Defra publishes sustainable development plans

Defra and its agencies are publishing sustainable development action plans this month, to show how they are putting sustainable development into practice.

The plans will ensure that sustainable development is considered in the way policy is made, the way that Defra is run and in the way it acts as an employer.

Actions in the Defra plan include:

• a sustainability audit of key policies, involving external stakeholders
• a full review of energy management in Defra buildings, to identify how to make carbon savings in the future
• an open meeting where Defra's management board can be questioned on the department's progress against the action plan.

In the UK Government's sustainable development strategy ‘Securing the future', all government departments and their executive agencies committed to producing sustainable development action plans by December 2005.