Tory blue and Lib-Dem yellow make green, says Cameron as he pledges energy cuts
A 10 per cent cut in carbon emissions from Whitehall buildings was pledged within a year by David Cameron today.
Promising the "greenest government ever" he joked that Tory blue and Lib-Dem gold mixed together make green.
"I don't want to hear warm words about the environment, I want to see real action," he said. Some 8,000 civil service offices will have to save energy by turning down air conditioning and switching off unnecessary lights in order to hit the target in 12 months.
Government buildings are responsible for some 1.45 million tonnes of carbon - around seven per cent of the total for the public sector. Each office will be fitted with energy monitors to encourage staff to be more aware of waste. The figures will also be published so that the public can hold departments to account.
Mr Cameron wants schools, hospitals and council offices to copy the scheme if it is successful.
Speaking to staff at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Prime Minister said: "I want this to be the greenest government ever.
"And to those who say this is insignificant, remember this: the UK's public sector has a bigger carbon footprint than the entire waste industry; if we do this, we'll cut the Government's energy bills by hundreds of millions of pounds."
The move confirms their support of the 10:10 campaign to a 10 per cent cut in the UK's carbon emissions in 2010.
Energy secretary Chris Huhne said: "This government is proud to make the 10:10 commitment to cut emissions across the entire government estate by 10 per cent over the next 12 months."
"To help meet my personal 10:10 commitment, I'm hopefully going to be building cycling to work into my routine, which is something I did in my constituency."
Eugenie Harvey, campaign director of 10:10, said: "This is the first announcement the coalition has made, and the inclusion of their 10:10 commitment bodes well for the importance they'll place on carbon reduction this term. We're glad to see they're walking the walk".
10:10 was conceived by the team behind the film The Age Of Stupid and is run by an independent team, supported by an army of volunteers and a dream team of partner organisations including ActionAid, Comic Relief, the Energy Saving Trust, the Carbon Trust, the Public Interest Research Centre and many more.
