Lib Dems attack BBC green transport credentials

The Liberal Democrats have followed up criticism of the BBC's transport spending by claiming that the organisation should look to improve its green travel credentials.

The party released the results of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request earlier this week which showed that the BBC spent close to £30m on transport costs alone over the past financial year.

“At a time when the BBC should be doing all it can to make sure it gives good value to licence fee payers, it is staggering to find that it has spent £10m on flights in the past year, let alone £3m on business or first class," said Liberal Democrat shadow transport secretary Norman Baker.

Transport costs included about £10.4m on air travel of which business or first-class flights amounted to nearly £3m. Although the initial scope of the FOI was to highlight what the Liberal Democrats see as excessive spending by the corporation, the party also admitted that the BBC could do more to develop a more environmentally sustainable approach to travel.

Where possible, the BBC should look to use rail alternatives and invest in new communication technologies, the Liberal Democrats argued. "Swapping flights for rail and investing in videoconferencing to reduce the need for travel is not only good for the environment, it is also good for the budget," said Baker.

However, given the need for its journalists and technicians to cover stories abroad, such as the recent Beijing Olympics, a degree of flight costs are unavoidable, the organisation claims. "We are a global broadcaster. We cannot bring the Olympic Games from Beijing, report issues in Georgia or the political conventions from the US or bring natural history from the Amazon by sitting in London,' said a BBC spokesperson. But, they added, "spending on flights is subject to rigorous scrutiny and has actually fallen significantly in the past year."

The Liberal Democrats' FOI also showed that the BBC spent more than £13m on taxis in the past 12 months, journeys where more sustainable forms of transport such as bike, rail or bus could be used, the party claimed. "With consumers more environmentally conscious than ever before, companies – especially those working in the public sector – must do all they can to reduce the carbon footprint of their businsess. That means an end to over-reliance on domestic flights as well as breaking the taxi habit," added Baker.

The BBC launched an environmental action plan earlier this year which set corporate-wide target reductions for the organisation's main environmental impacts and according to a BBC spokesperson, a target has been set of reducing CO2 from transport sources by 20 per cent per person over five years.

“As part of our environment action plan we are asking staff to take fewer journeys where possible; to use audio and videoconferencing; where possible to choose rail rather than road or air; to explore car sharing with other colleagues; and to order cabs via the BBC system as they are chosen to help meet CO2 targets," the spokersperson said.

The BBC also claims that contracts recently awarded for the provision of cab services within the M25 require all suppliers to reduce their overall carbon emissions by 10 per cent year on year by using cleaner fuel and hybrid vehicles. BBC staff can also select a vehicle based on its carbon emissions when booking a hire car.

In addition, the BBC is encouraging staff to use the 50 videoconferencing sites across the organisation with at least one in every key building.

However, despite the Liberal Democrats' criticism of the BBC for not being greener than green, the party may have opened itself up for some criticism by hosting a screensaver on its environment homepage. Green IT experts agree that screensavers are a waste of energy and PC owners should set their computers to sleep or power down during periods of inactivity.