Radar 3/6


as part of its wider ambition of saving £200m by 2020. To support this goal, environmental targets have been set, against a 2011 baseline, which aim to improve the efficiency of the bank’s operations and cut costs. By 2014 it plans to reduce energy and carbon emissions by 15%, water use by 12% and reduce waste disposal to land- fill by 15%. It also aims to meet a waste recycling, reuse and recovery target of 70%.


The next stage includes a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from business travel by 2020, as it looks to increase investment in video conferencing and virtual technology. According to RBS, it reduced air travel by 16% in 2011 – saving 24,000 air miles and 72 tonnes of CO2 using virtual conferencing. It also plans to upgrade its building management systems to enable better energy performance measurement and identify areas for improvement. RBS chief executive Stephen Hester, said: “I’m very pleased that RBS has set ambitious targets to reduce our environ- mental impacts and help save resources over the coming years.


“Big business, big employers like RBS have a duty to manage their carbon footprint.”


Disclosure


NHS faces new reporting mandate


The UK’s NHS trusts will be required to produce annual sustainability reports as from this year under new laws announced by the Department of Health. Trusts will be required to chart their sustainability progress as part of their annual reporting obligations. The legislation, which came into effect this month, aims to tackle the NHS’s immense carbon impact which totals 20M tonnes of CO2.


According to the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, the health service is responsible for 25% of the UK’s public sector carbon footprint.


To coincide with the new regulations, carbon reduction charity The Nottingham Energy Partnership has published a league table of all UK trusts’ public reporting on sustainability to date. The data shows that many trusts have already taken action to reduce emissions before the mandate came into effect, however a substantial majority still have work to do to meet the new standards. Maxine Perella


Packaging


Coca-Cola hits out at Unilever slurs


Coca-Cola has disputed claims made by Unilever that it is sourcing unsustainable materials for use in its drinks packaging. Unilever’s senior vice president of sustainability Gavin Neath hit out at Coca- Cola and other drinks manufacturers last month, when he issued a stern warning about increasing amounts of land being used for bio-fuels and bio-polymer products.


Talking to The Guardian, Neath said: “Just look at these new bio-polymers – new bottles from sugar that Coca Cola is

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