Environment Strategy 2024 - 2030

Chief Constable's foreword

The environment strategy document is a key piece of work that provides us with a clear, defined plan for Nottinghamshire Police to tackle our own impact on climate change.

Our Environment Strategy highlights areas where we can improve and reduce our environmental impact.

We are committed to doing what we can as a force to tackle climate change and look forward to our journey to achieving a net zero status by 2039/2040 with a well-defined environment strategy and clear targets in place to make this happen.

I have a clear and optimistic vision for the future of Nottinghamshire Police and our commitment to the environment strategy. We remain committed to prioritising approaches to help tackle the issues that matter and invest in creative methods to understand and better deal with our own impacts.

Together, we can deliver the necessary changes, to further improve and become a more environmentally sustainable organisation. Our vision, our duty, and our commitment form part of our Proud to Serve Pledge. Our Vision is what we aim to achieve – we want to deliver an outstanding service we can all be proud of, and the environmental strategy forms part of this.

We will continue to strive to achieve the ambition to develop a workforce fit for the future and put new processes in place to aid us on our journey, and ultimately build on the trust and confidence within our communities locally.

Police and Crime Commissioner's foreword

As proud public services, Nottinghamshire Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire have a social, ethical and financial responsibility to reduce the impact we have on our environment.

Our ambitious new Environment Strategy sets out how our organisations will deliver on this responsibility and become leaders to move to a more sustainable future.

By going greener, leaner and cleaner, we are aiming to be carbon net zero ten years ahead of UK government targets.

This will not only ensure our organisations play our part in protecting our environment by reducing waste, energy and carbon usage, but we will also become more efficient and able to provide better value for money services for the public purse.

As employers of staff right across the county, we can have a significant impact on improving Nottinghamshire’s environmental footprint – through smarter use of resources and transport, and new ways of working.

The public quite rightly want us to be the most efficient and effective services we can be, and I believe this strategy ensures we have the vision and ambition to deliver.

Executive summary

With public pressure for climate change action increasing and the UK government net zero commitments driving decarbonisation across both the private and public sectors, Nottinghamshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner, recognise the need to address their carbon emissions and wider environmental impacts. This environment strategy presents a detailed plan to aid us on our journey towards net zero and improved environmental sustainability. Covering carbon, resource use and the natural environment, it outlines the current status quo within Nottinghamshire Police, highlights key opportunities to improve and provides a clear action plan to drive us forward in our ambition to become a more environmentally sustainable organisation.

This strategy illustrates the potential for Nottinghamshire Police to reduce our scope one and two emissions significantly, achieving net zero across these scopes by 2039/2040, significantly ahead of the government net zero target of 2050. Scope three emissions are harder to reduce due to the limited influence an organisation has on their supply chain, but the analysis shows significant reductions in scope three emissions are possible for Nottinghamshire Police, including a 71% reduction in employee commuting emissions.

In relation to resource use, Nottinghamshire Police currently have low levels of recycling, offering us a clear opportunity to reduce waste generation and greatly increase recycling rates. This allows targets to be set across a range of waste areas such as paper, plastics and food. Similarly, relatively high levels of potable water consumption allow for interventions to reduce consumption overall and drive more efficient use.

Lastly, with the natural environment across Nottinghamshire Police’s estate varying from extensive areas of established and mature mixed woodland at Joint Headquarters (JHQ), to far more urban environments in the city and towns, there is a broad range of measures available to enhance biodiversity and ‘green’ the existing infrastructure. Potential interventions are very much location specific but include the creation of new green areas to allow employees to decompress and enjoy the natural environment, and smaller scale measures such as planting bee friendly flowers and plants in pots in urban areas.

1. Introduction

With climate change posing the biggest challenge of our time, it is essential that action is taken globally to both mitigate and adapt to its effects. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Paris agreement is a legally binding international treaty which aims to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit this temperature increase to 1.5°C. Despite global best endeavours we are still not on track to achieve this. Alongside the climate emergency, the last 50 years have seen a 70% drop in wildlife populations across the planet and use of natural resources has tripled in that time, fuelling UK environmental legislation and focus on mitigating harm and improving our natural environment.

The UK government has numerous policies and targets in place to address the challenge of climate change and wider environmental impacts, including an ambitious pledge to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. In order to achieve this, it is essential that all organisations plan for a transition to net zero and the wider greening of their operations.

Nottinghamshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner are keen to address our greenhouse gas emissions and wider environmental impact, in line with national and local policy and standards. To this end, Atkins Realis have worked with us to assess our impacts within policy and peer context and develop a series of appropriate interventions and actions to help achieve our ambitions. These outcomes were developed through interactive workshops with a broad range of representatives covering all aspects of Nottinghamshire Police operations, from Estates and Fleet through to Finance and People Services.

This resulting environment strategy outlines the decarbonisation roadmap, and covers the wider environmental impacts of waste generation, water use and the natural environment. It offers a comprehensive action plan to aid us on the journey to net zero and achievement of our wider environmental aspirations.

1.1 National and local context

The following policy review aims to present a summary of key national and local government policies, as well as an overview of what other police forces across the country are doing by way of peer comparison. The insights drawn from the policy review are highlighted in subsequent sections and provide evidence of the potential material environmental risks and opportunities presented to Nottinghamshire Police, which we can mitigate and manage or realise and capitalise on accordingly.

Climate Change Act

The Climate Change Act 2008 is a piece of legislation which sets out emission reduction targets for the UK. In 2008 the initial target was to reduce UK Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to 80% below 1990 levels. The UK statutory target for reducing GHG emissions was strengthened in May 2019 to net zero by 2050, to reflect the necessity of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

Under the UK Climate Change Act 2008, the UK has so far set six ‘carbon budgets’ as shown in Table 1. These set interim five-year caps on emissions from 2008 to 2037. The UK is currently in the fourth budget period (2023 to 2027). Targets are set by the government through consultation with the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which suggest levels of emissions reductions and mechanisms to make these reductions.

The UK has succeeded in meeting the first and second budget periods and is on track to meet the third. However, it is not on track to meet the fourth and fifth budget. This has resulted in a revised interim target to cut emissions by 78% before 2035 as part of the sixth carbon budget.

Table 1 - UK carbon budgets

Budget number	Time-period	Carbon Budget Level	% reduction from 1990 levels
1	2008-2012	3,018 MtCO2e	25% by 2010
2	2013-2017	2,782 MtCO2e	31% by 2015
3	2018-2022	2,544 MtCO2e	37% by 2020
4	2023-2027	1,950 MtCO2e	51% by 2025
5	2028-2032	1,765 MtCO2e	68% by 2030
6	2033-2037	965 MtCO2e	78% by 2035

The Environment Act 2021 is a law that sets out the UK’s policy on waste and resource efficiency, air quality, water, biodiversity, nature and biodiversity, and tree felling and planting. Its key aims are to improve air and water quality, protect wildlife, increase recycling, and reduce waste.

These changes will be driven by new legally binding environmental targets, and enforced by a new, independent Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), which will hold the government and public bodies to account on their environmental obligations.

Greening government commitments

The Greening government commitments 2021 to 2025 set out the actions the UK government departments and their partner organisations will take to reduce their impacts on the environment. The current GGC period is 2021 to 2025 and for this period, the government has set more stretching targets on the core areas of emissions, water, waste and domestic flights, and introduced new measures on biodiversity, climate adaptation and food waste. Some sub-targets which are relevant to the environmental themes covered in this report are as follows:

Mitigating climate change, working towards net zero by 2050

• 100% of the government car and van fleet to be fully zero emissions at the tailpipe by 31 December 2027

Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency

• Increase the proportion of waste which is recycled to at least 70% of overall waste
• Remove single use plastic from office estate
• Measure and report food waste
• Reduce paper use by at least 50% from 2017/18 baseline

Reducing our water use

• Reduce water consumption by at least 8% from the 2017 to 2018 baseline
• Ensure all water consumption is measured
• Provide a qualitative assessment to show what is being done to encourage the efficient use of water

Procuring sustainable products and services

• Continue to buy more sustainable and efficient products and services

Nature recovery, making space for thriving plants and wildlife

• Developing and delivering nature recovery plans

Adapting to climate change

• Develop an organisational climate change adaptation strategy across estates and operations

Reducing environmental impacts from information communication technology (ICT) and digital.

25 Year Environment Plan

The government’s 25 Year Environment Plan sets out what the UK will do to improve the environment within a generation. By 2040 the aspirations include having high quality, accessible natural spaces close to where people live and work, and also creating development projects that provide environmental net gain. Environmental net gain includes biodiversity net gain as its underpinning starting point, but also wider measurable improvements in
the environment.

The plan also sets out the ambition to minimise waste, reuse materials as much as we can and manage materials at the end of their life to minimise the impact on the environment. Resources are to be used more efficiently and kept in use for longer to minimise waste and reduce environmental impacts by promoting reuse, remanufacturing and recycling. Specifically, it pledges to work towards
eliminating all avoidable waste by 2050, all avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042 and meeting all existing waste targets – including those on landfill, reuse and recycling, as well as developing ambitious new future targets and milestones.

Scienced Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

The Science Based Targets Initiative is a partnership between Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), who work with companies to show them how much and how quickly they can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

It is a global initiative that helps companies and organisations set ambitious, science-based emissions reduction targets and lead the zero-carbon transformation, and is widely used across UK organisations to support the identification and development of net zero targets to align with the 2050 net zero commitment. The SBTi Net-Zero Standard requires that for an organisation to align with net zero requirements, it must reduce absolute emissions across scope one, two and three by 90% prior to the year 2050, in line with a 1.5°C warming scenario.

Nottinghamshire County Council / Borough and District Councils

In March 2020, the Nottinghamshire County Council approved a new corporate environmental policy which reaffirms its commitment to protecting and enhancing the environment for current and future generations, with targets relating to topics including biodiversity, waste, energy, and carbon. In 2021, they also declared a climate emergency and set a target for the county of Nottinghamshire to be carbon neutral by 2030.

In addition, at the end of 2019, Gedling Borough Council, where our police headquarters is located, also committed to reducing its carbon emissions, declaring a climate emergency and pledging to make the council’s estate and activities carbon neutral 2030, with specific targets around biodiversity and waste. Broxtowe Borough Council are also aligning to the same core strategy as Gedling Borough Council.

Many of the other Nottinghamshire borough and district councils (such as Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood and Rushcliffe) have also included aims within their local plan/strategy to support the transition to net zero districts, increase biodiversity and improve resource efficiency and resource management (including water and waste). These topics all feature as key policies/objectives within each of the borough council’s local plans/strategies.

1.2 Other forces

Few forces nationwide have developed environmental or decarbonisation strategies so far, but there is increasing pressure to do so as highlighted by Nottinghamshire Police’s most recent HMICFRS (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services) audit.

Some forces have already begun their journey with a well-defined environment strategy and clear targets in place. Nottinghamshire Police aims to follow suit by using this environment strategy to initiate their decarbonisation journey and set targets for their wider environmental ambitions.

2. Environmental themes

The following section looks at the impacts of Nottinghamshire Police on carbon, resource use in relation to waste and water, and the natural environment. The current state of each theme is presented along with opportunities to improve performance, and suggested targets to measure progress.

Specific actions that we will consider and develop, and related timelines for implementation are presented in Appendix A.

2.1 Carbon

Current state

A full assessment of Nottinghamshire Police’s carbon baseline for financial year 21/22 has been undertaken, alongside a Business as Usual (BAU) projection, detailing how our GHG emissions will change if no action is taken, beyond what has already been committed by ourselves and the government. The current baseline of GHG emissions is illustrated in Figure 1 below.

The 21/22 baseline overall emissions breakdown presented in Figure 1 below indicates that employee commuting (41%), electricity consumption from the grid (15%) and diesel consumption associated with fleet vehicles (13%) are the main sources of GHG emissions in 21/22. These relative proportions are broadly in line with available data for other police forces.

Figure 1 - 21/22 baseline GHG emissions across all scopes

From this assessment, it was clear that the main hotspot areas identified in the baseline are as follows:

• Employee commuting (41% total emissions)
• Electricity consumption (15%)
• Diesel used for fleet vehicles (13%)
• Natural gas consumption for buildings (8%)

Opportunities

A decarbonisation roadmap, illustrating how Nottinghamshire Police can best reduce our emissions across scope one, scope two and limited scope three categories by 2050 has been produced, outlining key interventions that will be needed to reach this. A brief definition of each of the scopes is given in Table 2.

Emissions Scope	Definition
Scope one	Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources: stationary combustion, mobile combustion, process emissions and fugitive emissions (such as losses from Hydrofluorocarbons refrigeration systems). Not all sources will be relevant to all industries.
Scope two	Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed. This is relevant to almost all businesses.
Scope three	All other indirect emissions from that occur in an organisation’s value chain.

The key interventions are focused on the hotspot areas highlighted in Figure 1, namely energy consumption and transport, to prioritise the most effective carbon reduction measures and ensure the most significant carbon reductions.

This decarbonisation roadmap is illustrated in Figure 2 and shows the effect of the GHG emission reductions as a result of the agreed interventions. This indicates the total emissions of Nottinghamshire Police can be reduced from 10,367 tCO2e in 21/22 to 2,083 tCO2e by 49/50.

This is a reduction of 80% of total GHG emissions from the baseline year to 49/50. This equates to a 77% reduction in emissions compared to the BAU scenario in 49/50. A full list of the interventions required to meet this decarbonisation pathway are detailed within the action plans in Appendix A.

Figure 2 - Decarbonisation Roadmap to 2050 - emissions trajectory

Targets

Nottinghamshire Police must comply with the UK government statutory target to meet net zero scope one and scope two emissions by 2050. The decarbonisation roadmap presented provides an action plan for how Nottinghamshire Police can begin their journey towards this target.

The specifics of the recommended interventions and actions are detailed in Appendix A.

2.2 Resource use: water and waste

Current state - Waste

Nottinghamshire Police’s waste production in 21/22 was 247 tonnes, increasing to 336 tonnes in 22/23, as shown in Table 3. Currently we are only recycling 21% of our general waste, with the other 79% being incinerated. This is well below the UK national average household recycling rate of 44%.

Table 3 - Nottinghamshire Police's waste consumption

Waste type	Disposal	Waste (tonnes)
		21/22	22/23
General	Incinerated	150.34	204.00
General	Recycled	52.12	70.72
Clinical	Incinerated	0.15	0.20
Confidential	Incinerated	44.84	60.85
Total		247.44	335.77

Current state - Water

Nottinghamshire Police’s current annual water usage, to illustrate scale, is equivalent to approximately 1,000 UK households at 52.5 million litres per year.

Discussions within workshops highlighted some potential areas of overconsumption in buildings including unregulated shower controls. It is also the case that significant volumes of water are used for washing vehicles. Volume of water use is particularly critical in Nottinghamshire as we are situated in one of the most water-stressed areas in the UK, therefore every effort will be made to reduce this consumption where possible.

Opportunities - Waste

The waste hierarchy framework shown in Figure 3 has been used in UK policy and legislation since the 1990s. The concept is simple, with the preferred option of waste prevention at the top of the hierarchy and the worst option of disposal at the bottom.

There is a large opportunity to reduce the amount of waste produced by Nottinghamshire Police, as well as increase the recycling rate of the force. Recently, workshops highlighted that the cafeteria at JHQ currently offers no recycling provision and there is currently no provision for food waste collection to be processed. There is also a large amount of single use plastics on sale, including in the meal deal which incentivises staff to buy single use plastic drinks, rather than bringing their own water bottle.

Figure 3 - Waste hierarchy

With the waste hierarchy in mind there are some clear quick wins for us to greatly reduce the amount of waste produced, as well as increase the recycling rate of the force. These are listed below, grouped by the appropriate waste hierarchy category:

Reduce

• Swap out single use plastic items in the cafeteria (e.g., aluminium cans rather than plastic bottles)
• Set targets to reduce waste (e.g., reduce waste by 50% across five years)
• Engage with suppliers to reduce unnecessary packaging (e.g., on laptops)
• Increase digitisation to reduce paper use
• Change policy of ordering excess paper to fill orders
• Reduce number of printers to discourage unnecessary printing

Reuse

• Remove financial incentive to buy additional drink from meal deal and replace with incentive to bring own drinking vessel
• Increase number of potable water refill stations to encourage re-use of cups/bottles etc

Recycle

• Provide recycling bins in cafeteria
• Increase provision of recycling bins across all sites
• Improve signage on recycling bins regarding what can be recycled
• Set targets to increase recycling (e.g., increase recycling to 70% across five years)

Energy recovery

• Engage waste processing facility about potential to process food waste

Opportunities - Water

The water management hierarchy is a framework for prioritising water management and efficiency actions as shown in Figure 4. Reducing water use through efficiency measures will reduce water bills, as well as reducing the amount of energy required to produce and heat water, therefore reducing CO2 emissions. These principles will be applied when considering water management across the force.

Figure 4 - Water management hierarchy

Once again, there are numerous quick wins that will be considered to reduce water consumption across the force, as well as some more long-term solutions. These are listed below:

• Implement push buttons on showers to prevent unnecessary and prolonged running of showers
• Water harvesting – re-examine decisions made regarding water harvesting at JHQ and other sites (potential to reduce water usage by 30%)
• Introduce water management systems in toilets:

- Automatic taps

- Air powered flushing (no water)

- Water saving mechanism in toilet tanks (e.g., cistern displacement devices such as the Hippo water saver can save up to three litres of water each flush and are cheap to implement). Households use 70% of their water in the bathroom, with toilet flushing accounting for 30% of this water use

- Utilising rainwater harvesting for vehicle cleaning

Targets - Waste

Nottinghamshire Police will consider aligning with long term targets set out in the GGCs and UK government’s 25-Year Environment Plan. Aligning with the commitments made in these documents is viewed as the expected minimum performance of government departments. As a result, the following targets will be adopted:

• Increase the proportion of waste which is recycled to at least 70% of overall waste by 2025 (GGC commitment)
• Remove single use plastic from the estate by 2025 (GGC commitment)
• Measure and report food waste (GGC commitment)
• Reduce paper use by at least 50% from baseline by 2030 (GGC commitment)
• Reduce all waste by at least 30% by 2030
• Eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2044
• Eliminate avoidable waste of all kinds by 2050

Targets - Water

Nottinghamshire Police plans to reduce its water consumption, ensure all water consumption is measured and provide a qualitative assessment to show what is being done to encourage the efficient use of water, in line with the GGC commitments targets. The following targets will therefore be adopted:

• Ensure water consumption at all sites is measured accurately by 2025
• Reduce water consumption across all sites by at least 8% reduction by 2025 (GGC commitment)
• Reduce water consumption by 30% overall by 2050

2.3 Natural environment

Current state

The sites within the control of Nottinghamshire Police cover a variety of environments. Sherwood Lodge JHQ is located within extensive areas of established and mature broadleaf and coniferous woodland, with sporadic areas of grassland. Due to the rich environment of the areas surrounding JHQ, it is likely that a broad range of both faunal and floral species are present. The remainder of the sites tend to be located in more urban areas, with limited availability of green space.

Opportunities

An improved natural environment can offer benefits for wildlife such as habitat provision and increased biodiversity as well as providing a range of benefits to people. There are numerous studies which show the benefits of an improved natural environment on human wellbeing, including better mental health, increased concentration, relaxation and mood improvement. All of these are valuable attributes in any workplace, but arguably even more so for the police due to the stressful and mentally challenging nature of their work.

Despite only small amounts of space being present in the majority of Nottinghamshire Police’s sites, excluding JHQ, these small spaces still provide opportunities to improve the natural environment. This can also offer positive mental health benefits to employees, particularly in urban areas where green spaces may currently be limited. A list of the measures that we are considering improving the natural environment and green space in both the areas with limited greenspace, as well as JHQ are provided below:

• Bee friendly. Planting bee-friendly plants either in gardens or plant pots e.g., lavender, lungwort, crocus, bee balm, aster etc. Even single pots placed in an urban environment can provide much needed stop over points for bees and other insects.
• Green roof. This can be installed on roofs pitched at no more than 30°. With only a relatively thin layer of substrate involved in a green roof, saturation (draw-down potential) is likely to be reached within a decade, after which carbon is stored but not removed.
• Living wall. Green façade or ‘living wall’ – a substrate layer half the thickness of a green roof, saturation (draw-down potential) is likely to be reached within five-years, after which carbon is stored, but not removed.
• Seating. Creation of a quiet and peaceful area within the grounds with some plants and a bench/seating to allow for staff to decompress.
• Climbing plants. They provide shelter and nesting sites for birds and insects e.g. ivy lasts all year.
• Compost bins. Invest in compost bins to compost food waste and provide to JHQ to fertilise grounds.
• Bird boxes. Install bird nesting boxes.
• Wildflowers. Planting wildflowers.
• Bug hotels. Install bug hotels to provide a habitat for insects (including bees).

In order to identify which of these approaches are most suitable, an assessment of the natural environment at each site, including JHQ, will be undertaken. The aim of this assessment is to highlight the opportunities for natural environment enhancement, or create and identify which measures are most appropriate in each case.

Targets

Across its estate, Nottinghamshire Police will look to protect existing natural environments and address any perceptible loss or damage to these areas, increase priority habitats and species and explore linkages to any wider county landscape strategies. Efforts will be made to improve the natural environment, which also offers the mutual benefit of improving physical and mental health among the workforce. Following a survey or assessment of the available opportunities at each site, specific targets will be set for each site based on the list of approaches detailed in the action plan in Appendix A.

3. Conclusion

Summary

It is clear from the interactive stakeholder workshops undertaken and the analysis presented here that there is opportunity for the force to substantially reduce GHG emissions and improve our wider environmental impact.

Whilst the analysis undertaken was at a high level and offers a broad-brush approach to the proposed interventions, the strategy gives a clear indication of where the key areas for action lie and the level of improvements which could be achieved. By targeting specific areas highlighted as being of particular relevance to us, such as fleet emissions, employee commuting and energy use, this strategy offers a starting point for the journey to net zero and greener operations.

We now have a clear strategy to implement across our operations. However, in addition to the actions themselves, we must also ensure suitable measures are put in place to allow us to track our ongoing progress towards the targets given, and report on these annually.

Next steps

Going forward we will undertake further analysis of our operations to best target interventions and actions at a more local level e.g., looking at the individual buildings within the estate to best focus efforts on the most appropriate actions for each, in relation to areas such as energy efficiency, water use and the natural environment.

We will also consider increasing the accuracy of the data collected by measures such as electricity submetering to better understand the details of building usage, or extension of the employee commuting survey to stations other than headquarters to facilitate better understanding of the commuting behaviours of the wider workforce. Such increased granularity of information will allow for better targeting of interventions and actions.

As we make progress towards the initial targets set on the basis of this strategy, we will consider setting increasingly ambitious targets. This is especially pertinent in relation to our decarbonisation plan with a wider analysis of our scope three emissions categories, as we mature as an organisation in relation to our net zero journey.

4. Appendix A. Action plans

These actions and timelines will be reviewed and agreed by each relevant party going forward and progress towards reaching these targets/actions should be reported on annually.

Enablers

There are numerous actions which will be required as part of the environment strategy that do not directly impact carbon/resource use etc, yet will drive improvements and reductions in these areas. These actions, referred to as enablers, are detailed in Table 4 below. These actions will continue to enable change throughout Nottinghamshire Police’s journey to 2050.

Action	Description	Start	Topics
Sustainability officer	Recruit a person responsible for driving sustainability within the force. This may include things such as: Putting together league tables to track employee commuting methods (e.g. number who use public transport/cycling/car sharing etc.) Track waste produced and amount recycled and report on progress Setting up comms to educate on resource use/commuting trends etc. Auditing recycling provisions and making suggestions when more is needed Driving the implementation of further policy/behaviour change tasks	24/25	Transport Energy Carbon Waste
Behaviour change campaign	1.2 A communications campaign encouraging staff to switch off lights, unplug devices when not in use, turn down heating i.e thermostatic radiator valves/thermostats, bringing re-usable cups from home, trying more vegetarian meals, wear a jumper, cycle to work, ensure nothing is blocking heating sources and other simple behavioural changes etc.Information campaigns ('reminders') - this could include a 'Did you know...?' e.g. campaign that calculates trees used by print jobs/contextualising water usage e.g. X no. of swimming pools per year/month.Run initiatives throughout the year to encourage and educate officers and staff as to what items should be placed in the bins.	24/25	Transport Energy Carbon Waste Water
"Green pot"	Adoption of "green pot" - Where savings are made, can these be captured and may be invested into a sustainable project/alternative or fund other environmental initiatives.	24/25	All
Communication of individual impact	Communicate impact of individual behaviour - Use posters/other media to demonstrate impact of leaving on taps/use of energy etc.	24/25	All
Active travel campaign	Launch an active travel (cycling / walking) awareness campaign, supported by free cycling proficiency and bike maintenance courses. Focus of the campaign needs to be on the potential cost savings for the individual and mental health benefits of active travel instead of other modes of transport.	24/25	Transport Carbon
Training	Provide carbon literacy training and sustainability/Environmental Social Governance (ESG) training to all staff.	25/26	Carbon Environment
Public transport awareness campaign	Launch a public transport awareness campaign, highlighting the reduced overall £/mile when compared with driving a car that includes insurance/tax/maintenance etc., alongside petrol/diesel.	25/26	Transport Carbon
"Bring your own" campaign	Deliver an awareness campaign encouraging staff to bring their own food, coffee cups, water bottles to avoid the need to buy/use/dispose of products that utilise single use plastic.The campaign will also raise awareness of where water fountains are on site, as well as considering the introduction of offers such as receiving a disocunt/meal deal for bringing a reusable coffee cup to the canteen.	25/26	Carbon Waste
Environmental assessment	Renewal assessment of the environmental at JHQ to take place to highlight the opportunities for where natural environment enhancement would be most beneficial, as well as an assessment of each site across the rest of the force to determine which of the measures are most feasible in each case.	25/26	Environment
Increase staff awareness	Running a series of workshops on waste and water strategy and building elements into existing training mechanisms (such as induction sessions and continuing professional development). Regular training and reminders to improve staff awareness across all sites of where waste is being generated and waste is being wasted and basic behaviours, they can adopt to contribute to reduce and recycle waste. Lack of awareness often leads to over consumption of water and excess/improper processing of waste.	24/25	Water Waste

Carbon

A range of decarbonisation interventions resulting in direct carbon reductions are included in the roadmap to net zero for Nottinghamshire Police, for implementation over varying timescales between now and 2049/50. A comprehensive list of interventions is displayed below. These measures will also be applied alongside the enabling actions mentioned above, as they will help to facilitate some of these actions. Each carbon intervention listed below is also related to an environmental theme, which is detailed in the column headings. There is therefore some overlap between carbon and the other environmental themes.

As part of this study the impact of increased working from home was also investigated. On the basis of the assumed average commuting distance of 10 miles, based on client data, the carbon impact of the commute itself would be reduced but this would be offset by the additional heating requirements of individual workers’ homes. As a result, a force wide policy of working from home would not result in any net benefits to emissions. For reference, the average commute would have to be 12 miles or more to result in a net positive benefit across the force. For those few employees who are commuting 12 miles or more there would of course still be an individual carbon benefit. Similarly, there may be other ways to reduce individual commuting emissions such as working from closer stations or offices, but this is unlikely to be applicable on a wide enough scale to have a tangible impact across the force as a whole.

Action	Description	Start	Full potential realised
Theme: Energy
LED lighting	Upgrading from conventional lighting to LED technology in remaining buildings (47 buildings in total, five already transitioned to LEDs and one planned to do so within next 12 months. LEDs can deliver significant carbon and cost savings - for both internal and external spaces, offering a 33% reduction in electricity use from lights. Reduce the number of lights.	24/25	28/29
Lighting controls	Use occupancy sensors/passive infrared sensors (PIRs), dimming, photocells, sun tracking devices in remaining sites (three buildings have lighting controls) can reduce electricity usage from lights by 11%.	24/25	28/29
Maximise photovoltaics (PV) installation	Increase use of PVs in existing sites and add in all suitable sites to increase onsite generation – targeting an increase of 10% every five years (30% overall).	27/28	47/48
Reduce building use	Turning off lights/reducing heating in buildings where use levels are low, turning lights off automatically and auto lower room temperatures (preventing manual control) – 2% reduction in energy use.	27/28	28/29
Phase out gas boilers	Completely phasing out of gas boilers and replacing with heat pumps (beginning with the most inefficient boilers first) – this will reduce the natural gas requirements by 379,050 kWh per year and increase electricity use through heat pumps by 126350 kWh per year, which will be decarbonised over time through grid decarbonisation waste.	30/31	39/40
Implement Building Management System (BMS)	BMS is a single system that controls and monitors a building’s services. It can take various environmental parameters into account when making control decisions. A system optimisation intervention aiming to increase building performance, reduce operational costs, improve comfort conditions, and reduce energy waste.	33/34	39/40
Theme: Water
Shower push buttons	Increase water savings through the introduction of push buttons on showers - part of a wider suite of water management measures.	24/25	25/26
Water harvesting	Consider investment in water harvesting schemes at JHQ and other feasible sites - 30% potential reduction in water usage (5% per year).	27/28	44/45
Water management system	Increase water savings through the introduction of a water management system into toilets (offers savings of 30-50% reduction in water usage, 5% per year). Automatic taps Air powered flushing (no water) Water saving mechanism in toilet tank	32/33	44/45
Theme: Waste
Reducing single use plastic/items	Providing discounts for using own coffee cups, providing keep cups, more potable water refill stations, switching plastic bottles to cans, removing meal deal that includes plastic drink packaging - 30% reduction in waste overall (5% each year).	25/26	31/32
Reduce paper usage	Move to digitisation e.g., only having one printer (or per floor) - reduce access to encourage behaviour change, stop ordering excess paper and implementing policy change - potential of 30% reduction of paper waste (5% reduction each year for six years).	27/28	33/34
Theme: Transport
Electric Vehicle (EV) purchasing scheme	Explore financial incentives for employees to switch to EVs (e.g., salary sacrifice scheme) - Assume mid-way between baseline EV uptake and ambitious EV uptake produced by government transport decarbonisation plan, meaning 70% of vehicles used for employee commuting by 2050 will be EVs.	24/25	49/50
Car-sharing scheme	Carshare ‘pairing’ campaign, with benefits (e.g., designated parking spaces) – Explore opportunities to coordinate with other external partners (Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service) to promote car sharing and create convenient ‘drop-off points’ to facilitate shared commutes. Potential to result in 15% increase in car users utilising car sharing (5% increase each year for three years).	24/25	27/28
Season ticket loan	Consider the use of the interest-free loan to staff to purchase an annual rail season ticket. The staff member then pays back monthly out of their paycheck – 15% of total miles travelled overall using rail instead of a car across three years (5% each year) (couples with behaviour change policy).	24/25	27/28
Increase cycling/walking	Explore and develop options to improve the cycling and walking infrastructure to encourage active travel e.g., bike storage and showers etc. in offices esp. in city centre/free cycle hire/ working with the council on provision of electric bikes/ improving safety of walking/cycling routes/ cycle to work scheme and sustainability officer league tables (15% increase in cycling overall – 5% increase from improved storage/facilities/free hire, 5% increase then 10% increase from cycle lane (taken from reduction in car users).	29/30	49/50
Electrify fleet	From 2025/26 the purchase of hybrid or electric vehicles would be the force’s preferred approach for the purchase of all vehicles on the fleet; and where this is not possible, the reason for any alternative approach is reported to the Force Executive Board on an on-going basis.	25/26	49/50
Theme: Monitoring and reporting of progress
Monitor performance and progress	Check in annually to monitor which actions set within the time frame have been completed and put in place the necessary policies/finances etc., to ensure the upcoming actions will be achieved in order to reach net zero.	24/25	49/50

Waste

Opportunities identified in section 2.2 are included in the action plan below to determine how the targets set out can be achieved.

Action	Description	Start	Full potential realised
Theme: Motivated and informed workforce
Senior management	Make waste a performance measure for a senior manager in each department.	24/25	26/27
Regular updated to staff	Provide regular updates to staff in the form of posters, e-mails, internet pages on waste and recover rates.	24/25	29/30
Theme: Waste management and segregation (offices)
Introduce recycling across all sites; identify what variations to contract will need to be specified.	Currently recycling is not comprehensive across all sites; this is low-cost and represents an early win for performance improvement. This is particularly important in the cafeteria as this is likely a main source of waste for the force.	24/25	27/28
Co-locate recycling bins next to all current general waste bins and improve signage	Co-locating bin facilities next to recycling creates a ‘nudge’ to choose general waste only when items cannot be recycled. It was observed that there is a lack of signage informing of what can be recycled on the bins which may lead people to place waste that can be recycled in the general waste bin if they are uncertain of what can be recycled.	24/25	24/25
Reduce cafeteria waste and single use plastics	Swap out single use plastic items in the cafeteria (e.g. aluminium water cans rather than plastic bottles). Removing financial incentive to buy additional drink from meal deal and replace with incentive to bring own drinking vessel.	25/26	26/27
Theme: Waste management and segregation (other facilities)
Review waste storage arrangements.	Undertake study to review the waste storage arrangements at key sites.	24/25	24/25
Coordination across teams for bulk disposal - encourage liaison to increase awareness across teams/office sites for major clear-outs to achieve efficiencies of scale (such as when moving or consolidating sites).	Aligning timescales for large removals will improve efficiencies for bulk waste.	24/25	26/27
Develop a guidance document for the management of any special waste arisings from specialist sites. Use guidance to inform any variations needed to current waste contract.	Nottinghamshire Police has a range of specialist waste items, to meet the goal of eliminating all avoidable waste by 2050, it will be important to review the management plan (see action 16) as this target date moves closer.	25/26	28/29
Theme: Engage with waste contractor
Contact the waste company to see what measures to increase waste recycling they can already offer.	The contractor is well placed to propose innovative options to Nottinghamshire Police that it had not previously considered but which are feasible to implement.	23/24	25/26
Waste audits to take place at all sites to establish the waste arising from food and drink. On the basis of the above, Nottinghamshire Police should undertake a feasibility study for food waste segregation.	Implementation of food waste segregation at sites will improve recycling/composting rates.	24/25	26/27
Procure for efficiency - waste teams to liaise with Procurement to ensure that procured goods do not come with excessive packaging and where possible are made in part from recycled materials	Consideration of packing and recycled contents during procurement will contribute to closed loop and circular approach to procurement. This will go hand in hand with reducing packaging waste arisings.	24/25	26/27
Investigate a change of focus over the long term, to focus away from waste-to-energy (W2E), and put more arisings into the recycling stream - in conjunction with the waste services contractor.	An approach that aligns with circular economy principles will need to divert more re-usable materials from waste-to-energy.	25/26	35/36
Theme: Monitoring and reporting of progress
Continually monitor waste performance and progress towards targets	Use sustainability officers to monitor/record and report waste performance. Ensure each site is meeting targets. Changes to GGC or other relevant areas of legislation may lead to increased targets beyond those advised above.	24/25	49/50
Regular inspection of bin contents to check for the proportions of items in the wrong waste streams ('waste sampling exercises') - create learnings that are fed into management plans.	These inspections will provide insight into where waste is arising, any patterns of where discarded items could be recycled, etc. This will support continued monitoring and increased performance over time.	24/25	27/28

Water

In order to reduce water consumption across Nottinghamshire Police and meet the remaining targets set above, the following action plan detailed below has been developed.

Action	Description	Start	End
Theme: Targets, metrics, monitoring and reporting
Set clear targets and create water management plan compliant with ISO46001:2019, to achieve efficient use of water through the 'reduce, replace or reuse' approach; establish, implement, and maintain water efficiency, and continnually improve water efficiency.	This will define the approach and governance of water efficiency management across the organisation. Assign ownership of key management activities.	24/25	28/29
Set out a system to flag and monitor high water usage. Investigate suitability of tools such as a water balance or software-based water management system.	Advanced tools that present information on where major leakages may be occurring, or which actively manage and control usage in conjunction with fittings will provide a greater degree of clarity and help to further improve savings.	24/25	30/31
Set out three-year management cycles and plan for performance improvement.	Frequently refreshing the plan will maintain currency and ensure any slippage against planned progress can be addressed with senior leadership.	24/25	49/50
Introduce comprehensive metering system across all sites.	In conjunction with suppliers, metering is the key to gaining the insights necessary into estate-wide water usage, which will underpin other savings measures that you can undertake.	24/25	27/28
Theme: Develop Estates strategy to commit to introduce newer more efficient technology
Define new approach to water saving in the estates strategy, reflecting updated targets and metrics.	Establish realistic targets and reflect these into the strategy in a way that is actionable for individual building or refurbishment projects.	24/25	30/31
Implement push buttons on showers to prevent unnecessary and prolonged running of showers.	Following discussions, it was clear that an issue in the force is showers being switched on before they are in use which has resulted in large amounts of unnecessary water consumption that could be quickly rectified.	24/25	25/26
Introduce water management systems in toilets.	Measures such as automatic taps, air powered flushing and water saving mechanisms can result in large savings in water use.	32/33	42/43
Undertake inspection of equipment to find leakages, repair as appropriate.	Identify and eliminate sources of water usage that are undesired and do not serve any purpose. Leakages can be a significant contributor to additional usage.	24/25	44/45
Survey of fittings to identify areas for improvement.	Understand in depth where savings can be made for best cost-effectiveness.	24/25	25/26
Consider thermostatic mixing valves for showers and taps. These draw on a thermostat element to maintain a desired temperature by mixing hot and cold water.	Reduce water from a typically major source of office usage.	26/27	30/31
Consider other water-saving measures for taps, such as aerator caps.	Reduce water from a typically major source of office usage. (Aerator caps also increase water pressure and reduce splashing.)	28/29	32/33
Theme: Bring forward and assess business cases for larger installations to reduce consumption
Research water harvesting and recycling schemes, develop business case for applicable schemes.	Revisit business cases previously proposed for water harvesting and evaluate needs across other sites. Such systems can offer a substantial saving of fresh water, and address efficiency high in the water management hierarchy.	27/28	33/34
Consider installation of heat/cool at point of use system to avoid long periods of running water to get the desired temperature.	Reduce water from a typically major source of office usage.	26/27	31/32
Engage with water supplier.	Engage Severn Trent Water to gain support for long-term water-saving strategy. Draw on support from providers as they increase their focus on sustainable outcomes and commitments to Ofwat - The Water Saving Regulations Authority.	24/25	27/28
Theme: Motivated and informed workforce
Make water savings a performance measure for a senior director/manager in each office.	Having a senior manager act as 'house owner' will drive efficient behaviours and support the effort to engage everyone in saving water.	24/25	49/50
Consider reward schemes to obtain water saving behaviours.	Offering incentives to staff will align their interests with the organisation and indicate tangible pointers to staff that will help them to keep water saving routinely front-of-mind in their daily activities.	25/26	30/31
Theme: Monitoring and reporting of progress
Continually monitor water performance and progress towards targets.	Use sustainability officers to monitor/record and report water performance. Changes to GGC or other relevant areas of legislation may lead to increased targets beyond those advised above.	24/25	49/50
Procure for efficiency - waste teams to liaise with Procurement to ensure that procured goods do not come with excessive packaging and where possible are made in part from recycled materials	Consideration of packing and recycled contents during procurement will contribute to closed loop and circular approach to procurement. This will go hand in hand with reducing packaging waste arisings.	24/25	26/27
Investigate a change of focus over the long term, to focus away from waste-to-energy (W2E), and put more arisings into the recycling stream - in conjunctions with the waste services contractor.	An approach that aligns with circular economy principles will need to divert more re-usable materials from waste-to-energy.	25/26	35/36
Continually monitor waste performance and progress towards targets	Use sustainability officers to monitor/record and report waste performance. Ensure each site is meeting targets. Changes to GGC or other relevant areas of legislation may lead to increased targets beyond those advised above.	24/25	49/50

Natural Environment

A number of actions to improve the natural environment across the Nottinghamshire Police estate have been developed into an action plan that is indicated below. These actions have been based on the feasibility of measures discussed in the workshop and cover a broad range of applications that are suitable to all sites, including JHQ where there is a large amount of land and natural environment that can be capitalised on, as well as actions that are more applicable to smaller areas such as the inter-city offices.

Action	Description	Start	End
Theme: Obtain a better understand of habitats and species present at sites
Surveys/assessments of environment and opportunities at each sites.	Renew the assessment of the environment at JHQ and highlight the opportunities for where natural environment enhancement would be most beneficial, as well as an assessment of each site across the rest of the force to determine which of the measures are most feasible in each case.	24/25	24/25
Set specific targets relative to each site.	Using the information gathered during the surveys/assessments to determine the potential for opportunities, set specific targets for each site relative to the actions to improve the natural habitat (e.g. plant 10 pots of flowers, install two areas of living walls and purchase three compost bins, etc.)	24/25	25/26
Theme: Engage with key stakeholders and local community
Engage with Environment Agency, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust	These organisations are currently involved in relevant activities in territory and can provide support and advice. Engagement should be informed by a review of relevant information in the landscape biodiversity areas.	24/25	26/27
Engage with local communities in proximity to sites	Local communities can have an important role in assisting with biodiversity conservation in their locality.	24/25	26/27
Theme: Manage estate for improved natural environments
Create spaces for nature and improved wellbeing	Creation of a quiet and peaceful area within the grounds with some plants and a bench/seating to allow for staff to decompress.	25/26	30/31
Consider the suitability of sites for the installation of living walls	Green façade or 'living wall' - a substrate layer half the thickness of a green roof, saturation (draw-down potential) is likely to be reached within five-years, after which carbon is stored, but not removed.	25/26	30/31
Consider the suitability of sites for the installation of green roofs	Green roof - need to be installed on roofs pitched at no more than 30°. With only a relatively thin layer of substrate involved in a green roof, saturation (draw-down potential) is likely to be reached within a decade, after which carbon is stored but not removed.	25/26	30/31
Planting	Planting bee-friendly plants (either in gardens or plant pots) e.g. lavender, lungwort, crocus, bee balm, aster etc.) and wildflower meadows where it is feasible to do so.	24/25	25/26
Improve habitat provision	Install bug hotels to provide a habitat for insects (including bees), bird boxes and bat boxes. Grow climbing plants - they provide shelter and nesting sites for birds and insects (e.g. ivy lasts all year).	24/25	25/26
Utilise food waste	Explore the benefits of investing in compost bins to compost food waste that could be used at HQ to utilise grounds.	24/25	25/26
Theme: Monitoring and reporting of progress
Monitor and report progress against targets for each site	Report annually on the progress of each of the targets set and evaluate the potential to set more ambitious targets.	24/25	49/50

Information Services

Action	Description	Start	End
Theme: Information Services
Reduce energy consumption	Using Cloud First principles, assess the suitability for new services to be hosted in the Cloud. Over the next 5 – 10 years, transition suitable on-premises systems and services to maximise the use of purpose built and environmentally friendly UK data centres, reducing local power consumption and the need for local environmentally managed environments. Continually review our printing habits and drive the reduction of physical devices along with consumable, maintenance, and management costs. All devices will be sourced from Certified Carbon Neutral supplies, providing efficient models and consumables, coupled with a reduced fleet, lower emissions, and overall power consumption. Electronic circulation of papers for meetings to reduce printing. The digital transfer of material between the Force and other organisations reduces preparation, printing, and transportation requirements. Use of digital forms and digital signatures to reduce the dependency on wet signatures. Organisational awareness and automated Power off static IT equipment such as monitors when not in active use.	24/25     24/25   24/25 24/25   24/25 25/26	34/35     29/30   24/25 24/25   24/25 27/28
Support the reduction in journey miles and travel	Reliable agile working technology to support remote working, virtual conferencing facilities for meetings and attendance at training events to reduce travel requirements and the need for hotal accommodation. Remote access capability to support suppliers and partners to work with Nottinghamshire Police and its functions, e.g., reduce the requirement for Solicitors to attend Custody to speak to clients in person, virtual court appearances, meetings with partner organisations.	24/25   24/25	24/25   24/25
Remote Support	Provide IT support remotely and without the requirement for a field engineer to visit a remote site or for end users to make unnecessary journeys to FHQ. With less fixed equipment in the estate, functions that need to operate from different locations can simply pack up their laptop and work from their new locations.	24/25   24/25	24/25   24/25
Procurement and Recycling	From end user devices, servers and infrastructure. our tech refresh programme ensures that we are replacing aged equipment in preference for energy efficient newer models that start their sustainable journey from the manufacturing process all the way through to environmentally safe disposal.	24/25	29/30