Environment and Sustainability Policy Statement 2022-2024

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service [NFRS] is fully committed to minimising the impact that the organisational activities have on the environment. The Service is aware that factors such as changing climate, resource scarcity and the generation of waste will all have an effect on our local communities and that NFRS has a duty to reduce our impact on the environment where possible to do so.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service aims to minimise its impact on the environment by:

• Including environment and sustainability considerations in our decision making, governance and procurement processes.
• Setting targets on key aspects of our environmental performance and monitoring these at a strategic level.
• Reviewing our processes to understand where we can minimise our impact on the environment.
• Reducing carbon emissions from our buildings by investing in energy efficient design and technology during construction and refurbishment projects, better managing energy consumption and influencing colleagues behaviour.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by managing business travel, reducing the need to travel by the use of video conferencing and other technology, encouraging the use of public transport and investing in electric vehicles and infrastructure.
• Raising employee’s awareness of environmental issues, encouraging environmentally responsible behaviour and providing appropriate training to enable them in playing a full role in implementing environmental objectives.
• Reducing the volume of waste which is produced at our sites with an ultimate aim of sending zero waste to landfill.
• Applying industry best practice when considering the environmental impact of our work at fires and other incidents to reduce the risk of contamination of air, land and water courses. Working with partners and other agencies for a collaborative approach to reducing environmental impacts.

NFRS’s duty extends beyond merely reducing environmental impacts to ensuring we fulfil our responsibility for ‘creating safer communities’ by responding to flooding and other events associated with a changing climate.

The Service will continue to:

Work with the Environmental Agency and other local organisations to review the areas of flood risk with Nottinghamshire and ensure appropriate equipment, resources and trained firefighters are available to respond to flooding when they are needed.

Endorsed by the Combined Fire Authority at its meeting of 16 September 2022