The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has a new mission statement ‘Better World, Better Britain’ that encapsulates the interdependence of our modern world.  The UK’s prosperity and security can only be secured through progress globally on climate change. And making that progress is one of the FCO’s 4 new priority policy goals - to promote a low carbon, high growth global economy.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is determined that all aspects of its operations at home and overseas are managed sustainably.  It believes that environmental considerations must be at the heart of the way the FCO is run.  Not only is this necessary to provide support and credibility to our policy goal of promoting a low carbon, high growth global economy, but is also essential if we are to meet our legal obligations and wider government targets on the sustainability of the government estate.  We are therefore committed to continual improvement in our environmental performance, preventing pollution and minimising to the extent reasonably practicable, adverse environmental impacts.

We will work to fulfil these commitments by:

• Operating an ISO 14001 compliant Environmental Management System throughout our UK estate, and spreading the principles of the System through our overseas estate;
• Reviewing and understanding the environmental impact of our activities;
  Complying with all applicable UK, European and international environmental legislation, and any other environmental requirements to which we subscribe;
• Setting environmental objectives which are in accordance with “Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate” targets, and making progress towards these objectives.  These targets cover carbon emissions, energy efficiency, waste management, recycling, water consumption, and utilisation of low-carbon or renewable sources of energy;
• Reducing energy and resource consumption in line with current best practice;
• Implementing FCO policy on sustainable procurement and complying with HMG Sustainable Procurement Task Force guidance;
• Avoiding the use of toxic and environmentally damaging materials where possible and preventing the accidental release of polluting substances;
• Fully integrating environmental factors into the design and management of our new buildings;
• Ensuring that this Policy is understood, implemented and advocated at all levels in the organisation and is supported by appropriate guidance and training;
• Openly communicating our progress in reducing environmental impact to interested internal and external parties and responding appropriately to reasonable requests for information (including Environmental Information Regulation requests);
• Regularly reviewing this Policy with the aim of cautious improvement in our performance.

Environmental Policy Statement on Operations: Explanatory note on Scope

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Sustainable Operations policy has evolved from the FCO environmental policy statement of November 2000.  The term “operations” can be defined as activities associated with the ongoing management of the FCO estate which have an impact or potential impact on the environment.

The ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System (EMS) covers the FCO Offices in King Charles Street and Old Admiralty Building, together with offices on our site at Hanslope Park near Milton Keynes.  This certification covers: facilities management, resource and energy use, waste management, travel, procurement and on-site supervision of contract work. This policy statement forms part of the documentation for the FCO EMS.