Climate Change
RPS staff have extensive skills which enable us to understand and advise upon the causes and effects of climate change.We have undertaken many projects which involve developing policies and schemes designed to reduce the carbon emissions of our clients.We anticipate our workload in this area will increase materially in coming years.

RPS has set itself the challenge of reducing its (per capita) energy use by 5% each year.This will have the effect of reducing our carbon emissions.We estimate that in 2007 (excluding use of public transport and air travel) we generated about 6,850 tonnes of CO₂.

Energy Management
Consumption of energy - primarily electricity and natural gas - in offices has a direct impact on carbon emissions. In 2008, RPS will continue its programme to measure the impact of energy consumption and introduce a Group-wide initiative to reduce consumption.

In 2006, RPS started switching electricity supply contracts to ‘Green’ tariffs.These are energy sources that are either derived from renewable sources such as wind, capture waste energy such as landfill gas or are from ‘good quality’ combined heat and power plants. At the end of 2007, 52% of electricity purchased by RPS in the UK was from a ‘Green’ tariff. This will rise in 2008 as more contracts are switched.

The energy consumption for each office has been determined, with the largest 15 offices responsible for 70% of all consumption.These will be targeted, together with offices that have a higher than average consumption based on their floor area, with energy audits and an energy management campaign to reduce consumption.

As part of its long-term planning strategy RPS will be introducing minimum environmental standards for new offices that will also be taken into consideration whilst refurbishing offices. Over the medium term this should make a significant contribution to the reduction in the total energy demand.