Climate Committee amongst worst energy efficiency performers

The government's newly formed panel on climate change has come under fire after it was revealed that its own offices were the least energy efficient of all Whitehall departments.

Inspectors graded the premises of the Committee on Climate Change with the lowest possible energy score, which was described as "one of the worst ratings yet recorded".

Ironically, the expert body was set up last year to advise prime minister Gordon Brown and his cabinet on the best ways to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

But the organisation's premises at Number 3, Whitehall Place, which also houses the Department of Energy & Climate Control, have been slapped with a Grade G energy rating - the lowest ranking possible.

The green scrutiny body was created to provide independent advice to government on how best to tackle climate change and achieve emission-reduction targets. It is headed by Lord Adair Turner and employs more than 25 staff to conduct research and help businesses comply with the Climate Change Act.

Energy performance certificates assess a building's fuel consumption as an operational rating on a sliding scale from A to G. All 18,000 public buildings in the UK are required to display their rating to comply with European Union legislation.

The committee's three-storey office block dates back to 1812 and was originally the home of the Dutch ambassador and the Commissioners of HM Woods, Forests and Land Revenues.

In 1829, the building became the home of the Metropolitan Police and their original Scotland Yard HQ.

But according to the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), the committee's energy efficiency blunder is typical of a slowdown in the government's progress on eco achievements.

They point to National Audit Office research, which shows 17 out of 21 government departments are not on track to meet their own target to improve energy efficiency this decade and of those, 15 are actually less energy efficient now than in 2000.

In a scathing report, Andrew Warren, director of ACE, said: "For years, ministers have promised to ensure that all buildings under central government control are within the top quartile of energy performance. At present, qualifying could mean getting as low a rating as a C. Yet the building that houses the Committee on Climate Change has one of the very worst of the G ratings so far recorded.

"As the voice of our collective ecological conscience, it should be in an exemplar building."

The Conservative's shadow environment secretary, Peter Ainsworth MP, added: "It's no good the government telling the public what to do, or wringing its hands about climate change, if it cannot lead by example.

"The brutal truth is that most government departments are failing to live up to the standards they have set themselves. Nothing new there then."

David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change said that the committee was looking to improve its energy efficiency performance. "The CCC has been based within the DECC building at Whitehall Place since September. In the next months we will be moving to new premises and we are aiming to move to the most energy efficient building that we can. Unfortunately, we are limited in our choice as we can only lease office space from the Government estate."

He added that the building's poor energy rating also served to highlight the potential for improvement right across the UK's building estate. "Whitehall Place's poor energy rating is indicative of the scope for energy efficiency improvement that we have identified in our analysis of buildings," he said. " DECC is working with the Carbon Trust to identify measures to improve the energy efficiency rating of Whitehall Place, [for example] by installing more sophisticated heating and lighting systems."