Annual reports

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Annual Report 2011-12

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2012
ISSN 1441-9335

Corporate outcome: Environmental sustainability and performance

Environmental sustainability

This section is presented in accordance with the requirements of section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Section 516A requires government departments to report on:

How the department applies the principles

The department administers the EPBC Act, which promotes ecologically sustainable development through the conservation and ecologically sustainable use of natural resources.

Examples of how the department applies the principles of ecologically sustainable development are summarised in the following table. More details on specific programs are contained in the chapters covering Outcomes 1-5 of this annual report.

Contribution of outcomes

The department is one of the leading Australian Government agencies for developing and implementing national policy, programs and legislation to protect and conserve the natural environment. A key function of the department is to promote and support ecologically sustainable development.

The department recently reviewed and updated its guidelines for Australian Government agencies to report on how they contribute to ecologically sustainable development. The guidelines are available from the department's internet site at <www.environment.gov.au/epbc/publications/reporting-guidelines.html>.

The department's outcomes contribute to ecologically sustainable development as follows:

Outcome 1: conserving and protecting Australia's terrestrial and marine biodiversity and ecosystems contributes to the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity, thereby helping to maintain the ecological processes on which life depends.

Outcome 2: promoting waste reduction and regulating hazardous substances, wastes, pollutants, ozone-depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases helps to prevent and minimise harm to the environment as a result of human activities.

Outcome 3: Australia's Antarctic interests include a strong focus on protecting the Antarctic environment and managing the sustainable use of marine resources.

Outcome 4: Australia's water resources are managed and used sustainably and efficiently.

Outcome 5: Australia's cultural and heritage values are protected from activities that impact on the environment.

Corporate Outcome: the department's policies and use of technology actively consider and implement strategies to minimise harm to the environment.

Table 3: How the department applies the principles of ecologically sustainable development
Principles Activities
Integration principle: decision-making processes should effectively integrate both long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable considerations.

Sustainability policy: the department is responsible for policy advice and implementation to achieve the government's strategic sustainability objectives. Of particular note is the Sustainable Population Strategy and associated measures, which explicitly address present and future community wellbeing considerations across environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability.

Integrated natural resource management: the department develops and invests in natural resource management plans and other strategies to maintain ecosystems. These include the regional component of the Caring for our Country initiative and bioregional marine plans. These plans integrate long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable considerations.

Integrated reporting: The department publishes a report on the state of the environment. The next report is being developed for 2016.
Precautionary principle: if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. Environmental impact assessments: the department applies the precautionary principle to prevent serious environmental damage when assessing the possible environmental impacts of proposed actions. Assessments must often be made in the absence of full scientific certainty, most notably assessments under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999, and through chemical and gene technology assessment schemes.
Intergenerational principle: the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced, for the benefit of future generations.

Pollution prevention: the department applies laws and National Environment Protection Measures to prevent environmentally harmful substances entering the environment. Laws include the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981, the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989, the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989.

Whole-of-government policy development: the department seeks to ensure that environmental protection is appropriately considered in the development of other Australian Government policies, including major energy and water reforms.

Community capacity building: the department administers the Australian Government's major natural resource management programs that have an environmental focus, including the Caring for our Country program. These programs increase the capacity of Australians to conserve ecosystems for future generations.

Protecting cultural and heritage values: the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 protects Australia's heritage of movable cultural objects and supports the protection by foreign countries of their heritage of movable cultural objects. Heritage values are considered where an action by the department may have an impact.
Biodiversity principle: the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration in decision-making. Biodiversity conservation: the department applies laws for the conservation of biodiversity to protect wildlife and heritage places with environmental values, including the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999, and, through the Caring for our Country program, marine protected areas, terrestrial parks and reserves.
Valuation principle: improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms should be promoted.

Conservation incentives: the department promotes incentives for protecting wildlife and habitats on private land through covenants. It supports fishing industry adjustment processes to reduce pressures on the marine environment.

Waste reduction incentives: the department provides incentives for more efficient use of resources. This include markets for waste products, such as used lubricating oils, and water efficiency labelling. It also contributes to reducing packaging waste, as a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant.

Environmental performance

The department continued its commitment to ensuring that our corporate operations reflect environmental best practice in a public service agency for urban office environments and remote/regional areas that the department is responsible for managing.

The department did this by:

Due to the diverse nature of the department's operations across Australia, the Southern Ocean and its territories, day-to-day operational environmental performance is managed at a local level however, where relevant, whole of department policies, initiatives and reporting are coordinated. These include:

The local area management approach is also supported by a number of local environmental performance committees, environmental policies, and environmental performance action plans, including climate change plans for most of the national parks and the botanic gardens and action plans with targets for the Australian Antarctic Division and the main Canberra offices.

The department has Environmental Management Systems (EMS) for the operations of our main Canberra offices and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Both Environmental Management Systems were externally audited this financial year and the department succeeded in obtaining continued three-year certification to the international standard for environmental management systems (ISO14001:2004) for both the AAD EMS and the Canberra EMS.

The department completed an ambitious Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Refresh project in March 2012. This refresh included the replacement of its entire fleet of aged and inefficient desktop computers. Seventy-three per cent of the old computers were replaced with very low footprint thin client devices, with the remainder being replaced by desktop PCs with considerably reduced power consumption. It is anticipated that the percentage of services delivered through the thin-client devices will continue to increase over time.

The refresh also replaced the printer and photocopier fleet with considerably fewer energy efficient multi-function devices with swipe-to-print technology. The benefits of this investment have begun to be realised in this year's energy and paper consumption results with many offices showing a decline in total energy use and paper use. The department's vision and cutting edge work resulted in the receipt of an international IT Ecosolutions Award from HP Australia for the Asia-Pacific region for the significant improvements in our environmental footprint.

The department has an active Environmental Contact Officer Network (ECONet). These staff volunteers in conjunction with the local environmental performance managers/teams continue to provide leadership, ideas and initiatives such as tours of recycling facilities and tree planting to support and promote a culture of environmental responsibility.

The department is continuing to improve our sustainability reporting and is participating in an Australian Government sustainability reporting pilot initiative using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework as a base for reporting. One of the key aims of this initiative is to improve the comparability of government agencies' reporting about organisational sustainability. As a result, new indicators have been used in this year's report that are not directly comparable with previous years' annual reports.

Table 3 presents a comprehensive overview of the environmental impacts resulting from the department's office based operations. This includes the activities of around 1614 staff in our three main offices in Canberra, 323 staff in the Australian Antarctic Division offices in Kingston, Tasmania and 58 staff in the Supervising Scientist Division and Parks Australia offices in Darwin and Jabiru. The department undertakes considerable work in non-office based environments. Environmental impacts from these operations are reported separately later in this chapter.

Table 4: Summary of environmental indicators
Indicator 2011-12 result 2010-11 result % change
Office/Building Energy Use
Total office tenant light and power energy consumption 3 633 866 kWh 3 756 771 kWh -3%
Total office tenant light and power energy consumption 13 081 917 MJ 13 524 375 MJ -3%
Office tenant light and power energy use per person 6555 MJ/FTE 7345 MJ/FTE -11%
Office tenant light and power per square metre 272 MJ/m2 281 MJ/m2 -3%
Total base building energy consumption 4 026 437 MJ 4 002 512 MJ 1%
Base building energy use per square metre 384 MJ/m2 382 MJ/m2 1%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to office tenant light and power and base/central building energy use 443 t CO2-e 447 t CO2-e -1%
Greenpower purchased 2 515 411 kWh 2 644 962 kWh -5%
Vehicle fleet
Total number of fleet vehicles 35.5 40.5 -12%
Average Green Vehicle Guide (GVG) rating of fleet (score out of 20) 12.1 11.4 6%
Total fuel purchased 61.8 KL 56.7 KL 9%
Total distance travelled 639 666 km 635 327 km 1%
Average fuel consumption of fleet vehicles 9.7 L/100km 8.9 L/100 km 8%
Total direct greenhouse emissions of fleet 60 t CO2-e 63.2 t CO2-e -5%
Greenhouse gas emissions
Total greenhouse gas emissions (after offsets) 503 t CO2-e 510 t CO2-e -1%
Total greenhouse gas emissions per person (after offsets) 0.25 t CO2-e /FTE 0.28 t CO2-e /FTE -9%
Air travel
Total number of flights (legs of travel) 20,026 18,851 6%
Total distance of flights 23 819 232 km 22 154 217 km 8%
Potable water consumption
Total potable water use 21 367 kL 21 667 kL -1%
Potable water use per person 11 kL/FTE 12 kL/FTE -9%
Potable office water use per square metre 0.5 kL/ m2 0.5 kL/ m2 -1%
Resource efficiency and waste
Office paper purchased per person 10.4 reams/FTE 12.4 reams/FTE -17%
percentage of office paper purchased with recycled content 100% 100% 0%
Office paper recycled 123 t 124 t -1%
Total waste produced 537 t 502 t 7%
Total waste produced per person 269 kg/FTE 273 kg/FTE -1%
percentage of waste diverted from landfill 51% 52% -3%

Notes:

Canberra offices

Sites and staffing

The department's Canberra office operations included major office tenancies in the John Gorton Building in Parkes and 33 Allara Street in Civic, an office sub-lease at Lovett Tower in Woden and a warehouse in Queanbeyan. The total number of staff in these offices increased by 11 per cent from 2010-11.

Environmental management framework

The department's Canberra office Environmental Management System (EMS) provides a framework and methodical approach to planning, implementing and reviewing efforts to reduce our negative environmental impacts. The Canberra office EMS was successfully recertified to the international standard for environmental management systems (ISO14001:2004) in May 2012.

During 2011-12, the department continued to improve the environmental management of the office operations in the Canberra offices and succeeded in meeting a number of long standing environmental performance targets. The Canberra Environmental Performance Committee set new ambitious targets for the reduction of office electricity and paper use, greenhouse gas emissions associated with business travel and waste sent to landfill. New targets were also set to improve environmental outcomes of procurement processes.

Energy

The whole-of-department ICT Refresh project, completed in March 2012, contributed to a dramatic 14 per cent reduction in office electricity use per person. Office electricity use in 2011-2012 was 5610 megajoules per person, well below the government target of 7 500 megajoules per person per year. The department continued to purchase 100 per cent GreenPower for its sites in Canberra, resulting in an offset of 2862 tonnes CO2-e in 2011-12.

The distances travelled by departmental staff in fleet cars and by commercial flights increased by five to ten per cent, commensurate with increased staffing levels. The Canberra pool car fleet continued to achieve great fuel efficiency due to the large proportion of fuel-efficient hybrid and electric vehicles. Since 2002, all greenhouse gas emissions from fleet fuel use have been offset through GreenFleet. One hundred and two tonnes CO2-e were offset in 2011-2012. The department also continued to provide a fleet of bicycles for staff to use in Canberra.

Resource efficiency & waste

To achieve ambitious targets set for waste reduction, our Canberra offices participated in the ACTSmart OfficeRecycling Program. Improved waste management practices and extensive staff engagement led to a significant reduction (24 per cent per person) in the waste sent to landfill. Eighty per cent of all office waste was diverted from landfill in 2011-2012.

The department continued to purchase 100 per cent post-consumer recycled copy paper. Swipe-to-print technology has resulted in a considerable reduction (18 per cent per person) in the amount of copy paper ordered from 2010-11 to 2011-2012

Water

The Canberra offices used 522 kilolitres less potable water in 2011-12 from 2010-11. This represents a significant reduction of 12 per cent water use per person. This may be due to the installation of a new smart water meter in the main office which flags abnormal water use to the water suppliers who notify the building owners immediately enabling them to address any water leaks. The department continues to implement other water saving measures in the John Gorton Building including grey water recycling and the use of non-potable water for the water feature.

Table 5: Summary of environmental indicators-Canberra offices
Indicator 2011-12 result 2010-11 result % change
Office/building energy use
Total office tenant light and power 9 055 480 MJ 9 521 863 MJ -5%
Tenant light and power per person 5610 MJ/FTE 6524 MJ/FTE -14%
Tenant light and power per square metre 404 MJ/m2 427 MJ/m2 -5%
Total base building energy use n/a n/a n/a
Base building energy use by area n/a n/a n/a
Building energy use (electricity and gas):

Laboratories

 n/a n/a n/a

Public buildings

 n/a n/a n/a

Accommodation

 n/a n/a n/a

Warehouse

 52 005 MJ 128 873 MJ -60%
Greenpower purchased as a proportion of total electricity purchased 100% 100% 0%
Renewable energy generated 0 MJ 0 MJ 0%
Transport
Total number of fleet vehicles by location:
Canberra pool cars 10 15 -33%
Other fleet cars 10 10 0%
Total number of operational vehicles n/a n/a n/a
Average Green Vehicle Guide (GVG) rating of fleet vehicles by location (score out of 20):
Canberra pool cars 17.0 17.0 0%
Other fleet cars 9.9 10.6 -7%
Average fuel consumption of fleet vehicles by location:
Canberra pool cars 6.0 L/100km 6.8 L/100km -12%
Non-canberra fleet cars 10.6 L/100km 10.4 L/100km 2%
Fleet vehicle fuel consumption by type:
Unleaded petrol 8297 L 6799 L 22%
E10 petrol 6758 L 6013 L 12%
Diesel 23 993 L 20 430 L 17%
LPG 0 L 498 L -100%
Total distance travelled by vehicle fleet 404 969 km 366 870 km 10%
Total number of commercial flights 16,054 15,339 5%
Total distance travelled by commercial flights 18 351 971 km 16 838 491 km 9%
Greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions (after offsets) attributed to office tenant light and power 0 t CO2-e 0 t CO2-e 0%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to base building energy use n/a n/a n/a
Greenhouse gas emissions (after offsets) attributed to energy used by:
Laboratories n/a n/a n/a
Public buildings n/a n/a n/a
Accommodation n/a n/a n/a
Other-warehouse 0 t CO2-e 0 t CO2-e 0%
Greenhouse gas emissions (after offsets) attributed to fleet vehicles 0 t CO2-e 0 t CO2-e 0%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to commercial flights 4138 t CO2-e 3812 t CO2-e 9%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to operational aircraft use n/a n/a n/a
Total greenhouse gas emissions after offsets (not including commercial flights and waste) 0 t CO2-e 0 t CO2-e 0%
Total greenhouse gas emissions after offsets (not including commercial flights and waste) per person 0 t CO2-e /FTE 0 t CO2-e /FTE 0%
Water consumption
Total metered potable office water use 17 991 kL 18 514 kL -3%
Total metered potable office water use per person 11 kL/FTE 13 kL/FTE -12%
Total metered potable office water use by area 0.476 kL/ m2 0.483 kL/ m2 -1%
Resource efficiency and waste
Internal copy paper per person 10.9 reams/FTE 13.4 reams/FTE -18%
percentage of paper purchased with post consumer recycled content 100% 100% 0%
Office paper recycled 111.7 t 119 t -6%
Other waste sent to recycling facilities (excluding office paper):
Co-mingled office waste 34.1 t 35.3 t -3%
Organic waste 23.7 t 30 t -21%
Waste sent to landfill 44.7 t 53.3 t -16%
Total waste production 228.5 t 250.0 t -9%
Total waste sent to landfill per person 27.7 kg/FTE 36.5 kg/FTE -24%
Total waste recycled per person 113.9 kg/FTE 134.8 kg/FTE -16%
Proportion of waste diverted from landfill 80% 79% 1%

Darwin/Jabiru

Sites and staffing

The Darwin/Jabiru operation covers two premises—the Darwin office and the Jabiru Field Station. Both premises accommodate staff from the Supervising Scientist Division Darwin/Jabiru and Parks Australia Division. The Jabiru facility is also shared with a commercial tenant. It should be noted that calculations reported per person for electricity and water use at the Jabiru site will be inflated as the electricity and water totals are for both staff and commercial tenants but only departmental staff numbers have been used to calculate the per person figures. Staffing levels have been maintained for the Supervising Scientist Division Darwin/Jabiru and decreased slightly for Parks Australia Division.

Supervising Scientist Division SSD buildings are used for office and laboratory operations as well as storage of plant and equipment.

Environmental management framework

Darwin/Jabiru contributes to the department's sustainability objectives through a range of measures aimed at continuously improving the environmental performance of business operations and minimising any associated environmental impacts.

The department is exploring the possibility of developing an Environmental Management System for Darwin/Jabiru in the future. In the interim, Darwin/Jabiru operations are conducted in a manner consistent with the department's aim to minimise the ecological footprint on the environment. This involves a range of strategies including complying with legal and other agreements, actively promoting sustainable work practices, preventing pollution as a result of work practices, focusing on continuous improvement, public reporting of environmental performance as part of the department's annual report and procurement and use of sustainable goods and services.

Energy

During 2011-12, total power consumption for all sites combined decreased again by seven per cent as per the previous year. With an aim to more effectively manage electricity usage, major project work was commenced to modify the Darwin laboratory building air-conditioning system. These works are due to be finalised during August 2012 and benefits from the more energy efficient system should see a further decrease in Darwin electricity usage next year. Continued routine maintenance of electrical items including testing and tagging of electrical items, and replacing faulty and aged equipment has also assisted with the more efficient use of electricity. Due to Jabiru's remote location, there are often power blackouts and a requirement to generate electricity using the generator during these times. Accordingly, there are fluctuations every year in electricity bought and electricity generated. It is important to note that both sites do not have separate metering so individual components of the electricity reporting are estimates only, based on area.

Vehicle mileage decreased by five per cent from 170 568 kilometres to 162 655 kilometres, resulting in an overall decrease in fuel use of five per cent. Although there was an increase of one per cent in diesel use, it was balanced out by a significant decrease of 41 per cent in the use of unleaded petrol (ULP). As fleet vehicle leases have expired, ULP vehicles have been replaced with more fuel-efficient diesel vehicles. As at 30 June 2012, SSD and POT have a fleet of diesel vehicles used primarily for travel to and from Darwin and Jabiru and for off-road remote fieldwork activities. Fleet vehicles have an average GVG (Green Vehicle Guide) rating of 8.6 and use an average of 12.7 litres per 100 km.

The continued reduction of distances travelled has been achieved through initiatives such as car pooling and the use of video conferencing facilities instead of driving or flying long distances to attend meetings.

Total greenhouse gas emissions for the Darwin and Jabiru Field Station in 2011-12 were 686 tonnes CO2-e, a decrease of seven per cent compared with 2010-11. This lower emissions figure includes reductions of 11 per cent in transport fuel and seven per cent in electricity.

Resource efficiency & waste

The waste figures reported are for Darwin only as the Jabiru Field Station does not collect data on waste, although it continues to sort waste to be recycled at the local waste repository. There has been no change in total waste between 2010-11 and 2011-12. There was a four per cent (0.5 tonne) increase in landfill waste, a 14 per cent decrease in paper product waste, and four per cent decrease in co-mingled waste (plastic/glass only) sent for recycling. Changes to waste collection and disposal at the Darwin facility are also reflected in reduction in production of greenhouse gas emissions. Darwin continues to operate a worm farm for recycling organic food waste.

All paper purchased is a partially recycled product. As with other areas in the department, the move to swipe-to-print technology has resulted in a decrease in paper purchased compared with 2010-11; for SSD it is an 11 per cent reduction. The organisation provides copies of all publications on the Supervising Scientist Division's website, which has reduced the need to print publications for stakeholders.

Water

Water consumption at the Darwin facility increased by 39 per cent during 2011-2012—from 2-022 kL recorded use in 2010-11 to 3065 kL. During the year, a new water meter was installed to monitor water usage in the lab area buildings, so this in addition to construction works in the area may have contributed to the increase in water usage, although at this stage further investigation into the cause of the increase is required.

Water consumption at the Jabiru Field Station decreased by 19 per cent—from 10 111 kL in 2010-11 to 8217 kL in 2011-12. It is estimated that SSD is responsible for about 30 per cent of total water used at the Jabiru facility by staff, aquaculture activities and grounds maintenance. It is estimated that 70 per cent of water is used by a local Indigenous business that operates a native plant nursery on the site.

Table 6: Summary of environmental indicators-Darwin/Jabiru
Indicator 2011-12 result 2010-11 result % change
Office/building energy use
Total office tenant light and power 727 167 MJ 782 330 MJ -7%
Tenant light and power per person 11 161MJ/FTE 11 488 MJ/FTE -3%
Tenant light and power per square metre 399 MJ/m2 429 MJ/m2 -7%
Total base building energy use 727 167 MJ 782 330 MJ -7%
Base building energy use by area 399 MJ/m2 429 MJ/m2 -7%
Building energy use (electricity and gas):
Laboratories 915 042 MJ 984 457 MJ -7%
Public buildings n/a n/a n/a
Accommodation n/a n/a n/a
Other—warehouse 761 870 MJ 819 666 MJ -7%
Greenpower purchased as a proportion of total electricity purchased 0% 0% 0%
Renewable energy generated 0 MJ 0 MJ 0%
Transport
Total number of fleet vehicles 8.5 8.5 0%
Total number of operational vehicles n/a n/a n/a
Average Green Vehicle Guide (GVG) rating of fleet vehicles 8.6 8.3 4%
Average fuel consumption of fleet vehicles 12.7 L/100km 14.2 L/100km -11%
Fleet vehicle fuel consumption by type:
Unleaded petrol 1284 L 2184 L -41%
E10 petrol n/a n/a n/a
Diesel 13 642 L 13 547 L 1%
LPG n/a n/a n/a
Total distance travelled by vehicle fleet 162 655 km 170 568 km -5%
Total number of commercial flights 224 239 -6%
Total distance travelled by commercial flights 517 846 km 592 597 km -13%
Greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to office tenant light and power 150t 161t -7%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to base building energy use 150t 161t -7%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to energy used by:
Laboratories 189 t CO2-e 203 t CO2-e -7%
Public buildings n/a n/a n/a
Accommodation n/a n/a n/a
Other—warehouse 157 t CO2-e 169 t CO2-e -7%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to fleet vehicles 40 t CO2-e 45 t CO2-e -11%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to commercial flights 110 t CO2-e 125 t CO2-e -12%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to operational aircraft use n/a n/a n/a
Total greenhouse gas emissions (not including commercial flights and waste) 686 t CO2-e 739 t CO2-e -7%
Total greenhouse gas emissions (not including commercial flights and waste) per person 11.7 t CO2-e 12.1 t CO2-e -3%
Water consumption
Total metered potable water use (office, lab and irrigation)
Darwin 3065 kL 2202 kL 39%
Jabiru 8217 kL 10 111 kL -19%
Total metered potable water use per person (office, lab and irrigation) n/a n/a n/a
Total metered potable water use by area n/a n/a n/a
Resource efficiency and waste
Internal copy paper per person 6.40 reams/FTE 7.17 reams/FTE -11%
percentage of paper purchased with post consumer recycled content 100% 100% 0%
Office paper recycled 0.48 t 0.56 t -14%
Other waste sent to recycling facilities (excluding office paper):
Co-mingled office waste 10.74 t 11.16 t -4.8%
Organic waste Not measured Not measured Not measured
Waste sent to landfill 12.48 t 12.00 t 4%
Total waste production 23.70 t 23.70 t 0%
Total waste sent to landfill per person 213 kg/FTE 197 kg/FTE 8%
Total waste recycled per person 207 kg/FTE 195 kg/FTE 6%
Proportion of waste diverted from landfill 47% 49% -4%

Parks Australia

Sites and staffing

This Parks Australia report covers the activities of:

The environmental performance for the Canberra-based staff is covered by the Canberra offices report, and the performance of Darwin-based staff is covered by the Darwin/Jabiru report.

Management plans were in place or in preparation for all sites to ensure environmental, economic and social objectives and considerations are outlined and integrated. Environmental monitoring and reporting regimes were also in place. A range of operational requirements contributed to the carbon footprint of each site, including electricity generation, transport, development of new infrastructure and waste management. Some properties have specialised needs; for example, the Australian National Botanic Gardens has to maintain climate-controlled conditions in its glasshouses. The remoteness limited opportunities to reduce environmental footprints. Park management activities such as revegetation projects and fire and pest control also had implications for carbon emissions.

Environmental management framework

In 2011-12, climate change strategies were developed for Christmas Island and Pulu Keeling National Parks. Climate change strategies are already in place for Kakadu and Booderee National Parks, the Australian National Botanic Gardens and Norfolk Island National Park and Botanic Garden. A climate change strategy was prepared for Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park and has received support from the park Board of Management. Implementation of the strategies across the parks and reserves continues.

Conserving biodiversity is a primary objective for all reserves, and careful management of the use of fire and vegetation can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, reliable indicators are not yet available to measure the contribution that biodiversity management activities make to cutting emissions.

Energy

Total energy consumption for the parks and reserves has decreased in 2011-12.

Kakadu and Uluru - Kata Tjuta national parks continue to rely primarily on diesel power generation as they are not on an electricity grid. However, consistent with a three-year Energy Audit completed in 2009-10, Kakadu National Park has commenced replacing its diesel-powered generators with more efficient systems that require less fuel. During 2011-12 Kakadu National Park replaced two electricity generators in the South Alligator District, resulting in a saving of approximately 85 litres of diesel fuel per day and reducing CO2 emissions by over 84 tonnes per annum. Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park is undertaking a program of generator engine rebuilds which will ensure equipment is operating at optimal performance levels.

The ANBG is also limited in its ability to reduce energy consumption, due to its business requirements for maintaining constant plant and herbarium conditions. However, the ANBG continues to aim for a 10 per cent offset in its energy usage and in 2011-2012 purchased 115 118 kilowatt hours of GreenPower (approximately 11 per cent of purchased electricity).

The ANBG has commenced Stage 2 of recommended works from an energy audit to replace the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system in one of their buildings to deliver electricity savings in 2012-13. The Gardens are also continuing to introduce more electric vehicles to support horticultural operations and in 2011-12 introduced an electric powered people mover for public tours.

Parks and reserves continue to implement and undertake a range of actions to improve energy use. While the impact of these actions may not result in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions they do reflect the efforts being made to improve operations in areas, some of which are remote and provide limited opportunities for large impact changes. Actions and improvements include:

Parks staff continue to make a conscious effort to minimise business-related travel, while recognising that face-to-face contact and visits to remote locations are sometimes necessary, particularly for the three parks that are managed jointly with their Indigenous owners. Parks Australia increasingly uses alternatives to air travel such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing.

Resource efficiency and waste

Access to regional recycling facilities is gradually improving for more remote locations such as Kakadu and Uluru - Kata Tjuta national parks and external territories. Basic recycling facilities are now available on Norfolk Island and office paper is being sourced from renewable sources when available. Kakadu National Park is participating in a regional recycling and resource recovery program, and will continue its recycling programs in and around offices for paper, glass and aluminum. Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park is operating the Mutitjulu waste site facility in line with the ‘Waste Management Guidelines for Small Communities in the Northern Territory-Working Towards Best Practice 2009' and have engaged the services of an appropriate service provider to manage the Mutitjulu waste site facility. Recycling facilities continue to be available in all ANBG offices and onsite facilities including composting of organic kitchen waste. The ANBG is a ‘rubbish bin free' site for the public and they are encouraged to take home their waste for recycling. In 2011-12 approximately 500 cubic metres of plant material was recycled as mulch and used onsite.

In 2011-12 Parks Australia purchased an average of four reams per employee. This represented a very slight increase in paper usage from the previous year. The increase reflects the bulk purchasing patterns of remote parks. The parks and reserves are still well under the departmental target of 10 reams per employee per year.

Water

Since 2011 the Australian National Botanic Gardens has been extracting non-potable water from Lake Burley Griffin for irrigation requirements saving up to 170 million litres of potable water from Canberra's water supply. In addition the gardens continues to use water saving initiatives such as soil sensors, water saving irrigation components and priority watering, recycling of water from catchment ponds, and use of mulch to reduce evaporation.

Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park has commenced a process to develop and implement a new and improved water management system for the Mutitjulu Community and the park Head Quarters precinct. As well as ensuring the quality of drinking water an improvement in the statistical data collection will enable the park to better monitor usage.

Pulu Keeling has installed three new water tanks to supply water to Parks residence that will service amenities in addition to drinking water.

Norfolk Island National Park operates entirely on harvested rainwater. New tanks with larger capacity have been installed for the office and newly constructed information centre.

Parks and reserves continue to upgrade water infrastructure and institute savings where possible. Activities range from upgrading water reticulation infrastructure at Cave Beach in Booderee National Park to modifying watering regimes in the Christmas Island Mine-site to Forest Rehabilitation program nursery.

Table 7: Summary of environmental indicators-Parks Australia
Indicator 2011-12 result 2010-11 result % change
Office/building energy use
Total office tenant light and power 225 061 MJ 295 085 MJ -24%
Tenant light and power per person n/a n/a n/a
Tenant light and power per square metre 227 MJ/m2 297 MJ/m2 -24%
Total base building energy use 450 626 MJ 518 997 MJ -13%
Base building energy use by area 421 MJ/m2 485 MJ/m2 -13%
Building energy use (electricity)
Public buildings 1 168 824 MJ 1 372 372 MJ -15%
Laboratories n/a n/a n/a
Climate controlled stores 2 763 436 MJ 2 198 530 MJ 26%
Other buildings 32 671 686 MJ 35 460 132MJ -8%
Other uses 279 310 MJ 191 051 MJ 46%
Greenpower purchased as a proportion of total electricity purchased 5.85% 5.99% -2%
Renewable energy generated Not recorded Not recorded Not recorded
Transport
Total number of fleet vehicles (anbg only) 9 9 0%
Average Green Vehicle guide (gvg) rating of fleet vehicles 9.5 9.5 0%
Average fuel consumption of fleet vehicles 15.1 L/100km 10.7 L/100km 41%
Fleet vehicle fuel consumption by type:
Unleaded petrol 3246 L 2459 L 32%
E10 petrol n/a n/a n/a
Diesel 9272 L 6620 L 40%
Lpg n/a n/a n/a
Total distance travelled by vehicle fleet 82 677 km 84 672 km -2%
Total number of commercial flights Not reported Not reported Not reported
Total distance travelled by commercial flights Not reported Not reported Not reported
Total number of operational vehicles 127 112 13%
Greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions (after offsets) attributed to office tenant light and power 54 t CO2-e 69 t CO2-e -22%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to base building energy use 98 t CO2-e 106 t CO2-e -8%
Greenhouse gas emissions (after offsets)attributed to energy used by:
Public buildings 257 t CO2-e 297 t CO2-e 13%
Laboratories n/a n/a n/a
Climate controlled stores 142 t CO2-e 113 t CO2-e 26%
Other buildings 3073 t CO2-e 3343 t CO2-e -8%
Other uses 57 t CO2-e 22 t CO2-e 159%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to fleet vehicles 32 t CO2-e 23 t CO2-e 39%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to operational vehicles 818 t CO2-e 873 t CO2-e -6%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to commercial flights Not reported Not reported Not reported
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to operational aircraft use 3 t CO2-e 25 t CO2-e -87%
Total greenhouse gas emissions after offsets (not including operational vehicles, commercial flights and waste) 3717 t CO2-e 3997 t CO2-e -7%
Total greenhouse gas emissions after offsets (not including operational vehicles, commercial flights and waste) per person 17.3 t CO2-e /FTE 17.7 t CO2-e /FTE -2%
Water consumption
Total metered potable office water use 195 393 kL 200 926 kL -3%
Total metered potable office water use per person 909 kL/FTE 887 kL/FTE 2%
Total metered potable office water use by area 12.38 kL/ m2 12.73 kL/ m2 -3%
Total harvested water use 70 885 kL 29 903 kL 137%
Total rainwater captured 254 526 kL 254 504 kL 0%
Resource efficiency and waste
Internal copy paper per person 3.7 reams/FTE 3.65 reams/FTE 1%
percentage of paper purchased with post consumer recycled content 29% 42% -31%
Office paper recycled 0.25 t 0.22 t 14%
Other waste sent to recycling facilities (excluding office paper):
Cardboard 3.8 t 3.9 t -2%
Co-mingled office waste 18.5 t 15.8 t 17%
Organic waste 30t 31.5 t -5%
Waste sent to landfill Not recorded Not recorded Not recorded
Total waste production Not recorded Not recorded Not recorded
Total waste sent to landfill per person Not recorded Not recorded Not recorded
Total waste recycled per person Not recorded Not recorded Not recorded
Proportion of waste diverted from landfill Not recorded Not recorded Not recorded

Australian Antarctic Division

Sites and staffing

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) reports on its environmental performance for the offices, laboratories, workshops at Kingston and the port facility in Hobart in Tasmania, as well as environmental performance at subantarctic Macquarie Island station and three Antarctic stations—Davis, Mawson and Casey. Each year over 100 expeditioners are sent south to manage and support scientific research and operational programs. Many of these are return expeditioners, however most are new and undergo extensive environmental training before going south. Up to 300 other personnel go south each year as scientists, field workers, summer personnel and round trip projects, inflating station numbers for periods of hours to months. These numbers affect water consumption, energy use and waste generation, resulting in peaks during the summer months. Station populations drop to as little as 12 to 15 over the winter months.

Environmental management framework

The AAD continues to act on its commitment to ecologically sustainable development principles, as described in the AAD's 2012-2015 Environmental Policy, through its efforts to continually improve environmental performance across all its operations in Australia, the Southern Ocean and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

This is achieved through ongoing external certification of the AAD's Environmental Management System (EMS) to the international standard for environmental management systems (ISO 14001:2004). External auditors undertake surveillance audits each year for Australian-based operations, and at least one station is visited every three years. Australia is the only Antarctic Treaty party to hold such certification for environmental management and it continues to champion this systematic approach through the Committee for Environmental Protection of the Antarctic Treaty System.

Efforts to improve environmental sustainability of AAD's activities in Antarctica continue, with improvements to waste management and wind generation. At Macquarie Island, monitoring for the largest island vertebrate pest eradication program ever attempted has required an increase in personnel present on the island over winter, with a commensurate increase in energy use, water consumption and waste production.

Energy

Energy use at Kingston facilities has increased due to construction on site to improve and update facilities at Kingston. The warehouse racking has been completely replaced and the whole facility upgraded to meet work, health and safety requirements as well as improvements in waste management for Kingston. It is important to note that the Kingston facilities do not have separate metering so individual components of the electricity reporting are estimates only, based on area.

A remarkable achievement of note is the contribution of renewable energy to conserving fuel in the Antarctic. Since commissioning in early 2003, the Mawson wind turbines have made a significant renewable contribution to the station's electrical and heating energy requirements. Further energy efficiency and fuel savings are achieved by using cogeneration to capture waste heat from the station's diesel powered electrical generators. This heat is used to warm the station along with boilers powered by the wind turbines and booster diesel-fired boilers. For the last six years, renewable energy has provided around 40 per cent of the energy needs of Mawson station. For further information and live data, visit AAD's website- www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/mawson.

Resource efficiency and waste

Significant improvement in office paper recycled from the AAD is due to a major clean up in the warehouse facility, which included boxes of old brochures, posters, booklets and the like, a major clean up of engineering drawing storages and files, substantial clean up of a number of offices and the disposal of duplicate records. AAD ran education programs, placarded waste disposal sites with new labels and extended its deployment of waste bins across the site all which contributed to increases in co-mingled waste and office paper recycling. The AAD does not have a swipe and print facility, so records of office copy paper actually used and the usage per person data are not collected. However, it is worthy of note that increased electronic record keeping using HP TRIM seems to be reducing the amount of paper used through printing. The increase in recycling and total waste production from Kingston, including waste to landfill, is due to the major warehouse clean up at Kingston.

Waste returned to Australia from its stations has increased, but this is artificially inflated due to the ship successfully getting into Mawson station this year to collect two year's waste. In fact, waste from the stations that has been diverted from landfill has increased to 40 per cent in 2011-12 with improved packing, recycling and reuse practices. Improvements in waste management labelling, storage and packing procedures have also led to improved manifesting of cargo and sorting for disposal on return to Australia, thereby ensuring greater recycling and reuse outcomes.

Water

Water production and consumption at the AAD's Antarctic and Macquarie Island stations varies widely and is dependent upon the unique method of water production and storage employed at each station.

Water at Davis Station is drawn from a tarn and then processed through a continuous micro-filtration system and a reverse osmosis desalination plant. The water produced is then pumped via a calcite filter to two 600 000 litre tanks for storage and then onto smaller tanks for consumption. Total water storage at Davis is 1 430 000 litres.

Water at both Mawson and Casey stations is produced primarily by melting snow and ice in a melt cavern using hot water pumped through a melt bell. The water is then pumped into storage tanks before passing through a gauze filter at Mawson and a calcite filter at Casey to the end user. During summer there is a limited amount of free water depending on ambient temperature, which controls the extent of the melt. Total water storage at Mawson and Casey stations is 270 000 litres each.

The water for Macquarie Island is run off from the plateau, collected in a small dam, piped to two storage tanks before passing through gauze, sand and UV filters to the end user. The total water storage capacity at Macquarie Island is 104 000 litres.

Because freshwater is a precious commodity which has to be produced by the variety of methods outlined above, including the use of fuel to melt ice, water saving appliances are installed wherever possible and each person on station is asked to use as little water as possible.

Table 8: Summary of environmental indicators-AAD Kingston offices
Indicator 2011-2012 result 2010-11 result % change
Office/building energy use
Total office tenant light and power 3 299 270 MJ 3 220 182 MJ 2%
Tenant light and power per person 11 146 MJ/FTE 10 593 MJ/FTE 5%
Tenant light and power per square metre 381 MJ/m2 372 MJ/m2 2%
Total base building energy use 3 299 270 MJ 3 220 182 MJ 2%
Base building energy use by area 381 MJ/m2 372 MJ/m2 2%
Building energy use
Laboratories 1 026 439 MJ 1 001 837 MJ 2%
Public buildings n/a n/a n/a
Accommodation n/a n/a n/a
Other including warehouse, workshops, outbuildings 7 038 446 MJ 6 869 725 MJ 2%
Cargo facility at hobart port 683 784 MJ 581 580 MJ 18%
Greenpower purchased as a proportion of total electricity purchased 0% 0% 0%
Renewable energy generated 0 MJ 0 MJ 0%
Transport
Total number of fleet vehicles 7 7 0%
Average green vehicle guide (gvg) rating of fleet (score out of 20) 12.6 12.6 0%
Average fuel consumption of fleet vehicles 9.2 L/100km 13.5 L/100km -32%
Fleet vehicle fuel consumption by type:
Unleaded petrol 5,480 L 5,327 L 3%
E10 petrol 0 L 0 L 0%
Diesel 2,308 L 1,901 L 21%
Lpg 0 L 0 L 0%
Total distance travelled by vehicle fleet 72 042 km 97 889 km -26%
Total number of commercial flights 3748 3273 15%
Total distance travelled by commercial flights 4 949 415 km 4 723 129km 5%
Greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to office tenant light and power 293 t CO2-e 286 t CO2-e 2%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to base building energy use 293 t CO2-e 286 t CO2-e 2%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to energy used by:
Laboratories 91 t CO2-e 89 t CO2-e 2%
Public buildings n/a n/a n/a
Accommodation n/a n/a n/a
Other—warehouse, workshops, outbuildings 626 t CO2-e 611 t CO2-e 2%
Cargo facility at hobart port 61 t CO2-e 52 t CO2-e 17%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to fleet vehicles 20 t CO2-e 18 t CO2-e 11%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to commercial flights 1087 t CO2-e 1039 t CO2-e 5%
Total greenhouse gas emissions (not including commercial flights and waste) 1348 t CO2-e 1342 t CO2-e 0%
Total greenhouse gas emissions (not including commercial flights and waste) per person 4.3 t CO2-e 4.2 t CO2-e 2%
Water consumption
Total metered potable office water use 3376 kL 3153 kL 7%
Total metered potable office water use per person 11.3 kL/FTE 10.9 kL/FTE 4%
Total metered potable office water use by area 0.39 kL/ m2 0.36 kL/ m2 8%
Resource efficiency and waste
Internal copy paper per person 6.54 reams/FTE 7.27reams/FTE -10%
percentage of paper purchased with post consumer recycled content 100% 100% 0%
Office paper recycled 10.7 t 4.3 t 149%
Other waste sent to recycling facilities (excluding office paper):
Co-mingled office waste 66.4 t 50.3 t 32%
Organic waste 0 t 0 t 0%
Waste sent to landfill 207.6 t 173.8 t 19%
Total waste production 284.7 t 228.4 t 25%
Total waste sent to landfill per person 642.7 kg/FTE 541.4 kg/FTE 19%
Total waste recycled per person 238.7 kg/FTE 170.1 kg/FTE 40%
Proportion of waste diverted from landfill 27% 24% 12%
Table 9: Environmental Indicators-Antarctic and Macquarie Island Operations (Four Stations)
Indicator 2011-12 result 2010-11 result % change
Energy use
Electricity generated by diesel 20 057 130 MJ 19 272 359 MJ 4%
Renewable energy generated 4 666 522 MJ 5 828 450 MJ -20%
Electricity use per person (expeditioners, round trippers, voyage management staff, crew, etc) 169 340 MJ/FTE 158 365 MJ/FTE 7%
Operational diesel fuel used (electricity generation, vehicles, plant, incinerators, boilers) sab-special antarctic blend 2 119 474 2 118 466 L 0%
Total number of operational vehicles 178 Not recorded n/a
Marine diesel oil used for shipping 3 661 719 L 3 946 272 L -7%
Aircraft fuel used (aviation turbine kerosene) 630 980 L 613 544 L 3%
Greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to diesel fuel (electricity generation, vehicles, plant, etc.) 6846 t CO2-e 6843 t CO2-e 0%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to shipping 11 464 t CO2-e 12 355 t CO2-e -7%
Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to aircraft 1739 t CO2-e 1691 t CO2-e 3%
Total greenhouse gas emissions for antarctic operations 20 049 t CO2-e 20 889 t CO2-e -4%
Total greenhouse gas emissions for antarctic operations per person 137 t CO2-e 132 t CO2-e 4%
Greenhouse gas emissions saved through renewable energy generation 326 t CO2-e 407 t CO2-e -20%
Water consumption
Total water use 7,011 kL 6,705 kL 5%
Total water use per person 48.02 kL/FTE 42.30 kL/FTE 14%
Waste returned to Australia
Liquid waste treated and disposed 47.1 t 22.4 t 110%
Waste sent to recycling facilities 76.8 t 25.8 t 198%
Waste sent to landfill 113.2 t 120.5 t -6%
Total waste production 237.3 t 203.1 t 17%
Total waste per person 1625 kg/FTE 1281 kg/FTE 27%
Proportion of waste diverted from landfill-large amount of recycling from Mawson 40% 33% 21%
Total AAD greenhouse gas emissions
Total greenhouse gas emissions (not including commercial flights and waste)-Kingston offices, labs, workshops, warehouse, outbuildings and cargo facility 1348 t CO2-e 1342 t CO2-e 0%
Total greenhouse gas emissions for antarctic operations 20 049 t CO2-e 20 889 t CO2-e -4.0%
Total AAD greenhouse gas emissions 21 397 t CO2-e 22 231 t CO2-e -4%