ENVIRONMENT
We are passionately committed to minimising our environmental
impact and encouraging greater sustainability throughout our
business. Our vision is to achieve the highest standards in
environmental management, and our approach is to examine our entire
business and operations, and take active steps to reduce emissions
wherever possible.
Click on a section below to find out more information:
Our Carbon Approach
BBC Worldwide operates a 'measure, reduce, offset' approach to
carbon with an emphasis on reduction. In 2009 we measured the
carbon footprint of our offices and business travel - a total of
9,730 tonnes - and began a programme to calculate the carbon
footprint of the rest of our business activities, starting with our
biggest manufacturing area, BBC Magazines. In measuring different
areas of our activity we can see where it's most important for us
to cut our emissions.
For 15 years we've been involved in initiatives to reduce our
impact on the environment - from becoming a founder member of the
WWF UK Forest & Trade Network
in 1995, to implementing a far reaching travel policy and
offsetting our global premises and travel emissions in 2009. We are
also developing a business-wide Environment Management System (EMS)
to identify, manage and reduce our significant impacts on the
environment.
We recognise that carbon offsetting isn't the answer to climate
change, but do believe investing in credible offsetting projects
helps tackle emissions from unavoidable 'business as usual'
activities, and we have chosen to support an energy efficiency
project and a renewable energy scheme with ClimateCare. These are Gold Standard
projects which guarantee measurable greenhouse gas emission
reductions are being made, and ensure sustainable development
benefits for the communities in which the projects are located.
CHAMPIONING Sustainable Materials
We are founder members of the WWF UK
Forest and Trade Network (FTN). The FTN works to create
awareness about the threats to the world's forests and to encourage
improved forest management. For us this means choosing timber which
has been certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC). We have a Responsible Forest
Purchasing Policy and have been successful in sourcing
increasing volumes of credibly certified paper for our publications
for the past ten years.
We have also championed the use of oxo-biodegradable wrap for
our magazines which is used to package magazines bought by
subscription. In the right conditions, oxo-biodegradable plastic
degrades faster than other plastic wrapping.
BBC Worldwide's FSC Timeline
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1995 - BBC Worldwide becomes a founder member
of the UK-FTN
|
| |
1998 - BBC Worldwide headquarters switch all
office paper to FSC |
| |
1999 - BBC Worldwide is the first publisher in
the world to publish a magazine on FSC-labelled paper |
|
|
|
2000 - Radio Times, the biggest selling BBC
magazine in the UK switches to FSC paper |
| |
2004 - BBC Worldwide publishes the world's
first book to carry the FSC label |
|
| |
2008 - BBC Worldwide move into their new
London headquarters, constructed using FSC timber
throughout |
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|
2008 - Lonely Planet, a subsidiary of BBC
Worldwide, start publishing their guidebooks on FSC paper |
|
| |
2009 - All UK BBC Magazine titles
now printed on FSC paper |
More about FSC
FSC is the only timber and paper products certification endorsed
by environmental groups such as Greenpeace and WWF.
The FSC logo guarantees that:
- Trees that are harvested are replaced or allowed to regenerate
naturally
- Trees are legally logged and tracked via a chain-of-custody
system
- The rights of indigenous people in the forest are protected and
local workers are paid a liveable wage
Find out more at Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC).
TRAVEL LESS, TRAVEL LIGHT
We are committed to reducing our staff travel emissions, and in
December 2008 a radical 10 point policy called Travel Less,
Travel Light Policy was launched.
This has already cut long haul flights by one third, bans
domestic and certain European flights, and charges staff who choose
to bring their car to work (the money raised funds our
environmental initiatives, such as offsetting and other
activities).
We also encourage cycling via the Cycle2Work scheme and with the
provision of showers and excellent cycling facilities. We have
installed state of the art video-conferencing suites across our
buildings which have reduced the need for travel between our UK and
international offices. All long-haul travel requires CEO sign off,
and is only permitted where video or audio conferencing is not a
viable alternative.
Green On The Inside
We ensure we have a company culture which values and inspires
its people to engage and understand current environmental issues,
and support this through dedicated management programmes.
Our Environmental Steering Group, lead by BBC Magazines'
Managing Director, Peter Phippen, oversees all activity and
company-wide initiatives. The company is working towards ISO14001
certification which will establish an industry-recognised method
for its environmental management.
Our Environment Champions
We also run a company-wide group of BBC Worldwide Environment
Champions: a group of staff volunteers who are passionate about the
environment and want to do more to reduce our impact as a business.
To date we have over 50 Champs in eight countries looking at
catering, communications, gardening, travel, and waste &
procurement.
In the last two years, the BBC Worldwide Champions have raised
awareness of the issues and initiated some major changes such as
introducing mugs to replace polystyrene cups, campaigned and
supported the business going binless and brainstormed ideas which
have helped lead to lasting changes such as the sustainable travel
policy. They act as the 'green' point of contact for local teams -
driving an environmentally-sound office culture that works for
their area. Their role is supported by senior management and
together they help steer the company on its journey towards a
greener future.
Our Buildings
Our Head Office in London - the Media Centre - has a BREEAM
(Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment
Method) Excellent rating for both design and construction.
Notable features include:
- A rainwater harvesting system which collects
and reuses rainwater to flush toilets, plus dual flush toilets
together saving nearly 4 million litres of water a year
- Binless offices with central recycling hubs
for paper, plastic, glass, media, toner, batteries and general
waste
- No water coolers, saving energy on
transportation
- No disposable cups, saving waste to
landfill
- Energy saving office equipment which powers
down when not in use
- Efficient printing - default double sided and
mono, and smart 'pull-printing' feature reduces print waste
- A central Building Management System which
allows for smart heating, cooling and lighting settings
- Lights close to windows are linked to daylight
sensors, to dim and turn them off automatically when not
required
- Low emission boilers to reduce polluting
gases
- Passive ventilation system to reduce heating
and air conditioning dependence
- Cycle facilities including 500 bicycle racks,
lockers, showers and 'wet and dry' cupboards
- Brise soleil (reflective external building
'fins'), reducing the need for heating and cooling
- FSC certified timber used throughout the
building
- Phones power down after hours
- All light fittings are energy efficient, with
ultra-efficient (LED) lighting on staircases
- Only Fair Trade tea and coffee used
- Enhancement of the local ecology with wildlife friendly
planting
our environmental policy
BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, maximises profits
on behalf of the BBC by creating, acquiring, developing and
exploiting media content and media brands around the world. We are
passionate about the environment and committed to reducing the
carbon footprint of our growing global business. We promote a
culture of environmental awareness and engagement amongst our staff
and our supply base.
Our environmental impact includes consumption of resources, use
of water, emissions to air, waste generation, energy use, and
impacts associated with the procurement of goods and services.
Our critical areas are packaging, magazines, travel emissions,
our international businesses and the measurement of our company's
carbon footprint. In addition we work to ensure our paper comes
from credibly certified, well managed sources. We are committed to
preventing pollution, and complying with applicable legislation and
codes of practice.
Our environment strategy, objectives and targets are reviewed
annually to ensure ongoing environmental improvements for our
significant impacts. We also monitor and measure our progress in
order to make improvements on an ongoing basis.