Sustainability at DWP

It’s such an exciting time to join DWP as there are already so many exciting initiatives happening. There are things that will help make our estate more sustainable and initiatives that will help make sure our services are delivered more sustainably.

Decarbonisation

DWP has implemented decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures at Quarry House, Leeds, halving the building’s emissions by completely removing fossil fuels from the building, replacing its gas boilers with a connection to the low carbon Leeds District Heating Network. We’ve also removed all gas-fired catering equipment from the kitchen and replaced it with an electric system. 

We’ll be installing Air Source Heat Pumps to replace more gas boilers across 25 more sites, along with the installation of new energy efficient solar panels across 12 sites shortly.

Did someone say coffee…?

Disposable takeaway coffee cups are a huge source of single-use plastics and are bad for the environment. So, we trialled the use of re-usable coffee cups at Quarry House, Leeds. It proved to be a great success so we will be rolling this out to all other catered DWP sites this year, which could save 240,000 disposable cups each year.

And there’s green jobs…

The Green Jobs team is leading the charge across government by helping to identify where we can help remove barriers to green jobs, further helping to contribute towards maximum employment opportunities.

A pilot in Wales last year resulted in us engaging with over 125 new employers working in the green economy, and 79% of employer and partnership colleagues reporting that green jobs training had provided them with the confidence required to effectively deliver on the green agenda.