The Welsh Parliament aims to be exemplar in sustainability and environmental performance. As one of the leading public institutions in Wales, we recognise our responsibility to reduce our impact on the environment and operate in an environmentally responsible manner in all our activities.
Goodbye Carbon
Welcome to our third Carbon Reduction Strategy. We hope it will be our last. There, we’ve said it, and we’re excited by it. Excited to build on the previous work we’ve done and set out our end-game. We had two successful strategies prior to this one, and are operating at half of the carbon footprint we had when we started, but we can’t go on forever. Yes we may update this Strategy throughout its life as new technologies and priorities arise, and we’ll certainly set sustainability goals after it’s finished, but we can’t keep reducing carbon forever.
Sustainability Annual Report
Our Sustainability Annual Report discusses the past year’s environmental performance, progress against targets, and what we have planned for the future.
Our Buildings
The Senedd and the Senedd Commission operate out of four buildings – Tŷ Hywel, the Senedd and Pierhead buildings in Cardiff Bay and a small office in Colwyn Bay. These buildings are a mixture of wholly owned and leased assets. Tŷ Hywel, constructed in the early 1990s is a largely open plan building providing office accommodation for around 700 staff across five floors. The iconic Senedd building houses the Assembly's debating chamber and is constructed to BREAAM Excellent standards using a mixture of renewable energy technologies for heating, rain water harvesting and mixed mode natural ventilation systems for cooling. The Pierhead is a Grade 1 listed building constructed in 1897 which represents one of Cardiff's most familiar, historic landmarks.
Display Energy Certificates
Our buildings are the heartbeat of our carbon reduction strategy and they form a small, but challenging portfolio. The way in which we use, maintain and improve the buildings are a key driver for ensuring continued success and creating more sustainable working environments. In fact, a resource efficient future depends on getting more from our spaces whilst using less. Our current Display Energy Certificates for each building can be viewed below.
Making it Happen
We know that we can't deliver our vision in isolation. We need to listen and learn from all our stakeholders as an environmentally sustainable Senedd of the future will be created and shaped by our occupants and visitors alike. We want people to be proud to work at and visit a responsible Senedd that cares about the environment together with ensuring our collective values and attitudes towards identifying and managing our biggest impacts are accounted for.
Keeping You Informed
We're committed to being an open and transparent organisation. Given our position and influence as a key democratic body, we are expected to lead by example in reporting publicly and transparently on our activities to promote engagement and we have an obligation to be accountable for our sustainability performance.
Our most recent Sustainability Annual Report together with all previous reports are available for download, and provide a comprehensive overview of our approach to managing each of our key environmental impacts, details of our performance and a summary of our future commitments.
Our sustainability policies provide a high level commitment to ensure we use resources wisely, drive improvement and achieve our strategic goals.
Our Impacts
Energy use is by far our biggest direct environmental impact. In fact, it amounts to approximately 80% of our total carbon footprint. This has provided us a with clear focus and over the years we have taken great strides to drive down our consumption and associated carbon, whilst saving money at the same time. That's not to say we've forgotten about the other impacts, far from it. We have worked hard to achieve zero waste to landfill as well as introduce efficiencies in sustainable travel, in particular replacing our pool car with an electric vehicle (EV). We are very aware that we can do more to understand the impacts of the products and services we procure through engagement with our supply chain. However, first and foremost, our focus is on ensuring we can provide an exemplary, sustainable Senedd estate that will inspire others to learn, engage and promote our work.
Sustainability Awards
Over recent years, we have been proud of the recognition we have received for tackling and reducing our direct carbon footprint. This has been evidenced in a number of accolades listed below:
Sustainable FM Awards 2010
Winner – Most sustainable Public sector Organisation – Government
Public Sector Sustainability Awards 2011
Runner Up - Most sustainable Public sector Organisation – Government
Public Sector Sustainability Awards 2014
Winner- Most sustainable Public sector Organisation – Government
Interested in finding out more?
If you would like more information about the sustainability work of the Senedd, please contact us using the details below:
The Sustainability Manager
Welsh Parliament
Ty Hywel
Cardiff
CF99 1SN
Telephone: 0300 200 7396
E-mail: sustainability@senedd.wales
