13 April 2011

Public sector outperforms private sector on sustainability
Research out today has found that the public sector is performing better than the private sector on environmental sustainability.

The research carried out by Cambium LLP, a consultancy working in the cleantech area, looked at private and public sector participants in the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

The report, 'The Sustainable Innovation Opportunities Created by the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme' provides an insight into the current environmental performance of the 2,770 CRC Scheme participants ahead of the footprint league table due to be published on Oct 1st.

Researchers used web-based search methodology to produce the Cambium Index to measure companies' performance against a range of sustainability and energy reduction related indicators.

These indicators included sustainability, carbon, social awareness and environmental return on investment.

Companies were scored on the Index and grouped into Leaders, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards.

The results showed that the private sector has only 5% of Leaders versus the public sector, which had 42%.

Energy intensive sub-sectors such as manufacturing were amongst the lowest overall in terms of percentage of Leaders.

The Public Sector scored particularly well on the Sustainability Indicator, with central government, academic institutions and local government performing well.

The NHS and the police were overall the worst within the public sector, with the NHS having the highest proportion of Laggards.

The private sector showed better awareness of carbon management than the public sector.

Cambium hope that the report will provide an increased awareness of the unexplored market opportunities for suppliers and investors, encourage companies to establish strategies to avoid high carbon taxes and a poor reputation and will inform policy makers.

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