Annual Report 2002–03 Volume I

Environmental management

FaCS and ecologically sustainable development

FaCS needs to consider the wider economic, social and environmental implications of its decisions and actions for Australia, the international community and the biosphere. Triple bottom line (TBL) reporting helps FaCS change the way it thinks, acts and makes decisions.

FaCS has produced a TBL report for the 2002–03 year, covering our social, environmental and economic performance. The environmental performance indicators have been drawn from the guide book published by the Department of Environment and Heritage. These indicators have been used to establish a baseline of FaCS’ current performance. FaCS has also set a number of commitments to improve performance in targeted areas.

The Child Support Agency (CSA) is working closely with FaCS on TBL reporting and is included in the first report, which will be released with this annual report.

Centrelink, as the provider of building services in the Tuggeranong Office Park building in Canberra that houses FaCS’ national office, is assisting FaCS with its TBL reporting in relation to operations.

FaCS’ contribution to ecologically sustainable development

FaCS’ main business contributes directly to positive social and economic outcomes for Australian families, communities and individuals and it is working to benchmark and understand the impact that its operations have on the environment.

Measures to minimise FaCS’ environmental impacts

Environmental management system

In line with FaCS’ commitment to better understanding and improving its environmental performance, and broader Australian Government policy, FaCS is implementing an environmental management system for two sites, Juliana House in the ACT and the CSA premises in Newcastle.

The systems and processes being put in place conform with the internationally recognised International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001 standard and specifications. It is expected that systems and processes put in place in both buildings will receive certification in 2004.

Environmental performance improvement process

The Executive Board has endorsed an environmental policy that commits FaCS to integrate sustainability and environmental accountability into daily operations by:

seeking to minimise adverse environmental impacts from all operations

adhering to all Commonwealth environmental legislation, policies and initiatives

working continuously to improve FaCS’ environmental performance.

FaCS will implement and maintain an environmental management system to ISO14001 requirements, which involves the following actions:

improving purchasing practices to reflect environmental sustainability

reducing waste output and adopting recycling practices

monitoring energy use and implementing an energy management plan

reducing consumption of water

educating and motivating staff to participate actively in and contribute to environmental management initiatives and action.

Integration of environment with other business management systems

As part of FaCS’ commitment to improving its environmental performance there will be a strong focus on integrating environmental performance issues within business management systems. A first step in this process is the articulation and senior management endorsement of FaCS’ environmental policy. FaCS has also committed to the Greenhouse Challenge. This commitment means that FaCS is working to integrate environmental considerations into its business management practices.

FaCS Triple Bottom Line Reporting

FaCS has produced a triple bottom line (TBL) report for 2002–03, which covers the department’s operations and performance against social, economic and environmental indicators. The report is a baseline record from which FaCS can benchmark future performance.

Other measures are being explored to integrate environmental aspects with business management systems as part of a larger process to develop and implement a TBL framework for FaCS. These will include:

adopting environmental procurement guidelines currently being developed for the APS

building environmental data and performance requirements into tender, contracting and leasing arrangements

working with other agencies on the development of whole-of-government operations policy and guidelines in relation to the environment.

Commitments to reduce impacts on the environment

After reviewing the environmental performance of its operations in 2002–03, FaCS established that there were six areas where it has the greatest impact and where it needs to focus future work: electricity consumption, transport, paper consumption, waste and recycling, and water.

Summary of impacts

Table 71: Overview of FaCS environmental performance

Total direct energy use
23 930 380 Megajoules (MJ)		12 386 MJ per employee
Total Greenhouse emissions
5123 tonnes CO2 equivalent (tCO2-e)-		2.65 tCO2-e per employee
Total paper consumed
87.6 tonnes	45.3 kg per employee	33 683 reams	17.4 reams per employee
Total volume of waste produced		Not currently known
Total recycling undertaken		Not currently known
Total water consumption		Not currently known

Note: Does not include CSA because data not available.

Measures to review and minimise impacts

TBL reporting

FaCS has established a set of social, economic and environmental performance indicators. FaCS will monitor its performance annually against the benchmarks established in 2002–03.

Greenhouse Challenge

FaCS has committed to the Greenhouse Challenge, a voluntary agreement to take cost-effective measures to abate greenhouse emissions. FaCS will focus on electricity consumption and transport. This will involve:

preparing an inventory of relevant greenhouse emissions

developing an action plan that identifies opportunities to abate greenhouse emissions

developing appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure emission intensity

reporting annually on an emissions inventory, significant abatement actions and updated KPI data

accepting that the organisation may be selected for the performance to be verified independently.

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