DECC - striving to be sustainable

Ensuring sustainability is reflected in business and government operations and decisions is DECCs core business. As the NSW Government's lead agency working on sustainability and climate change, the DECC must show leadership to industry and community in putting sustainability into operational practice i.e. 'walking the talk'.

DECC has several internal programs promoting sustainability in line with whole-of-government policies focusing on agency operations. These include:

• The NSW Government Sustainability Policy sets targets and strategies for the NSW Government to lead by example in sustainable water use, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy, waste and fleet management and sustainable purchasing.
• Water Savings Action Plans - requires industry and government agencies that use more than 50 megalitres of water per annum to prepare an action plan to reduce consumption and source alternatives to potable water in Sydney Water Corporations operating area.
  
• Waste Reduction and Purchasing Policy (WRAPP) - requires agencies to purchase recycled content materials and maximise recycling and resource recovery of specific materials.
  
• Buildings owned or tenanted by Government are to achieve certain star ratings under the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme (ABGR).
  
• Cleaner Government Fleet - agencies must progressively reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles to achieve a 20% reduction by 2007/08 based on 2004/05 performance.

In addition to these whole-of government programs there are numerous smaller program-based and regional sustainability initiatives going on across the DECC. Several of these initiatives are described in other sections of this website.