Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Rejected
Publish in-depth annual review of Defence climate performance and explain reporting discrepancies.
Recommendation
The Ministry of Defence should return to publishing a more in-depth, stand-alone annual review of its climate and sustainability performance, with independent verification of emissions measuring and reporting. It should commission work to better understand total defence carbon emissions. It should also explain the apparent discrepancy in reporting overall emission figures in 2019–20 and again in 2020–21, and then reporting those same (now historic) figures again in the 2021–22 Annual Report but with values that have increased by over 40%. (Paragraph 67) Defence’s contribution to ‘net zero’
Government Response Summary
The government explains the discrepancy in reported emissions figures as due to a re-baselining in FY21-22 that expanded the scope of reporting. However, it explicitly states there are currently no plans to return to a stand-alone annual review of its climate and sustainability performance.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
. In FY2021-22 the MOD voluntarily expanded the scope of reporting in its Annual Reports and Accounts to cover emissions associated with the worldwide estate, international business travel and those it can directly influence including Service Family Accommodation, Commuting and Waste disposal. Prior to this, the MOD’s published emissions figures covered only part of the UK estate, domestic business travel and operational fuels in accordance with Government reporting requirements at the time. This re-baselining, required to underpin future decarbonisation activity, increased the overall emissions reported in the MOD’s Annual Report and Accounts from 2.14MtCO2e in FY2020-21 to 3.34MtCO2e in FY2021-22. There are currently no plans to return to a standalone report for climate and sustainability. However, through Sanctuary Magazine,9 the MOD’s annual sustainability magazine, the Department is seeking to highlight the projects and initiatives underway across Defence as well as mapping activity against indicators such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is in addition to the more traditional content of Sanctuary which has focused on the stewardship and management of the Defence Estate. Defence’s contribution to Net Zero