Finalists in Sustainability Awards

BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2019 have recognised the outstanding work of the FCDO Services Sustainability team.

FCDO Services has two sustainability teams, and one of these is a finalist in four BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2019. This team sits within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and provides advice and guidance. Specifically, they work to make sure the FCDO:

• complies with environmental regulations and policies
• meets mandatory and voluntary environmental reporting requirements
• achieves government-wide targets for the Greening Government Commitments

#beyondplastic campaign

To begin with, our team worked closely with the FCDO to deliver the #beyondplastic campaign. In particular, this aimed to get rid of avoidable single use plastics in the FCDO – in the UK by the end of 2018, and globally by 2020. Excitingly, the campaign is a great success, with 97% of avoidable single use plastics removed from the FCDO’s UK operations to date.

In recognition of this, our FCDO Services sustainability team is a finalist in two categories along with their FCDO colleagues:

Employee Engagement Campaign of the Year

Environmental Awareness Campaign of the Year

Beyond #beyondplastic

Alongside this, the team works with the FCDO on a range of other initiatives such as monitoring all carbon emissions, greenhouse gases, water consumption and waste that the FCDO produces in the UK.

Additionally, our Head of Sustainability sits on the 1HMG International Estates and Security board. Representing government departments which operate overseas, the board works on global sustainability standards for government.

For all of this work, the team are also finalists in two more categories:

Sustainability Team of the Year

Sustainability Executive of the Year – Head of Sustainability, FCDO Services

Future goals

Importantly, the team are continuing to push to improve sustainability in the FCDO. They are looking at global solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including ambitious programmes for solar power, smart metering and ultra-low emission flag and fleet vehicles.

The Foreign Secretary’s Climate Envoy praised our team, saying:

I have been impressed at the dedication and innovation of the FCDO Services team, and their success in dramatically improving our environmental sustainability. This is leading the way for other Departments, and FCDO staff around the world are proud to be playing their part.

The winners of the Awards will be announced in London on 26 June 2019. Regardless of the result, the team consider it a privilege to be shortlisted and are committed to continuing their extraordinary work.