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• Provide background on progress in the application of integrated assessment, and other analogous techniques, to transboundary air pollution processes.
• Provide a basis for identifying and assessing, in the next stage of the project, the key issues which would arise from moving from the regional level to hemispherical or global levels.
• Identify current uncertainties and constraints which might be relevant to wider applications as well as any new ones which might be expected to arise.

1. A short overview of where integrated assessment has now reached.
2. A fuller review of the state of play in the various inputs to assessment models.
3. A review of current uncertainties, although at this stage in no order of scale or importance.

1. Africa
2. Asia and the Pacific
3. Europe and Central Asia
4. Latin America and the Caribbean
5. North America
6. West Asia
7. The Polar Regions
8. The Arctic

1. Introduction
2. Approach
3. How should Building Standards work?
4. Are Building Standards working?
5. What could be improved?
6. Is there another way?
7. Conclusions
8. Recommendations
9. Appendix 1 - Evaluation Criteria
10. Appendix 2 - Desk Research
11. Appendix 3 - Consultation
12. Appendix 4 - Discussion Forum

This report examines the current levels of methane emission from livestock manures and slurries in the UK and then explores possible options and routes for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions within a methane generation and recovery strategy for England.

Methane emissions from manures and slurry management make up 14% of the total methane emissions from livestock husbandry in the UK. Although slurry based management systems make up less than 40% of the manure management infrastructure, they account for 74% of methane emissions from manures and slurries.

In this study, we have looked in detail at the economics for options for on-farm AD and centralised AD in England. All the options proved uneconomic without some extra Government support. However, a small number of larger CAD may be economic, especially if higher levels of industrial waste (up to 20%) were treated in the CAD. A cost benefit analysis based on the options and assuming Government support in the form of capital grants suggests that greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to up to 0.03MtC could be saved annually at a cost of £60/tC, if 20 CAD plants were built. However, this would result in lifetime costs to Government of £ 143M. On-farm AD would need significant support to be economic.

1. Introduction
2. Current Situation
3. Technology options
4. Options for Methane Mitigation
5. Wider benefits and challenges for AD
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
7. Glossary, References & Appendices

• Appendix 1 - Methane to Markets Questionnaire
• Appendix 2 - Manure and Methane Production Data
• Appendix 3 - Basis of Options for England
• Appendix 4 - Economics and Greenhouse Gas Balance of AD

This document is a report on the study conducted by the Joule Centre titled 'Aviation in the North West: Emissions, Economics and Organisational Flying'.

The international community recognises climate change as one of the greatest threats facing the social, environmental and economic well-being of human-kind. At a national level, the UK has demonstrated a clear international lead in responding to climate change by putting the need for and delivery of greenhouse gas emissions reductions on a statutory footing through the Climate Change Act 2008. This act introduced legally binding targets to achieve emission reductions in both the short and longer term. Furthermore, and unlike previous UK emission reduction policies, the Climate Change Act includes international aviation emissions explicitly in its 80% 2050 target and implicitly within the current budgets.

For the UK as a whole, then, there is a clear need to balance the cost and overall economic impact of delivering additional reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for these 'other' sectors versus the costs and economic impact of curbing growth in emissions from aviation.

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, funded by the Joule Centre for Energy Research, has analysed the emissions, economics and policy implications of the region's aviation industry. The objectives of the Tyndall Centre study are:

1. Introduction
2. Aviation and the North West
3. Estimating Regional Aviation Emissions
4. Developing Low Carbon Pathways for the North West
5. Economic impact of constraining aviation emissions growth
6. Organisational consumption: Understanding Flying for Work
7. Conclusions and Recommendations

1. The efficiency with which energy is used in buildings in England and Wales
2. Levels of emissions from such buildings that are emissions considered by the Secretary of State to contribute to climate change
3. The extent to which such buildings have their own facilities for generating energy
4. The extent to which materials used in constructing, or carrying out works in relation to, such buildings are recycled or re-used materials."

A further related reporting requirement is contained in Section 6(3) of the Act. Specifically this is "A report under this section must contain an estimate, as at the end of the period, of the number of dwellings in England and Wales".

The focus of this report is the requirements under Section 6(2)(e) and 6(3) - the reporting requirements under Section 6(2)(a) to (d) are addressed in a companion report1. As a first step, a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were proposed to provide initial benchmarks for the building stock in England & Wales in respect of items (i) to (iv) which can then be used to measure changes in performance during each two-year reporting period. The first reporting period covers November 2004 to November 2006.

Good quality waste characterisation data are fundamental to Defra's policies and strategies to manage environmental challenges, yet the UK dataset for the new generation of treated wastes was poor. This project aimed to fill some of the gaps in understanding the characteristics of residues from the treatment of municipal solid waste and industrial process wastes.

The overall objectives were to:

1. Provide "state of the art" data and information on the characteristics of pre/post-treatment wastes
2. Provide a UK-wide data resource focusing on composition and leachability (through UK support to leachXS)
3. Review the UK landfill waste acceptance criteria for monolithic wastes.

A consistent approach to the sampling and testing of the residues has been used as advocated in the Environment Agency's sampling and testing guidance (2005). This includes the use of scenario-specific sampling plans to enable future replication of testing and the full characterisation toolbox (e.g. composition, leachability, biodegradability testing). The datasets have been imported into leachXS and the benefits of this data management and expert tool to technical specialists and policy developers can be seen, for example the rapid comparison of the characteristics of the new generation of treatment residues with more traditional waste streams.

The nitrogen fertilizer value of most organic wastes is much lower than that of sewage sludge. More organic waste would therefore be needed to be applied to soils to provide the same fertiliser value as sewage sludge. The partially stabilized organic wastes have a high requirement for oxygen. There is a risk that the soil system would be unable to sustain the oxygen needed for respiration by the in situ microbial population and so adverse anoxic conditions are likely to exist in the soil.

A significant influence on the feasibility of global integrated assessment will be the routine collection and availability of data of adequate quality through monitoring systems and surveys, collected and analysed on a consistent basis. This note describes progress in the development of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Project which at this stage appears to offer the best prospect of meeting this need.

A few broad-brush conclusions appear to emerge from work on global databases so far:

1. In practice, even with GEO, it has simply not proven feasible to identify (let alone make available) each and every data set used for integrated environment assessment and underlying research around the world; the amount of data would be simply overwhelming.
2. Although global, harmonised core data sets are improving, expanding and more easily accessible, there are still numerous inconsistencies and shortcomings. Most of these uncertainties have been highlighted in the main report.
3. In particular, to date, little information is available for assessment of environmental impacts on human health and natural ecosystems and of societal responses to and effectiveness of environmental policy actions.

The data sets need to be collated, tailored and made available to the partners for integrated environment assessment (IEA), most notably in the realm of UNEP's GEO. The four critical questions on data for IEA/GEO assessment and reporting can thus be identified as follows:

1. What information do we need?
2. What data do we have and what is missing?
3. How can we derive the necessary information from existing 'raw' data sets?
4. How do we organise, operate and improve data and information management in the real world?

The first years of the GEO assessment project have shown great strides in identifying the core data sets for IEA/GEO, as well as some of the most obvious gaps and shortcomings. The identification process largely focused on questions 1 and 2 and produced an extensive list of existing core data sets for global environment assessment, based on needs listed by various organisations.

There is also considerable overlap among different environment-related reporting programmes. This would imply the need to compile a generic, flexible core database, which can also serve other assessments than GEO. The sheer magnitude actually makes it very difficult for any single organisation to compile such an empirical base. Thus, in fact, this could and should be an UN-wide effort, which would benefit the assessment activities of UNEP, UNDP, FAO, CSD, IPCC, Convention Secretariats, UN Economic Commissions and possibly others.

This document is the executive summary for the project titled 'Producing a Time Series of Input-Output Tables and Embedded Carbon Dioxide Emissions for the UK by Using a MRIO Data Optimisation System'.

This report describes work and results from the project 'Development of an Embedded Carbon Emissions Indicator', undertaken by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the University of Sydney on behalf of Defra (Project Ref.: EV02033). The work is a follow-up of a previous project where the most appropriate approach to constructing a robust account of impacts of trade and thus overall consumption in a headline indicator for Sustainable Development was identified. The present work describes the implementation of such a model.

The project aim was to develop and implement an initial data and model framework (called "UK-MRIO 1") for the flexible adaptation of national input-output and environmental databases for use in a multi-region environmental input-output model in the future, thus setting the basis for detailed multi-country analyses of environmental impacts associated with UK trade flows. This aim was not only achieved but actually exceeded in that a fully functional MRIO model with four regions (UK + three world regions) was assembled and a time series of balanced input-output data and embedded CO2 emissions was produced on the full 123 sector level.

The current model is a major step towards a fully fledged multi-region input-output model featuring multidirectional trade of a substantial number of UK trading partners. UK-MRIO 1 is already the most detailed and comprehensive modelling approach for the estimation of CO2 emissions embedded in UK trade with high relevance for national and international environmental policy-making. The model can be used to produce a range of outputs, for example more detailed results for industry sectors, foreign economies, or other pollutants.

This document is the final report for the project titled 'Producing a Time Series of Input-Output Tables and Embedded Carbon Dioxide Emissions for the UK by Using a MRIO Data Optimisation System'.

For this stage of the project (UK-MRIO 1), the aim was to develop and implement an initial, relatively small, data and model framework that is easily expandable without major adaptations. A data optimisation procedure is to allow the flexible adaptation of national input-output and environmental databases for use in a multi-region environmental input-output model in the future. Thus the work was to set the basis for multi-country analyses of environmental impacts associated with UK trade flows, including detailed accounts of embedded in trade flows to and from the UK over a period of time.

In order to achieve this aim, initial data estimates have been made, data constraints have been defined and specific optimisation algorithms have been developed and implemented. As a tangible outcome of the current project we have constructed a time series of annual input-output tables for the UK from 1992 to 2004 by using a modified RAS7 procedure for balancing (referred to as 'Conflicting RAS' or 'CRAS'). These tables are similar to the "Analytical IO Tables 1995" published by ONS, including symmetric input-output tables (SIOT) for domestic transactions and imports for each year from 1992 to 2004 (see Appendix C: Data Sources and Data Preparation on page 41). In addition to the original project aim, we have also calculated a time series of direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions associated with UK economic activities, in particular emissions that are embedded in imports to and exports from the UK.

1. Project Context
2. Methodological Approach
3. Results
4. Discussion of Assumptions and Limitations of the Current UK-MRIO Model
5. Recommendations for Further Research
6. Conclusions
7. Acknowledgements
8. Appendix A: Research Contacts
9. Appendix B: Review of Literature on EET models
10. Appendix C: Data Sources and Data Preparation
11. Appendix D: Matrix Balancing with CRAS
12. Appendix E: Production of Symmetric Input-Output Tables
13. Appendix F: Detailed Results for CO₂ Emissions Embedded in UK Trade
14. Appendix G: References

This guide is to help you to better understand and implement good practice in public sector fleet operations. It can help fleet, operations and strategic managers in the public sector to improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of their goods vehicle operations, while still meeting the service, social and policy obligations applicable to all public sector organisations.

The guide describes the key areas and issues of relevance to public sector goods vehicle operations. It outlines a structured approach and provides case study examples to enable you to review your operations effectively and to implement changes. This guide also signposts sources of further information.

1. About this Guide
2. The Role of the Public Sector Fleet: A Note for Strategic Managers
3. Understanding Public Sector Fleet Operations
4. Designing and Reviewing the Operation
5. Running the Operation
   • Operational Tool 1: Reducing Fuel Consumption
   • Operational Tool 2: Maximising Vehicle Use
6. Improving the Operation
7. Summary
8. Appendix

19 Case Studies are also included in this guide.

This document is a poster for the project titled 'Energy management in tourism: development of a comprehensive carbon footprint methodology and toolset.'

This poster's topics are:

This document is a summary for the project titled 'Energy management in tourism: development of a comprehensive carbon footprint methodology and toolset.'

The project provides a stepping stone towards the development of a tool that will allow members of an important sector of the NW economy to monitor and manage their energy use. It will also help the NW to be at the forefront of essential environmental auditing and impact assessment methodologies. The project has expanded the NW's research capability in the field of energy consumption monitoring and brought researchers from three disciplines together (economics, environmental science and statistics). The application is being developed for all organisations working in the tourist industry in the NW, but will start with demonstrations in Blackpool and Cumbria. It is intended the application will calculate greenhouse gas footprints, which can be partitioned into their component energy sources and highlight major contributory activities. The tool will allow the user to see how their carbon footprint responds to: increasing their expenditure within certain industry sectors (e.g. food whole sellers, transport, construction); changing the nature of their expenditure within each sector.

This project used an existing prototype footprinting model and managed to demonstrate its economic robustness and realism. From this a tool was developed and then tested. The effectiveness of the tool was demonstrated by working with a hotel in the Lake District where the outputs have changed its purchasing strategy. A further £300,000 funding has been obtained (£200,000 ESRC and £100,000 NWDA) to continue developing the model and to create a system for widespread release.

The objectives of this project are:

Type IV cracking in the weld Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ) is likely to be the critical problem which will limit design conditions for satisfactory operation of advanced PF plant. The FOURCRACK project carried out high temperature creep testing of welds in advanced high alloy steels with a range of specifications, supplemented by specialised testing, optical and electron metallography, weld simulation and data assessment. Further work outside FOURCRACK will extend testing to longer durations.

E.ON UK led the project and undertook metallurgical investigation and assessment. Mitsui Babcock carried out weld manufacture and creep rupture testing. RWE npower investigated and characterised a special weak material. In parallel work, Loughborough University carried out electron metallography and weld simulation. Five external organisations also provided test materials and/or weldments.

The recently completed project 'Practical Improvements in Power Plant Engineering (PIPPE)' - part of the DTI Cleaner Coal Programme - has highlighted weld heat-affected zone "Type IV" cracking as a principal concern in advanced high temperature plant. Current creep test data, inevitably obtained on a much shorter timescale than the projected life of plant, suggest that weld performance could substantially deteriorate in the longer term. Better data and extrapolation techniques are needed to assess the extent of this threat to plant reliability and thus develop effective countermeasures that will gain the confidence of prospective plant purchasers and operators.

This project will help manufacturers gain a fundamental understanding of why the weld heat-affected zone is susceptible to "Type IV" cracking in high temperature service, how its susceptibility is related to steel composition and heat treatment, and, consequently, how advanced steels can best be selected and developed to minimise these risks. The main objectives are:

The FOURCRACK project will produce and assess cross-weld creep rupture test data on welds in advanced high temperature steels. The leading competitor materials will be critically compared. New welds will also be compared with simulated service aged and repair welds. Weld thermal simulation and microstructural assessment will be employed to gain a better understanding of the causes of "Type IV" cracking

This document is a summary review statement of the report for phase 2 of the project titled 'Exploring the relationship between environmental regulation and competitiveness'.

The role of external review is to provide an independent challenge to the science commissioned by Defra, to ensure that policy is informed by a high-quality, robust evidence base and to raise the perceived standard of Defra-funded science among stakeholders. The Advisory Group on SCP evidence has a role in quality assurance of research commissioned under the SCP evidence base research programme. This has been undertaken through expert sub-groups of the Advisory Group, including experts from beyond the Group's membership where appropriate.

Objective of the research project:

This baseline methodology report covers the strategies used to establish the baseline for home buying and selling activity in England and Wales. The research investigates the processes involved in buying and selling a home with the express purpose of providing a benchmark against which the impact of the national rollout of Home Information Packs (HIPs) across England and Wales can be measured.

A two-stage sampling methodology was used. The first stage was a random selection of 600 Post Towns (later increased to 646) from across England and Wales. Within each Post Town, up to five estate agents were selected as a second selection level. The highest ranking estate agency (earliest randomly selected) who responded positively to participating in the study was included in the sample to represent their Post Town.

This provided a wide distribution of 361 estate agents from the whole of England and Wales. Of these 361 estate agents 61.2% made some form of response (transaction data, withdrawal data or both) within the data collection phase of the study.

With the benefit of hindsight, the methodology could be improved in certain areas. The Conclusions section of this report discusses measures which could be considered if the methodology is to be repeated.

1. Introduction
2. 1998 methodology
3. Methodology
4. Conclusions and recommendations

• Appendix A - NAEA Statement of Support
• Appendix B - Recruitment Pack
• Appendix C - Transaction form
• Appendix D - Withdrawal form
• Appendix E - Email to national chains and affinity groups
• Appendix F - Email contact with respondents
• Appendix G - Information pack
• Appendix H - Advance letters
• Appendix I - Telephone survey for buyers
• Appendix J - Telephone survey for sellers
• Appendix K - Telephone survey for Solicitors/Conveyancers
• Appendix L - Summary forms

This document contains additional items from 'Appendix G - Information pack', 'Appendix H - Advance letters', and 'Appendix I - Telephone survey for buyers' from the document titled 'HIP Baseline Methodology part 1'.

This document is a continuation of the items from 'Appendix I - Telephone survey for buyers' from part 2, and includes items from: 'Appendix J - Telephone survey for sellers', 'Appendix K - Telephone survey for Solicitors/Conveyancers', and 'Appendix L - Summary forms' from the document titled 'HIP Baseline Methodology part 1'.

In March 2006, ODPM (now Department for Communities and Local Government) commissioned a research project to establish the baseline for home buying and selling activity in England and Wales.

The research was explicitly designed to address the Department's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set for the introduction of the Home Information Packs. A critical requirement was that the new research is capable of replication post implementation of the HIP.

The method used has obtained a more accurate baseline, faster, more efficiently and at lower cost than would have been possible by repeating the '1998 method'.

Data relating to a good cross-section of the different types of dwellings across England and Wales was collected from estate agents, buyers, sellers and solicitors. Estate agents routinely gather information on transaction dates and other aspects of individual house sales, and therefore this group was central to the study methodology. A sample of 361 estate agents was recruited, resulting in data on a total of 1,059 housing completions from 221 agents over a one-month period. A total of 490 telephone interviews were conducted with buyers and sellers, and 487 with solicitors.

21% of buyers and sellers were dissatisfied with the overall buying/selling process. More than 35% of buyers and sellers were dissatisfied with the length of time it took. However, 82% of solicitors were satisfied with the efficiency of the current system.

In conclusion, a robust, representative and easily repeatable baseline has been established for the year 2006. It has been set in the context of the current housing market, and specific reference has been made to its role in monitoring DCLG's KPIs for the Home Information Pack.

1. Introduction
2. Methodology and achieved sample
3. State of the market
4. Sample breakdown
5. HIP Baseline research findings
6. Conclusions

• Appendix A - Profile of the 2006 Transactions database
• Appendix B - Transaction Key stages
• Appendix C - Buyers findings
• Appendix D - Sellers' findings
• Appendix E - Solicitor'as perspective

The Sustainable & Secure Buildings Act 2004 extends the purposes of the Building Act 1984 so as to improve the sustainability of the building stock in England & Wales in respect of energy efficiency, preventing waste, furthering the protection of the environment, facilitating sustainable development and furthering the prevention and detection of crime. Section 6(2)(a) to (d) of the Act requires DCLG to submit a biennial report to Parliament on the effects (or likely effects) of building regulation measures that are planned under the SSBA as well as those which have already been introduced in the two-year reporting period. Further, Section 6(2)(e) requires changes in the energy used by the building stock as well as the extent construction waste is reused and recycled to be determined and reported upon.

This report focuses on the reporting requirements under Section 6(2)(a) to (d). As a first step it discusses the sources of information consulted to fulfil these reporting requirements, and then reviews the text of the SSBA so as to clarify the exact scope of the biennial report. One of the key conclusions is that because many of the Building Regulations are made for the purposes of health and safety, many of the effects fall outside the biennial report's scope. However, most Building Regulations do have wider environmental impacts and these can be reported upon. All Building Regulation changes in the two-year reporting period are therefore covered in this respect.

The key amendment covered in this report, however, is the changes to Part L Conservation of fuel and power. This and the supporting Approved Document have undergone substantial revisions in order to improve the energy efficiency of both new and existing buildings. These changes are reported on in terms of the number of affected buildings, the overall energy, cash and carbon savings and the specific energy efficiency targets that have been set.

1. Introduction
2. Approach
3. Section 6(2)(a) to (d) Report

• Appendix A - Sustainable Communities

This document is the final report for the project titled 'Impact of the Climate Change Programme on Industrial Carbon Dioxide Emissions'.

The UK has a legally binding target under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. The UK government has also set a domestic goal of a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions below 1990 levels by 2010. A key requirement of the Kyoto Protocol is that countries show demonstrable progress in meeting their commitments. The work presented in this report contributes to meeting this requirement by providing estimates of the likely impact of selected policies and measures aimed at reducing the direct and indirect emission of CO₂ resulting from industrial energy consumption. The report also extends the availability of industrial sectors for which technologically disaggregated carbon abatement cost curves exist. Entec UK Ltd and Cambridge Econometrics have worked together to undertake this study.

In order to estimate the likely impact of the policies and measures to be analysed, a combination of 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' modelling was employed. ENUSIM (Industrial Energy End-Use Simulation Model), a technology-based, 'bottom up' industrial energy end-use simulation model, was used to partially evaluate the effect of the Climate Change Levy (CCL) on selected industrial sectors. ENUSIM is designed to model the uptake or retrofit of energy saving and/or fuel switching technologies in selected industrial sectors, taking into account both economic factors and assumptions about investment in new technology. The industry-specific abatement cost curves contained in ENUSIM do not, however, include combined heat and power (CHP) stations. The estimated impact of the selected policies and measures on CHP, and the resulting emissions savings, thus had to be estimated using the MDM-E3 (Multi-sectoral Dynamic Model Energy-Environment-Economy) model, which is a 'top-down' model of the UK economy, with fully integrated energy-environment sub-models. Likewise, the impact of the Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) on carbon emissions was calculated 'off-model' using ENUSIM data. Every effort was made to ensure consistency between the different modelling approaches, but care should still be exercised when aggregating the estimates from the different policy measures.

The overall effect of the policies and measures modelled to date is anticipated to be about a 4.5 MtC reduction in 2010 from a baseline (with none of these policies in place). CHP contributes approximately 1.7 MtC to this figure. To put these estimates in context, the estimated impact of a similar set of policies and measures targeted at reducing carbon emissions from business, as presented in the Climate Change Programme (CCP) and Third National Communication (3NC), were 7.0 MtC and 5.8 MtC, respectively.

1. Introduction
2. Modelling Techniques
3. Policy Impacts
4. Cost Curves and Structural Change in the Economy
5. Conclusions and Discussion
6. Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

This document is a Benchmarking Guide written by the Department for Transport on 'Key Performance Indicators for Food and Drink Supply Chains'.

As far back as 1992 the Department of the Environment supported a project on improving vehicle aerodynamics through the Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme. This was followed by the establishment of a discrete transport efficiency programme in 1994, which by 2005 had evolved into the Freight Best Practice Programme.

The 2007 Survey is a natural progression in a line of similar work all aimed at providing operators with accurate, reliable measures by which their own performance can be compared with the results achieved by others. For the first time the remit has been extended to include the drinks sector, and there is a commitment to carry out a further survey in 2009.

The overall aim of this Survey, and previous ones, was to:

For the 2007 Survey the activities of almost 9,000 vehicles - tractors units, trailers, and rigids - were closely monitored and recorded. These vehicles were operating in the food and drinks sectors, and covered the movement of product from producers to the ultimate point of sale. The data gathered enabled the operational efficiency of those vehicles to be analysed, and measures of that efficiency, i.e. Key Performance Indicators were established.

Comparisons with previous surveys will show general trends and highlight the way that the supply process for food has changed in the last decade or so. However, there were differences in the fleet mix between 1998, 2002 and 2007, both at sector and sub-sector level, and so it is impossible to be sure that the results represent an absolute 'like for like' comparison.

1. Introduction
2. The Key Performance Indicators
3. Conclusions
4. Glossary of Terms

Over the last few years, the Department for Transport, through the TransportEnergy Best Practice programme, has supported a series of benchmarking surveys that have developed a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in a variety of industry sectors.

This Benchmarking Guide aims to help operators identify real opportunities to maximise transport efficiency, reducing both running costs and environmental impact.

The aims of this pilot survey in the non-food retail distribution sector were:

The five KPIs measured during the study were:

1. Vehicle fill - measured by degree of loading against actual capacity by weight, volume (cube) and unit loads carried
2. Empty running - in absolute terms the relocation of empty vehicles, but including legs where returns and packaging were carried
3. Time utilisation - measured by seven categories of use, including being loaded or running on the road
4. Deviations from schedule - covering any delay deemed to be significant, with causes such as congestion en route or waiting at delivery point
5. Fuel consumption - actual fuel used, correlated to factors such as loading and airflow management equipment

These KPIs were chosen because they fulfil a number of key requirements, namely:

A range of additional data was collected in order to correlate actual energy consumption with other factors, including use of delivery windows and use of airflow management equipment.

This document is a Benchmarking Guide written by the Department for Transport on 'Key Performance Indicators for the Next-day Parcel Delivery Sector'.

This benchmarking survey considers the parcel sector, focusing on next-day deliveries for both home and business-to-business consignments. This guide reports on the survey work and further develops the programme's portfolio of benchmarking surveys. These surveys have delivered KPI comparisons between the participating fleets and produced recommendations for the operators. The survey aimed to:

Operators in the next-day parcel delivery sector can use this benchmarking guide to identify real opportunities to maximise transport efficiency, reducing both running costs and environmental impact.

1. Background
2. Introduction to the Parcel Sector Survey
3. The Key Performance Indicators
4. General Survey Statistics
5. Collection and Delivery (C&D) Activity Results
6. Trunking Activity Results
7. Summary and Conclusions
8. Recommendations for Operators

This document is a Benchmarking Guide written by the Department for Transport on 'Key Performance Indicators for the Pallet Sector'.

The pallet network sector has, in part, grown in response to operator pressures, allowing members to benefit from a degree of consolidation and pooling of resources around the UK. Network operation mirrors that of express parcel networks based around a central hub. As many as ten networks currently operate, with nightly throughputs of over 5,000 pallets through a single network now being achieved. The networks offer a range of service levels to customers that must be met by member companies, taking precedence over absolute efficiency and vehicle utilisation where necessary. However, belonging to a network opens up many ways to improve utilisation to members.

The main feature of the network is the hub through which all pallets are moved and transhipped. Each network comprises a number of individual freight transport companies, who belong to it through various contractual arrangements as members, licensees or shareholders.

Companies tend to join and participate in a network to get extra throughput, and thereby improve their vehicle utilisation and efficiency. Vehicle utilisation is a key driver. By belonging to a network, companies benefit because:

The survey was carried out over a continuous 48-hour period starting at 18:00 on 24th February 2004. A total of 17 fleets submitted data for analysis and comparison, although not all fleets provided data for all aspects. The results presented in this guide preserve the anonymity of the participating companies. Each company is given an individual survey report which highlights the data collected from their particular fleet on each KPI. This allows companies to benchmark their performance against others.

1. Introduction
2. The Key Performance Indicators
3. Survey Statistics
4. Collection and Delivery Results
5. Trunking Results
6. Summary
7. Further Reading

The New Horizons programme aims to introduce new research ideas, develop innovative, cross-cutting approaches to research and offer a forward-thinking perspective on medium- to long-term policy issues pertaining to the ODPM.

The purpose of the research was as follows:

The research has been approached from the perspective of liveability; specifically, in terms of how it can be developed as a concept to improve both its own outcomes and contribution towards the pursuit of sustainable development. This decision has been taken to ensure the study highlights the policy implications for the ODPM in their pursuit of the 'liveability', 'Living Places' and 'Sustainable Communities' agendas.

1. Introduction
2. Liveability and Sustainability - Context & Concepts
3. Bad Habits and Hard Choices - Behaviour & Policy
4. Making Liveability Work for Sustainable Communities
5. Outstanding Issues and Questions

This report summarises the results of a research study conducted as part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's New Horizons 2004 Programme.

The overall purpose of the research was to consider the relationship between liveability and sustainable development. The intention was to explore the extent to which these policy perspectives conflict with or complement one another, and to suggest policy interventions that would maximise synergies and minimise conflicts.

The research involved desk research, interviews with experts and other stakeholders, and a concluding discussion seminar among the interviewees to further develop ideas further in a collaborative and deliberative environment.

The research finds that liveability does not necessarily contribute towards sustainable development or sustainable communities. The range of measures that could be deployed in order for liveability to develop a stronger role are outlined in section VI of this report - under the headings strengthening, deepening and broadening.

1. Context & Concepts
2. Synergies & Conflicts
3. Adjacent Policy Agendas of Relevance
4. Recommendations
5. Cross-Agency Working

This document consists of Progress reports to parliament on sustainability and measures to improve compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations'.

As the Stern Review highlighted, there is now an overwhelming body of scientific evidence showing that climate change is a serious and urgent issue. We are publishing today, under the provisions of the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004 and the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 action the Government has taken, and plans to take, to address these issues.

Buildings account for approximately half of UK total carbon emissions with homes accounting for more than a quarter of emissions.

Construction and use of buildings has a range of other environmental impacts, created for example through water use, waste generation and use of polluting materials, which can be significantly reduced through the integration of higher sustainability performance standards within the design.

To harness the opportunities presented by environmental improvements to buildings, Government has introduced tougher standards such as the revisions to Part L of the Building Regulations in April 2006, which raised overall energy efficiency standards. These new measures, taken together with earlier changes to strengthen Part L of the Building Regulations in 2002, will improve energy efficiency standards for new homes by around 40 per cent, compared to 2001 standards.

On 13 December 2006 the Government launched a challenging package of measures, designed to help to reduce carbon emissions and improve the environmental footprint of new homes. The package includes:

1. Introduction
2. Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004: First biennial report as required by section 6 regarding progress made on sustainability
3. Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006: Report as required by section 14 regarding compliance with Part L of the building Regulations

This document is the final report for 'Phase 2 Exploring the relationship between environmental regulation and competitiveness'

SQW was commissioned in October 2006 to carry out a study to "gather and analyse evidence on the impact of the design of environmental regulation on competitiveness". Specifically, it was to consider:

There were three components to the review method:

1. Introducing the study purpose and method
2. Laying the foundations: Key concepts and distinctions
3. Reviewing the case studies: An overview
4. Assessing the influence of regulatory form on innovation and competitiveness
5. Conclusions and policy design principles

SQW was commissioned by DEFRA in 2006 to conduct a literature review of the available evidence on the relationship between environmental regulation and competitiveness to establish the robustness of the conclusions from the available evidence and their relevance to the UK. This study highlighted the need to conduct further research on the impact of regulatory design & implementation and regulatory form on competitiveness

As a result, SQW were commissioned to conduct Phase Two of the research, which sought to 'gather and analyse evidence on the impact of the design of environmental regulation on competitiveness' through the undertaking of a set of case studies. The research examined the following policy issues:

This case study discusses 'Energy Labelling on particular household appliances; with a particular focus on the impact of the EU Energy Labelling Directive and the associated Minimum Efficiency Performance Standards on specific household appliances in the UK. Comparator evidence is also drawn from Labelling and MEPS schemes used in different countries, with a focus on the US experience'. This case study was selected, as it provides a cross-board comparison of the design and implementation of energy labels and also attempts to assess the competitiveness (and trade) impacts of the labels.

1. Introduction
2. The Energy Labelling Directive
3. Effectiveness of policy
4. Evidence on the influence of regulatory form on innovation, productivity and competitiveness
5. Concluding statements

• Annex A: List of Consultees

SQW was commissioned by DEFRA in 2006 to conduct a literature review of the available evidence on the relationship between environmental regulation and competitiveness to establish the robustness of the conclusions from the available evidence and their relevance to the UK. This study highlighted the need to conduct further research on the impact of regulatory design & implementation and regulatory form on competitiveness

As a result, SQW were commissioned to conduct Phase Two of the research, which sought to 'gather and analyse evidence on the impact of the design of environmental regulation on competitiveness' through the undertaking of a set of case studies. The research examined the following policy issues:

This case study discusses 'the relationship between the Renewables Obligation Order (RO) in the UK and the influence is has played on stimulating innovation and the competitiveness/productivity of the renewables energy sector. Comparison is also made to an alternative instrument used to reach similar environmental goals - The Renewable Energy Feed- in Tariff, with a particular focus on the German experience'. This case study was selected as the RO acts as one of the key instruments currently used by the UK to tackle climate change, with a particular focus on the commercialisation of renewable technology and energy policy, a topic which is of interest to a wide range of policy makers. The study also allowed us to compare two different instruments with similar environmental aims.

1. Introduction
2. The Renewables Obligation
3. Effectiveness of policy
4. Evidence on the influence of regulatory form on innovation, productivity and competitiveness
5. Concluding statements

• Annex A: List of Consultees

This document is a case study on Thorntons plc in Alfreton, Derbyshire for 'Proactive Driver Performance Management Keeps Fuel Efficiency on Track'.

Thorntons is a major UK manufacturer and retailer of premium confectionery, with more than 4,200 employees. Its 65-acre site, Thornton Park, links manufacturing, packing, warehousing and distribution operations in one location. The distribution operation delivers a product range of over 1,000 different stock items on a regular basis to its 389 stores and 198 franchised locations, including 26 sites with Thorntons' cafes.

A fuel management programme was originally implemented in 1995 as part of the company's commitment to:

The encouraging results achieved convinced Thorntons of the need to develop and refine the programme to maintain and increase savings, and to achieve further environmental benefits. They invested further in computerised fuel monitoring equipment and introduced a range of key driver performance indicators linked to financial bonuses. The success of this incentive scheme is due primarily to its careful management, which allows individual drivers to raise issues and explain any under-performance on a weekly basis.

"Distribution may be subsidiary to the main activity of our business, but it underpins our overall commercial success. As the business as a whole strives to increase its turnover, so we constantly endeavour to reduce both the financial and environmental costs of our distribution operation. Since 1999, Thorntons has increased turnover from £143 million to £167.1 million per year, but the percentage cost of distribution relative to turnover has fallen from 1.83% to 1.56%.

One of the key tools used to achieve this reduction in operating costs has been our fuel management programme - undoubtedly a cornerstone of our operation. It is a great example of drivers, operations staff and management working together to improve our operational efficiency and reduce our operating costs. The programme has been developed over a number of years and will continue to be refined in the future."

Scott Wilson, The University of the West of England, Bristol and Hall and Partners were commissioned by Defra to undertake research on the Public Understanding of Sustainable Transport. The research involved a multiple method approach, combining 3 six-hour deliberative workshops, engaging 100 people and 12 individual mobility biographies with selected participants. The deliberative workshops were held in Birmingham, Winchester and York.

Recruitment to the workshops was carried out according to an equal representation of 6 segments: Greens, Consumers with a Conscience, Wastage Focussed, Currently Constrained, Basic Contributors and Long Term Restricted.

Environmental awareness and subsequent concern were found to be widespread across all groups. Some segments were more knowledgeable and opinionated than others were and this variety of engagement with the issues was expected. It is acknowledged by researchers and through the evidence from the exit questionnaires that involvement in the project itself may have altered participants, attitudes and future behaviour (possibly short term).

However, despite there being little obvious dissent to the concept of sustainable transport reported in the workshop or biographies, the actual change in behaviour in the past discussed in the Mobility Biographies as a result of this environmental awareness was largely in domains other than sustainable mobility; most obviously the recycling of household waste. Furthermore, a 'deep green' approach to environment generally appeared to be off putting.

The public's discourse around transport behaviour often emphasises or implies permanence: 'I can't give up my car', 'buses don't run where I need to go'. However, the Mobility Biography findings confirm that behaviour changes towards more sustainable mobility do occur, but may not be permanent. More consideration might be given in the future as to whether transport policy initiatives might be targeted at specific life stages. For example, the Energy Savings Trust's 'Commit to Save 20%' campaign targets short car journeys made by motorists in general. An initiative more targeted to life-stage groups such as university students, might suggest they delay car ownership until they are in a different life stage when the benefits are greater compared to the environmental costs, i.e., it may be more difficult in physical mobility terms and more expensive for a young family to access a public transport vehicle than it is a single adult, so the emissions and energy costs of car use are easier to justify.

This study suggests that the climate change debate is permeating wider society, but that much of the environment debate seems to be carried out in a fragmented and inconsistent manner, both by society and at the individual level. Despite this growing awareness amongst the participants and claims that environmental information is 'not new news', the dominant discourse from both the mobility biographies and the workshops still was that the environment alone is an insufficient motivator to change behaviour. In other words it is probably only going to be a supporting factor in encouraging behaviour change

1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Consumers, understanding, assumptions and aspirations of sustainable transport
4. Consumer expectations
5. Consumer acceptance and the behaviour goals
6. Communicating with the consumer
7. Conclusions
8. Recommendations

• Annex A: The Defra Segmentation
• Annex B: Q Recruitment Questionnaire
• Annex C: Workshop Discussion Guide
• Annex D: Pre Task
• Annex E: Mobility Biography Protocol

This report quantifies business resource efficiency opportunities in the UK economy. The report is the result of a study carried out by Oakdene Hollins Ltd and Grant Thornton UK LLP for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) between March and September 2007.

This study focuses on resource efficiency savings that require low or no financial investment whilst reducing the quantity of waste produced or the consumption of energy or water.

The methodology used in this study comprised six main steps: Quantification of the overall consumption, Quantification of the savings, Conversion of physical savings into financial savings, The inclusion of any hidden or additional cost savings, Grossing up, and Regional Analysis.

This study estimated the total value of low-cost / no-cost resource efficiency savings to range between £5.6 billion to £7.4 billion (mean £6.4 billion annual savings opportunity), which equates to 0.6% of UK gross valued added and 1.9% of UK gross operating surplus (profit). Energy (52%) and waste (41%) are the two areas where the most opportunity was identified.

1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Detailed resource analysis - waste
4. Detailed resource analysis - energy
5. Detailed resource analysis - water
6. Regional analysis
7. Conclusions
8. Further Work
9. Appendix 1: The preliminary analysis
10. Appendix 2: Regional waste arisings
11. Appendix 3: Food and drink sector
12. Appendix 4: Chemical sector analysis
13. Appendix 5: Waste savings opportunities
14. Appendix 6: "H Score" methodology
15. Appendix 7: Detailed analysis of energy savings opportunities
16. Appendix 8: Detailed analysis of water savings opportunities
17. Appendix 9: Detailed analysis of regional savings opportunities

This document is a summary for the project titled 'Reducing energy and carbon footprints in manufacturing through sustainable machining (MANU-FOOT project)'.

The manufacturing industry is an essential part of the economy in the North West of England but it also contributes a large share of its carbon output and it is estimated that about 40% of global carbon footprints are attributable to industrial activity. A key part of manufacturing is machining which is used to shape materials into products for many applications such as aerospace, automotive and medical devices. This project focuses on reducing the emissions from work which involves machining therefore contributing to the development of a more sustainable manufacturing sector. Currently manufacturing processes are designed only from technical and economic point of view without energy considerations.

This project aims to get an accurate picture of the energy requirements and carbon footprint of the manufacturing sector in the region. A methodology manufacturer's can use to work out the energy and carbon footprint of products developed using machining will be developed as part of this project. The impacts of varying production times and levels of machine utilization on environmental footprints will also be examined. It is hoped that by enabling companies to easily workout the size of the carbon and energy footprint attributed to their products will make it easier for them to reduce their overall footprints. Another way in which carbon emissions can be reduced for machining is to try and address the problem of energy being lost due to friction. Friction occurs in machining because tools become worn and corroded and it is estimated that some 30% of all energy generated in industrialized countries is lost this way. One potential method of addressing this problem is through the use of extra hard nanostructure tool coatings and their effectiveness in addressing the problem of friction will be assessed as part of this project. It is intended this project will lead to the creation of an industrial guide on curbing the effect of machining on energy consumption and carbon footprints.

This document is a case study on Transco National Logistics in Birmingham made by the Department for Transport.

Transco's National Logistics team stores and delivers engineering materials and meters for National Grid Transco's gas supply business. Their National Distribution Centre in Birmingham operates 35 articulated vehicles. Every year the fleet delivers £120 million worth of goods to 14 smaller warehouses and over 200 customer locations across the UK. In order to achieve this, the vehicle fleet travels approximately 2.5 million miles, consuming around 1.4 million litres of diesel. This distribution costs approximately £3.5 million a year, a significant element of which is the cost of fuel.

Transco's National Logistics team is an excellent example of how improving the efficiency of a transport operation can realise significant environmental benefits that contribute to a company's overall EMS. Their experience highlights that these benefits can be achieved with relatively straightforward solutions. A collection of ideas from the workforce as a whole has delivered impressive environmental and cost benefits.

Transco has demonstrated that good environmental practices will both enhance your reputation and save you money. The implementation of three initiatives has had the combined, annual environmental benefit of:

The aims of the guide are to:

SAFED for Vans has been designed as a single course aimed at improving the safe and fuel efficient driving techniques of LCV drivers.

Safer driving means:

SAFED training has been developed specifically to enable both fleet operators and training providers to implement driver training within the LCV industry. It provides training and development for existing LCV drivers through instruction relating to vehicle craft and road craft

The guide is for training providers, fleet operators, in-house driver trainers and LCV drivers. It outlines the principles of SAFED and provides a step-by-step guide through the one-day SAFED training course

1. Background
2. Prior to undertaking a training programme
3. Essential core information
4. Training programme and assessment material

Three related surveys were carried out during the first six months of 2002 to establish estimates for the arisings and use of construction and demolition waste (C&D waste) in 2001 in England and Wales, and in each of the regions covered by Regional Aggregate Working Parties. The work was commissioned by the Minerals and Waste Planning Division (now part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - ODPM - formerly part of the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions - DTLR) with the support of the Welsh Assembly Government. It was carried out by Symonds Group Ltd, with the support of WRc plc on issues of statistical design and analysis.

The three surveys covered operators of crushers and screens, licensed landfills and Paragraph 9 & 19 registered exempt sites. Between them, these surveys were designed to generate estimates for recycled aggregate and soil, C&D waste used and disposed of at licensed landfills, and C&D waste spread on registered exempt sites. The surveys made a clear distinction between hard C&D waste and excavation waste in order to identify not just the current rate of aggregate recycling, but also the further potential.

The information generated will feed into the revision of MPG6 (in England) and the Aggregates Technical Advisory Note (in Wales), and into other policy documents which deal with recycled aggregate.

The expectation is that comparable surveys will be run in future, to coincide with the four-yearly collection of data on primary aggregate production.

The estimate for production of recycled aggregate and soil has risen steeply, from 25.13 million tonnes in 1999 to 45.07 million tonnes in 2001. This growth accounts for almost all of the increase in overall C&D waste production in England and Wales between 1999 and 2001. The total for 2001 is estimated at 93.91 million tonnes ± 15% at a confidence level of 90%. Although this is almost 30% higher than the equivalent estimate for 1999 (72.5 million tonnes ± 35%), the difference between the central estimates for the two years is not statistically significant.

An estimated 38.02 million tonnes (± 18%) was crushed and/or screened prior to being recycled as aggregate: more than five times the tonnage of recycled soil. Some of the apparent rise in recycling activity can be attributed to a better 'detection rate' of crushers and screens used for processing hard C&D waste into recycled aggregate and soil, though the population of such machines is widely thought to be rising.

The greatest source of uncertainty, as in 1999, surrounds the true population of Paragraph 9 & 19 registered exempt sites, and the extent to which any unreliability within the national database of such sites is regionally biased. The study team concludes that such bias may well exist, and that as a consequence the regional estimate for the South West of England may well be disproportionately higher than those for other regions.

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction and Background to the Study
3. Preparing the Survey Lists and Forms
4. The Approach to Statistical Method
5. The Response to the Surveys and the Results Reported
6. The Regional Breakdown of Results
7. Findings and Discussion
8. Conclusions and Recommendations

This note provides a summary of the key sustainability impacts of clothing and current interventions aimed at improving clothing sustainability performance. This is based on the Defra commissioned Environmental Resources Management (ERM) study Mapping of Evidence on Sustainable Development Impacts that occur in the Life Cycle of Clothing, 2007 and discussions with stakeholders engaged in sustainability and clothing within the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap.

The clothing roadmap is focused on garments to include textiles used in the manufacture of clothing, but excluding shoes, accessories and commercial textiles. To date, evidence has been gathered on the sustainability impacts (environmental, social and economic) of clothing across the lifecycle as well as current interventions designed to improve sustainability performance through desk based research and stakeholder meetings. In support of this, Defra commissioned Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to conduct a project to map the sustainability impacts of clothing and interventions to address these impacts. The briefing note summarises the sustainability impacts and interventions identified from this study and follow up meetings with stakeholders.

The primary purpose of road lighting is to make people, vehicles and objects on the road visible by revealing them in silhouette against the road surface. As a result, road lighting standards are expressed in terms of three luminance metrics, average road surface luminance, overall luminance uniformity ratio and longitudinal luminance uniformity ratio. The luminance of any point on a road surface is a function of the illuminance on, and the reflection properties of, the pavement material. The reflection properties of the road surface will be determined by the pavement material used, whether it is wet or dry, and how much use the road has had.

Despite the existence of these variables, the recommended design method for road lighting in the UK uses one set of data for characterizing the reflection properties of road surfaces, called the representative British road surface, although this is modified for concrete roads. Quantitatively, the reflection properties of a road surface are given by a reduced reflection coefficient table, called an r-table. This r-table is summarised by two metrics; Q0, this being a metric of the diffuse reflection, and S1, this being a metric of the specular reflection. The representative British road surface design method has been applied for many years to roads constructed with such established pavement materials as hot rolled asphalt and brushed concrete. However, there are now a number of new asphalt-based pavement materials available, such as porous asphalt, stone mastic asphalt and a number of proprietary thin surfacings together with one new concrete-based pavement material, exposed aggregate concrete. The first objective of this report is to determine whether these new pavement materials can be accommodated within the representative British road surface road lighting design system. If they cannot, the second objective is to suggest what should be done to ensure the accurate design of lighting for roads where these new pavement materials are used.

The first part of this report summarizes the development of the representative British road surface and describes how it is used in the calculation of road lighting luminances. Then, the magnitude of the errors inevitable in using a single r-table to describe many different pavement materials is examined, as is the effect of use on the reflection properties of pavement materials. The reflection properties of a pavement material change markedly over the first six months of use, this change contributing to the large discrepancies that can occur between the luminance metrics calculated using the representative British road surface and r-tables specific to different pavement materials.

From a consideration of the calculations made and the caveats expressed, the following actions are recommended:

1. Action should be taken to confirm the validity of the Q0 values for both established and new pavement materials given in Cooper et al. (2000). This should be done in two stages. The first is to identify a laboratory based measurement system capable of giving consistent results for the same pavement material sample. The second is to use the identified measurement system to measure r-tables for all pavement materials frequently used in the UK, the materials being dry and at an appropriate state of wear.
2. If the Q0 values given in Cooper et al. (2000) are shown to be valid, a decision has to be made on whether or not to accept errors in the average road surface luminance of the magnitude found here, for both new and established pavement materials. If such errors are acceptable, then the representative British road surface approach can be applied to the new pavement materials without change. If such errors are not acceptable, the representative British road surfaces in BS5489 should be abandoned as a basis for road lighting design.
3. If the representative British road surfaces in BS5489 are to be abandoned, they should be replaced with two new r-tables, one for asphalt-based pavement materials and one for concrete-based pavement materials. These two new r-tables might be formed from the current C2 r-table but with every cell adjusted so that one r-table has Q0 = 0.050 and the other r-table has Q0 = 0.085. The former r-table would be taken as representative of asphalt-based pavement materials. The latter r-table would be taken as representative of concrete-based pavement materials.
4. To avoid any consequent increase in costs for road lighting following such a change in recommended r-tables, the soundness of the current luminance recommendations used for road lighting design in England and Wales should be assessed.
5. To avoid any consequent increase in costs for road lighting following such a change, the practicality of increasing the amount of light reflected from pavement materials by incorporating brighteners into the material mix should be evaluated.
6. The practicality of measuring road luminance metrics from a moving vehicle should be investigated. Equipment designed to do this already exists. Its use would provide a means for determining compliance with contract and for identifying the need for maintenance.

1. Background
2. The route to the representative British road surface
3. Errors inherent in the use of the representative British road surface
4. Road reflection properties and pavement recipes
5. New pavement materials and their reflection properties
6. Questions to be addressed
7. Discussion
8. Caveats
9. Recommendations
10. References
11. Acknowledgements
12. Appendix

This document is a summary for the project titled 'The development and socio-economic analysis of low carbon pathways for aviation in the North West'.

The aviation industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy and the most problematic in terms of its impact on the climate. Currently aviation accounts for over 6% of UK carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and, according to Government figures, growth in emissions for the year 2003-4 were in excess of 11%. It is expected that this year emissions from aviation will be similar to those from car travel in the UK. By 2020 it will be the sector with the second highest emissions and by 2030 it is likely to dominate UK CO₂ emissions. Whilst for many sectors, technology offers substantial short to medium-term opportunities to significantly reduce emissions, within the aviation sector only incremental refinements to an already technically-mature industry are credible before 2030. Consequently, improvements in aircraft and engine design combined with operational practices, offer only a 1% per annum reduction in fuel-burn per passenger per km. Exacerbating this absence of a significant increase in fuel efficiency is the long design-life of aircraft, effectively locking society into the current technology for at least the next 30-50 years. Recent research has clearly demonstrated that unless aviation growth is tackled as a matter of urgency, this single industry will absorb the complete carbon dioxide budget of the UK if the Government's commitment to the 2°C threshold is to be met.

This project will provide a detailed understanding of aviation's contribution to the regional economy how and why the North West (NW) aviation emissions are rising and, more particularly, it will inform the ongoing development of the NW climate change strategy.

This document is a guide on 'Truck specification for best operational efficiency' under 'Freight Best Practice' written by the Department for Transport.

The capital cost of a vehicle may account for less than 50% of its whole-life cost when fuel, maintenance and other operating expenses are taken into account. Fuel can represent up to 30% of your operational costs. Clearly this is a significant amount and any reduction in fuel costs or improvements in operational efficiency can improve the 'bottom line' of your business.

Spending time in developing an accurate and appropriate vehicle specification will help you do this. Ensuring vehicles are closely matched to the tasks they are expected to perform will improve both fuel and overall operational efficiency. This can lead to cost savings, increased profitability and reduced environmental impact.

On the other hand, inaccurate and inappropriate vehicle specification can result in purchasing a vehicle that is unsuitable for the task it will be required to carry out. Although such vehicles may be slightly cheaper in terms of initial investment, it may become significantly more expensive to operate when fuel consumption and maintenance costs are taken into account in the long term. Poor vehicle specification, in some cases, may even lead to breaches of the law and possible legal action.

Who Should Use this Guide? Everyone who is responsible for acquiring goods vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight (GVW). This could be fleet managers, owner drivers and operational managers. It will equip you with the information you need to ensure the most beneficial long term outcome when acquiring commercial vehicles.

This publication provides independent and authoritative guidance on vehicle specification. It will show you just how easy it is to produce a fit-for-purpose specification and will take you through the key stages of vehicle specification. Sections 2-4 cover the basics of vehicle specification, while Sections 6-7 contain more detailed information.

1. Introduction
2. Identify Freight Movement Requirements
3. Types of Trucks Available
4. Ensuring the Truck is Fit for Purpose
5. Detailed Specification: Core Components
6. Detailed Specification: Additional Features
7. Maximising Efficiency

• Appendix 1 - Typical Whole Life Costs for Standard Commercial Vehicles
• Appendix 2 - Exhaust Emission Limits Specified by European Legislation
• Appendix 3 - Maximum Vehicle Weights - Standard Terminology
• Appendix 4 - Legal Constraints and Requirements

The contents of this report are:

This document is the final report to Defra for the project titled 'UK support for EU LEACHXS expert database on waste characterisation'.

Strategies to manage the environmental challenges posed by wastes require good quality data on waste characteristics such as leachability and composition. Public domain datasets for UK wastes tend to be limited in number and extent and those that are available are stored in disparate locations and media. The data cannot easily be evaluated or compared either with other UK data or with more extensive non-UK datasets. Information on the quality of residues arising from new waste technologies and treatments are particularly sparse.

LeachXS© is an expert system for managing and modelling waste characterisation data. It has been developed by ECN (Netherlands), DHI (Denmark) and Vanderbilt University (US), contains 5M€ waste data and incorporates:

WRc and ECN obtained Defra funding under the "understanding waste composition and trends" theme of the Waste Evidence programme:

LeachXS© is a powerful secondary research tool containing appropriate publicly available data on the composition and leachability of approximately 2000 European waste samples including data for UK and German wastes collated for this project. The UK dataset can therefore be interrogated by end-users in the context of the wider, pan-European leachXS database.

Simple data management tools enable the novice user to rapidly compare the characteristics of different wastes, allowing for example comparison of characteristics of:

1. Introduction
2. The leachSX© expert system
3. Collation of datasets
4. Application of leachSX©
5. Outcome
6. Suggestions

The Transport Studies Group (TSG) at the University of Westminster was commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) to carry out a scoping study to identify the potential for the development of urban consolidation centres (UCCs).

UCCs have been subject to much discussion and occasional trials, but to date there has been a lack of evidence-based information upon which potential operators or policy-makers can base decisions as to the viability of such initiatives. This report is intended to assist with the provision and interpretation of that information.

Broadly speaking the key purpose identified for UCCs is the avoidance of the need for vehicles to deliver part loads into urban centres or other large developments. This objective can be achieved by providing facilities whereby deliveries can be consolidated for subsequent delivery into the area in an appropriate vehicle with a high level of load utilisation.

The main components of the study have been:

For the purposes of this project, a UCC is best described as a logistics facility that is situated in relatively close proximity to the geographic area that it serves, be that a city centre, an entire town or a specific site (e.g. shopping centre), from which consolidate deliveries are carried out within that area. A range of other value-added logistics and retail services can also be provided at the UCC.

The work carried out in this project suggests that, from a logistics perspective, the major potential beneficiaries from the establishment of UCCs would be:

1. Introduction
2. Synthesis of Key Issues
3. Appraisal of Urban Consolidation Centre Schemes
4. A Framework for Urban Consolidation Centre Evaluation
5. Conclusions
6. Recommendations

• Appendix 1: Summary Review of Literature
• Appendix 2: UCC Data Sheets
• Appendix 3: Interview Topic Guide
• Appendix 4: UCC Classification Proposed by Other Authors

The issues relating to climate change have risen dramatically to the top of the political agenda, and the importance of transport in contributing to reducing levels of CO₂ is clearly evident: yet the problem remains that traffic levels continue to rise. All the projections suggest that significantly reducing emissions from current levels is likely to be very difficult. As urban and transport planners, policy makers and the public, we need to start to think very differently about tackling the global emissions problem.

The VIBAT project (Visioning and Backcasting for UK Transport Policy) has examined the possibility of reducing transport CO₂ emissions by 60 per cent by 2030. It has examined a range of policy measures (i.e. pricing, regulation and technological), and assessed how they can be effectively combined to achieve this level of CO₂ emissions reduction. The intention has been to assess whether such an ambitious target is feasible, to identify the main problems, and to comment on the main decision points. The study is based on the innovative research technique of backcasting, which has been used for the first time in the transport planning field in the UK.

This executive summary is mainly targeted at policy recommendations. Those interested in more details of the research carried out during the DfT Horizons Research Project 2004/05 should refer to the three extended working papers and presentations produced during the research (September 2004 - November 2005) and to a sister document on methodological issues.

1. To test the visioning and backcasting methodologies as a means to assess challenging new environmental targets for UK transport policy - this is the methodological objective;
2. To produce a set of images of the future that represent different alternative visions for the year 2030, and to determine alternative policy packages that it would be necessary to introduce to achieve these images, together with the policy paths that highlight when change has to take place - this is the policy objective.

The VIBAT project has demonstrated through the use of a sound and innovative methodology that the targets set are achievable provided that there is not a substantial increase in travel between 2000 and 2030.

The old debate in terms of relying on technological improvements to help maintain our current CO₂ intensive lifestyles seems to be obsolete. We need a renewed emphasis over a very wide range of fields. Multi-disciplinary thinking is critical.

1. Towards a 60% reduction in transport emissions
2. Visioning the backcasting for the future
3. The VIBAT baseline and projections
4. The VIBAT images of the future
5. Policy packages
6. Package clustering and policy pathways
7. The way forward for policy makers

With ever-higher operating and running costs, efficient goods vehicle fleet management is an important requirement for any business engaged in or reliant on freight transport. Time conscious customers demand flexible and reliable deliveries which can be costly if the efficiency of goods vehicles routing and scheduling is compromised.

The objective of this research was to test the effectiveness of satellite navigation on improving the efficiency of HGV operations. If, on balance, these are found to be positive for the freight industry, we would recommend the ways to improve the take up of satellite navigation systems in HGVs, with the aims of:

An eight week in-fleet trial of portable SatNav units was conducted in October/November 2005 in four HGV fleets to compare the before and after effects of the use of satellite navigation systems in the freight industry. Company vehicles were monitored without satellite navigation for the first four weeks and then, after a week of familiarisation with the satellite navigation systems, drivers' runs were monitored for a further four weeks using the systems.

Following the successful trial period all data was collected and analysed in order to present both the positive and negative findings. There are three sets of findings, quantative from the trial data, qualitive from a questionnaire issued to drivers and Transport Managers following the trial and general findings obtained from desktop research and informal consultation.

Although it is difficult to be sure of the precise benefits of SatNav for vehicles of 7.5 tonnes MGW and above it is clear that in concept there are certain applications that they have the potential to become an everyday tool of the trade. This is especially so where new or temporary drivers are being used and where an experienced driver is often required to travel to unfamiliar destinations.

The barriers to SatNav spreading across the road freight industry centres on the non freight specific information held in the mapping software where the SatNav system takes its instructions from.

However, if a driver is aware of the potential misrouting and takes sensible decisions, it can be argued that the less familiar a driver is with the delivery address, the greater the contribution that a navigation system could make to operational efficiency. Similarly, the more locations a mobile worker has to visit each day, the greater the potential savings.

From the research team's knowledge of freight operations the following is a list of industry sectors for which satellite navigation might be particularly beneficial:

1. Introduction
2. Background Information
3. Technical Review
4. Market Review
5. The Trial
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
7. Appendix
8. Glossary of Terms

With ever-higher operating and running costs, efficient goods vehicle fleet management is an important requirement for any business engaged in or reliant on freight transport. Time conscious customers demand flexible and reliable deliveries which can be costly if the efficiency of goods vehicles routing and scheduling is compromised.

The objective of this research was to test the effectiveness of satellite navigation on improving the efficiency of HGV operations. If, on balance, these are found to be positive for the freight industry, we would recommend the ways to improve the take up of satellite navigation systems in HGVs, with the aims of:

An eight week in-fleet trial of portable SatNav units was conducted in October/November 2005 in four HGV fleets to compare the before and after effects of the use of satellite navigation systems in the freight industry. Company vehicles were monitored without satellite navigation for the first four weeks and then, after a week of familiarisation with the satellite navigation systems, drivers' runs were monitored for a further four weeks using the systems.

Following the successful trial period all data was collected and analysed in order to present both the positive and negative findings. There are three sets of findings, quantative from the trial data, qualitive from a questionnaire issued to drivers and Transport Managers following the trial and general findings obtained from desktop research and informal consultation.

Although it is difficult to be sure of the precise benefits of SatNav for vehicles of 7.5 tonnes MGW and above it is clear that in concept there are certain applications that they have the potential to become an everyday tool of the trade. This is especially so where new or temporary drivers are being used and where an experienced driver is often required to travel to unfamiliar destinations.

The barriers to SatNav spreading across the road freight industry centres on the non freight specific information held in the mapping software where the SatNav system takes its instructions from.

However, if a driver is aware of the potential misrouting and takes sensible decisions, it can be argued that the less familiar a driver is with the delivery address, the greater the contribution that a navigation system could make to operational efficiency. Similarly, the more locations a mobile worker has to visit each day, the greater the potential savings.

From the research team's knowledge of freight operations the following is a list of industry sectors for which satellite navigation might be particularly beneficial:

This report focuses on food miles - what they are, whether and how it might be possible to reduce them and what the consequences of so doing might be.

'Food miles' is a phrase used to encapsulate concerns about the increasing distances our food travels, and the environmental and social consequences thereof.

In this report we consider whether measures to shorten the food supply chain and reduce food miles can help cut CO₂ emissions from transport and, in so doing, achieve an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the food system.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that we need to achieve a 60-80% cut in human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. All sectors, including the food industry, will have to make a proportionate contribution to achieving this goal.

We suggest that the features of a lower carbon food system would include the following six elements:

In short, action to foster a lower carbon food system requires movement in the following direction:

1. A recognition that the food system needs to reduce the quantities of CO₂ it emits very considerably.
2. Policies and measures to reduce carbon emissions throughout the life-cycle of food so that trade-offs become synergies.
3. A stronger national and regional food base.
4. Measures to shift businesses away from long distance food transport and towards more nationally and regionally based sourcing.
5. Co-ordinated and co-operative methods of distributing goods both for the multiples and for local independent stores.
6. Information and Communication Technology which assists the development of less carbon-intensive systems.
7. Different retail structures.
8. Changes in the way we consume.
9. Ongoing research.

Finally, industry, government and consumers alike have a choice. We can seek to salvage elements of sustainability from the current system, in order to keep the system going as it is for a little longer. Or we can take a risk, look further into the future, and start to think and do differently. We believe the second route to be the only survivable option.

1. Introduction
2. Food in the supply chain
3. Food and freight: The trends and their impact
4. The technological approach: How far will efficiency get you?
5. Why things are the way they are: The influences shaping the food supply chain
6. The business approach: Anticipating and preparing for the future
7. Food, transport distance and life-cycle carbon emissions: Exploring the relationship
8. A lower carbon food system: Exploring the alternatives and the policies for achieving them
9. Recommendations

• Annex one: Localism: The debate