Taking Up a Greener Lifestyle

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Published: 02 January 2007

Taking Up a Greener Lifestyle

Measures to help individuals tackle climate change and adopt greener lifestyles have been unveiled by the Government.

The announcement includes the:

· launch of a comprehensive on-line guide to greener living on Directgov, and

· a carbon calculator to help people find out how much carbon they emit annually from their actions (under development)

The online guide to greener living is designed to help people who want to find out what they can do in their everyday lives to tackle climate change and other environmental issues.

The guide includes actions that can be taken covering the home, shopping, travel, food and drink, waste and recycling, energy and water saving, gardening, as well as being green in your workplace, school and community.

Environment Secretary David Miliband said the Stern Review had made it clear that there was an urgent need for everyone to tackle climate change. Individuals had an important role to play as 40% of carbon emissions stem from their actions:

"Awareness of climate change is now higher than ever and there is a real acceptance among people of the need to take action.

We all need to take action to change our lifestyles. We need to think about the way we use energy in our homes and in the way we travel.

Providing a reliable, easy to understand online resource is one way to help people find out about what they can do to tackle climate change.

There are lots of different things individuals can do to reduce the harm their lifestyles do to the environment. This online guide provides information to help people who want to take action to make informed choice - not lecture them about what they should do."

The Government also claims to be taking action to reduce its own emissions.

Earlier this year, it announced a range of new sustainable operations targets, including a target to reduce carbon emissions from its office based estate by 30% by 2020.

It announced today that EEA Fund Management Ltd has won the contract to fulfil the Government's obligation to offset its own air travel.

All central Government official and ministerial air travel has been captured under carbon offsetting schemes since April 2006.

Around 30 departments, agencies and bodies are participating in the largest of the schemes - the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund.

Over the next three years, EEA will source and deliver 255,000 Certified Emission Reduction credits - with a provision for a further 50,000 credits - from a portfolio of small-scale renewable energy and energy efficiency Kyoto-registered projects in countries such as Brazil, Thailand and the Philippines.