.

Contents

Context

Corporate rule

Commitments

Implementation

Governance

Board approval

Context

FCDO Services is a Trading Fund of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Under HMG’s Greening Government Commitments (GGC) framework, FCDO Services, like other FCDO arm’s length bodies, reports its environmental footprint jointly with FCDO and has shared responsibility for delivering, as a minimum, in line with GGC targets.

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Corporate rule

FCDO Services is committed to continuously improve the environmental sustainability of the organisation and its operations, to enable staff to understand their environmental responsibilities and to act in accordance with them.

All FCDO Services employees, contractors, suppliers and partners are required to play a role in maintaining and improving a sustainable working environment by giving due regard to FCDO Services’ environmental policy statement in their day-to-day activities.

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Commitments

FCDO Services is committed to:

  • Continuously improving its environmental performance, protecting the environment, preventing pollution, improving resource efficiency and minimising, to the extent reasonably practicable, adverse environmental impacts​​
  • Ensuring that it meets, and where possible exceeds, the requirements of all applicable UK and international environmental legislation, standards and codes of practice to which it subscribes; and requires contractors and suppliers to do the same
  • Helping its customers reduce their environmental footprint by delivering products and services with high standards of environmental sustainability
  • Setting targets for the organisation at least in line with Central Government Greening Government Commitments, including the target to be Net Zero by 2050 or earlier
  • Maintaining a robust system for monitoring and appraising environmental performance, covering Scope 1 and 2 emissions and some Scope 3 emissions, aiming to expand Scope 3 coverage over time to the extent reasonably practicable
  • Integrating these commitments into governance, corporate processes and business decision making

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Implementation

FCDO Services will work to fulfil these commitments by:

  • Operating with an Environmental Management System (and partly in scope of FCDO’s ISO 14001 certified EMS) with principles, policies and processes to assess environmental impact and risks and regular monitoring of environmental performance
  • Developing customer-supplier frameworks which encourage and enable mutual sustainability and efficiency benefits such as more flexible scheduling and integrating green standards into the design and management of projects and services
  • Seeking to reduce FCDO Services’ transportation footprint through virtual delivery, project and freight consolidation, rationalised workforce scheduling, where practicable
  • Seeking to increase waste management efficiency by: reducing production of waste, encouraging re-use, recycling and composting; using refurbished and recycled products and materials, where such alternatives provide value for money; using compostable substances where they provide the best environmental option and value for money
  • Promoting awareness and understanding of this Policy at all levels in the organisation, supported by appropriate guidance and training, and empowering staff to take local action
  • ​Adopting the principle that our procurement should be sustainable and ethical by default, and demonstrably so, both publicly and internally by:
    • Acting in accordance with Central Government Social Value Policy, whereby procurement must maximise opportunities for delivering additional economic, environmental and social benefits in the performance of the contracts
    • Acting in accordance with the Central Government Carbon Exclusion Measure for Procurement, which allows Buyers to exclude Suppliers from competitions (falling within the remit of the measure) that do not provide Carbon Reduction Plans and commit to Net Zero emissions by 2050
    • Generally encouraging FCDO Services contractors and suppliers to improve their own environmental performance and operate collaboratively through the supply chain to support FCDO Services in meeting its environmental and sustainability targets

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Governance

The Director-level Chief Sustainability Officer holds Executive responsibility for implementation of this policy. Operational responsibility sits with the FCDO Services Head of Sustainability.

FCDO Services’ environmental and sustainability performance will be reviewed at regular intervals by the Executive Board with a commitment to ensure compliance and adequate progress to achieve commitments and targets.

FCDO Services’ environmental and sustainability commitments and performance will be formally reported in its Annual Report.​​​

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Board approval

This statement was approved by FCDO Services Executive Board on 9 December 2022.

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