Replacing a paper-intensive government tendering system with an electronic service has reduced carbon emissions by 500 tonnes over three years in printing alone, according to the company that runs the service.
The implication for businesses is that emissions and costs can be reduced even by tackling relatively obvious inefficiencies.
The system in question is OGCbuying.solutions, an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in the Treasury. Previously it handled paper-based tenders, for all sorts of contracts ranging from new police bicycles to an Olympic stadium. Just one of these tender processes can result in warehouse-volume quantities of documents.
But for the last three years electronic sourcing specialist BravoSolution has been providing the system as a managed service, hosting electronic documents rather than storing paper ones.
“When we started running the system, the environmental impact was never part of the proposition,” Nader Sabbaghian, UK managing director of BravoSolution told BusinessGreen.com. “It was about modernising government procurement, reducing cost, increasing efficiency ad making the process more traceable.”
Nevertheless, Sabbaghian’s team estimates that over the three years it has removed the need to print 53 million pages – an equivalent to 500 tonnes of carbon emissions.
That does not include the cost and emissions saved in not transporting the documents which, had they been printed, would have been transported by courier.
Big cuts in carbon emissions delivered through simple steps such as switching off PCs, using double-sided printing, and extending computer lifecycles 15 Sep 2009
Recession and oil price main drivers behind fall in consumption as developing world emissions rise above 50 per cent for first time 26 Jun 2009
Here, in full, is shadow chancellor George Osborne's Imperial College speech on the Conservative's environmental plans 24 Nov 2009
Incentives for suppliers to invest in infrastructure are weak, says regulator 03 Feb 2010
New biofuel requires no car or plane engine modification 15 Jul 2009
Resolution follows similar decision by Shell shareholders last month 09 Feb 2010
Measures needed to ensure cars do not charge from fossil fuel-powered grid 09 Feb 2010
Researchers use salicornia plants in carbon-negative process to grow biofuels 09 Feb 2010
More news
Friends of the Earth’s biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter argues that biofuel targets are a distraction from tried-and-tested ways of reducing transport emissions 09 Feb 2010
Trewin Restorick wonders if the concept du jour of "nudging" behaviour change can help curb UK carbon emissions 08 Feb 2010
From feed in tariffs to vanishing top soil, we run down the top stories from the past week 08 Feb 2010 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
