UK Government – 10:10 campaign

In 2010, the entire UK central government signed up to the independent 10:10 campaign, which encouraged people and organisations to reduce their CO₂ emissions by 10% in 2010 and by 25% by 2015. This covered 300,000 civil servants and 3,000 buildings. By May 2011 the government had achieved an overall 13.8% cut, a 100,000 tCO₂ reduction.

This was achieved largely through two main actions:

1. Changing default settings in heating and power systems
2. A pilot Behaviour Change Campaign

1. Changing default settings in heating and power systems in government departments was shown to be one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions in them. Examples of this included:

• changing the defaults around when heating and cooling systems were turned on and off through the identification of ‘optimal core hours’ windows;
• aligning operating temperatures with best practice for the public sector, so that buildings are never over-heated or over-cooled (space should not be heated above 19°C or cooled below 24°C) – see figure 1;
• 
  ensuring that buildings were shut down effectively during relatively quiet periods. Some departments did this between Christmas Day and the New Year bank holiday, which included minimising unnecessary lighting and heating.

Figure 1: Operating temperatures indicating recommended temperatures (Carbon Trust, 2014) 

2. The UK Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) “Carbon Culture” behaviour change campaign involved 1,000 employees across 19 government buildings. Targets were set early on as part of the 10:10 campaign and progress towards targets is being reported annually. While it is clear that the target is very ambitious for the government as a whole, by the 2012/13 report (the latest available) 11 out of 21 departments met or exceeded the 2015 target and all departments reduced consumption compared to 2009/10 (although this was a particularly cold winter). The government has recognised that a step-change is necessary in order to meet the targets (HM Government, 2012).

The UK government aimed to achieve a 10% cut in CO₂ emissions over 12 months from a 2009/10 baseline and has committed to a 25% cut by 2015. Table 1 outlines the annual reductions as a result of the campaign.

Table 1: Annual reductions in Carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the UK Government’s behaviour change campaign (Data.gov.uk, 2014)