BBC Coventry and the Environment

At a time when parts per million of carbon dioxide are at an all-time high (390 ppm, rising at 2ppm per year, up from 1 ppm per year in the 1990s), the BBC is environmentally failing in a number of areas.

Jeremy Paxman recently took his employer to task in a full-page article in Ariel, the in-house BBC magazine, citing all-night lighting at BBC Television Centre, no BBC-wide policy on carbon offsets for reporters or four-year-long documentary efforts, and muddled recycling policies.

On the BBC's website, they cite that "In 2005, the BBC was ranked 53rd equal out of 145 companies in the Business in the Community Environment Index. That was up from 61st in 2004."

Well. That's all nice and good, but the other way of looking at it was that they weren't in the top 50 two years in a row.

Now, the Guardian says:

Carbon emissions went up to almost 0.25 tonnes per broadcast hour in 2005, compared with just over 0.15 tonnes the year before. According to the BBC's Corporate and Social Responsibilities Report 2006 - released this week - the total waste per BBC employee also rose, from almost 250kg per person to just under 300kg. However, recycling improved from 30% to around 37%. And more than 95% of the electricity used by the BBC comes from green power sources such as hydroelectric power stations and wind farms.

The report also reveals that lighting accounts for 10% to 15% of the BBC's overall energy bill. To cut that amount, one London BBC building is running a pilot scheme where lights now turn off automatically at 7pm rather than 11pm. The sensors have also been adjusted so that lights activated by movement go off after 15 minutes rather than half an hour.

If 15% of your bill is lighting, why only one pilot scheme in one building in one city?

Shouldn't initiatives like this have been built in as standard practice under the recent Charter Review?

I would think that, if we have questions about environmental matters at Bee-Bee-Cee Cov-En-Tree War-Ick-Sherrrrrrrrr, David Clargo might be the man to speak to.