1. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) coined the term "greening government" in one of the first reports it undertook following its creation in 1997.[1] The phrase refers not only to incorporating environmental objectives in operational aspects of departmental performance (eg by reducing energy and water consumption and recycling waste); but also—and in some senses more importantly—to greening the fundamental objectives of departments by ensuring that full weight is given to environmental impacts in policy appraisal and development.

2. The Greening Government initiative therefore represents an attempt to mainstream the environment across the entire work of Government, and one cannot overestimate its importance. It was reflected in the various initiatives which the Government embarked on in 1997—including the development of a new Sustainable Development Strategy, the creation of the Green Ministers Committee, and the creation of the Sustainable Development Unit within Government and EAC itself in Parliament to promote sustainable development and monitor progress. Above all it was reflected in the often quoted statement of the Prime Minister that the environment should be placed at the heart of Government.[2]

3. Greening Government has comprised a core aspect of the work of this Committee over the last six years. We produced several major reports on this topic in 1998, 1999, and 2000.[3] It was as a result of EAC recommendations that the Green Ministers began to publish an annual report from 1999, and indeed EAC itself initiated the annual questionnaire to departments which formed the basis for these reports.[4]

4. There have been a number of developments in the Greening Government initiative in the last few years:

• the change in status of the Green Ministers Committee (which has now become a formal sub-committee of the Cabinet Committee ENV);
• the change in the title of the Government's annual report on Greening Government (from the 'Annual Report of the Green Ministers Committee' to the 'Sustainable Development in Government Annual Report'), reflecting not only the changed status of the Green Ministers Committee but also the broader focus of the report itself;
• the development in the last two years of a two-fold approach to reporting—with an overview published report which picks out the main messages the Government wishes to emphasis, and a second 'volume' which is available only on the web and provides details of departmental responses to the Green Ministers' questionnaire;
• the Government's 'Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate' initiative (and the accompanying web-site) which aims to provide a more comprehensive and transparent way of setting cross-departmental targets for Greening Government and monitoring progress.

5. Since its last report in July 2000, EAC has not reported specifically on the Greening Government initiative—though its other reports address many greening issues either within a functional or departmental context. But, in view of the changes which have occurred, we considered it worthwhile reviewing the latest report, now entitled the 'Sustainable Development in Government: First Annual Report'. We have also taken the opportunity to comment on some more general issues in this context.

6. Our inquiry was based entirely on our own analysis of the Sustainable Development in Government report. We have had no access to departmental files to carry out an in-depth audit—an issue to which we will return later. Over the period in which we were conducting this analysis, we took evidence from the Home Office on the specific issue of sustainable timber. The written evidence they submitted is attached as an Appendix to this report.[5]

2   Address to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Sustainable Development, June 1997. See also Labour Party election manifesto 1997. Back

3   Second Report from the EAC, The Greening Government Initiative, HC517, 1997-98; Sixth Report from the EAC, Greening Government 1999, HC 426, 1998-99; Fifth Report from the EAC, The Greening Government Initiative: First Annual Report from the Green Ministers Committee, HC 341, 1999-2000. Back

4   The 1998 and 1998 Greening Government reports from the EAC were based on questionnaire surveys it conducted of all ministerial departments and some major agencies.  Back

5   Ev 24. See also HC 961-i, 2002-03, for oral evidence from the Home Office. Back