Defra Case Study

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Background - GDSA

The GDSA brings a team of specialists together from existing or prospective digital and data suppliers to the UK Government. The group collaborate to formulate proposals for new tooling, reporting methodologies, training, frameworks, and other sustainability guidance. The main purpose of GDSA is promoting and progressing knowledge and capabilities to deliver sustainable digital data and technology across UK Government and their suppliers. 

The GDSA is made up of three core Working Groups:

· Circular Economy

· Scope 3 Emissions

· Planetary Impact

All GDSA Working Groups report into the GDSA Governance Group, which in turn reports into the Cross-government Digital Sustainability Steering Group (SG). Working Group leads agree direction and outputs within their remit area, providing updates on a monthly basis. All activity is endorsed by the X-govt Steering Group which tasks the GDSA working groups with exploring specific issues or problems within government, identifying solutions and next steps.

In 2024 the GDSA membership was widened to introduce new members, including smaller companies, third sector organisations and academics with specialist digital sustainability and compliance knowledge. 

P2zero were part of the new intake and after a few months Ewen Anderson (CEO at P2zero) was nominated as Chair of the GDSA Scope 3 Working Group. Scope 3 emissions are typically the largest element of an organisation’s carbon footprint, so it is extremely important that good quality data is sourced and linked to an actionable carbon reduction plan.  

Ewen was able to bring his experience as a company Chair and a strategy consultant in ICT, business and sustainability roles to support the GDSA objectives and assist colleagues in the Working Group to deliver the best possible outcomes. Ewen also has practical experience having worked for 8 years on ICT sustainability projects for central and local government, charities and commercial organisations of all sectors and sizes.

In the short term, Ewen’s expectation of the Working Group was not necessarily that carbon emission numbers would come down, but rather that the quality of reporting would go up. Carbon reduction plans could be established which were linked to trustworthy data and a common approach.  

One of Ewen’s first steps as Chair was to survey digital sustainability leads in all government departments to find out what was currently being reported, whether this was sufficient, what device inventory information was available and whether departments had a carbon reduction strategy. In addition, Ewen was keen to find out what was needed from the GDSA to ensure that the working group focused on these areas to make a genuine difference. As a result the Scope 3 Working Group is now working on an Insights Paper looking at a range of case studies and established best practice methodologies to see what can be provided as examples to government of initiatives and changes that drive positive results.

Purpose, Approach and Methodology

With responsibility for Greening Government Commitments for ICT, Defra annually compiles data across government departments relating to desktop, laptop, monitor and smart phone devices in order to calculate average Scope 2 and 3 emissions. These calculations were used by Defra in the annual UK Government ICT Carbon Footprint reporting previously referred to as STAR (Sustainable Technology Advice & Reporting). 

During a “lunch and learn” session presented by Defra on the annual report Ewen identified a number of areas where he believed the data in the report could be improved and subsequently suggested to Defra that P2zero undertake a pro bono consultation exercise to examine this. 

After initial scoping discussions P2zero began a project to examine the current metrics used by Defra, specifically drawing upon their knowledge from previous government assessments. The remit was to evaluate the data and methodology to identify potential improvements which would provide a more accurate report and baseline, without adding any significant cost, resource or time overheads.

To evaluate the annual Greening Government ICT Report P2zero compared five sets of reference data for End User Devices (laptops, desktops and monitors) :

  1. The existing Greening Government ICT Report data 

  2. A sample of average industry figures by device type

  3. An example of a commonly used government device purchased in the last two years

  4. An example of a commonly used government device purchased more than two years ago 

  5. An overall average figure of the most common government devices covering a wide range of device ages, manufacturers and models

For each set of reference data and device type P2zero compared the figures for annual energy consumption, scope 2 emissions (from energy use), scope 3 emissions (from manufacturing, packaging, transport and end of life) and total annual carbon footprint generated.

The data was drawn from a mixture of Product Carbon Footprint Reports (PCFs), Lifecycle Analysis Data (LCAs) and metrics published by vendors based on testing of power consumption under recognised test conditions. This data was used to ensure that any revised metrics in subsequent reporting are based on published, publicly verifiable standard data which can be easily updated as required. 

P2zero were assisted by GDSA member KA2 who contributed to the final report by providing additional reference data for the average industry figures and also discussed the findings and reviewing the assumptions and methodologies used.

“The work of the GDSA Scope 3 working group has been instrumental in helping government identify and understand key reporting gaps. Their proactive approach and expertise have proven invaluable, which we are very grateful for. Their guidance is directly informing the upcoming Government Digital Sustainability Strategy 2025–2030, which will shape how departments manage their own ICT and digital estates.” Lydia Tabbron (Defra), GDSA Co-ordinator 

The Results

The study found that while the current Greening Government ICT Report metrics were broadly similar to the independently sourced average industry figures, using average device emissions rather than figures for the actual devices in use was likely to cause a significant over-reporting of ICT emissions across government. 

This is because the industry average databases examined contained:

  i. a large number of devices which are older and less energy efficient than those currently by government 

  ii. devices of very different specifications to those in common use by government

  iii. incorrect calculations and assumptions related to energy use and scope 2 emissions (e.g. were found to be using incorrect carbon intensity figures due to the age and location assumptions)

The key findings of the report were:

• Desktops & Monitors: the total annual carbon footprint for Desktops and Monitors for recent devices was around 25% of the currently reported emissions and the Desktop scope 2 emissions were found to be around 10% of current figures

• Laptops: the annual carbon footprint for recently purchased Laptops was less than 50% of the currently reported emissions

“Defra and the UK Government have shown considerable leadership and forward thinking in their commitment to annual emissions reporting by department and to tracking the changes annually. Working with GDSA partners to increase the quality and detail of that data will help build confidence in the process and annual reporting and will also give a better foundation for the carbon reduction plans which each department will need to formulate. P2zero has been very pleased to play a part in assisting with and developing this vitally important initiative.”
Ewen Anderson, CEO, P2zero

The broader P2zero Government Average annual carbon footprint figures (taking a range of commonly used devices of all ages) were 51% of the Greening Government ICT Report for desktops, 73% for laptops and 46% for monitors.

The P2zero conclusion was therefore that using averages based on actual makes and models of devices purchased by government across all categories is a much more accurate method of reporting and will help to build a baseline which can be used to develop departmental carbon reduction plans.

Recommendations and Next Steps

The findings of the study on the End User Device items were presented to the Cross Government Sustainability Steering Group to gain approval to expand the scope of the study to additional categories of device. 

Short Term

To build a more comprehensive data set it was recommended that the Greening Government ICT Report metrics be updated with one or more “reference” devices in each category. These should represent the most commonly used devices, calculated using the latest available PCFs and power metrics. While this will not provide a fully accurate picture it will set a much more appropriate benchmark and baseline for examining carbon reduction strategies.

Medium Term

In the medium term improvements should be sought to bring all departmental ICT inventory management and reporting in line with best practice and ensure a simple way of gathering and aggregating data for departmental and central reporting.

P2zero proposed working with the Defra sustainability team to develop and maintain a simple open-source database of energy, scope 2 and scope 3 metrics for the most common devices in use across government. This can be added to over time to increase the granularity and accuracy of data.

The Scope 3 Working Group will also issue a set of recommendations to departments on areas such as inventory based on the findings via their “Insights” report planned for release later in 2025.

Improvements such as those adopted above are aimed to improve Defra’s annual reporting going forward. There should be a noticeable difference in 2025 data (reported in 2026).

“P2zero continue to be a partner in our work on sustainable IT -  as one of the central members of the Government Digital Sustainability Alliance they support wider Government work on the issue. Their leadership of the Scope 3 working group has provided valuable insight into how to footprint complex digital estates, recognising the importance of baselining & reporting. We look forward to working in collaboration with them as they continue this journey”.   Anna Fountain (Defra) Sustainability Lead, Digital Sustainability Team