Page 11 Climate change


Green IT
The Partnership is a founder member of the Environmental IT Leadership Team, a cross-industry user group aiming to develop more sustainable IT strategies. The initiatives our IT department has instigated include:

>increasing the processing power performed per unit of energy consumed of our servers, reducing the need for new servers
>a policy change to ensure that all new desktops and laptops conform to the highest energy efficiency standards EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Gold
>software to automatically power down computers overnight
>investigating ways to minimise daytime computing energy use
>improving air circulation in the data centre and allowing the temperature to rise by 1.5øC, thereby using less energy for air conditioning
>better print management and lower printing costs at our Victoria Head Office.


Engaging Partners
Although the business invests in more energy-efficient systems at a corporate level, individual Partners have also played a critical role. Since 2005, our Partnership-wide energy awareness campaign, 'Save Energy, Share the Savings', has encouraged Partners to turn down heating and air conditioning, switch off lights and computers and adopt more energy-efficient technologies where possible.

The Partnership's Energy and Environment Manager oversees the way Partners are trained to be careful about the energy they use, and members of the senior management team champion energy efficiency in our shops.

We also support the Environment Agency's annual promotion of World Environment Day, and encourage Partners to make small lifestyle changes to protect the environment. This year's campaign, 'Stand up to Climate Change', encouraged the public to limit its own impact on climate change, and highlighted ways to cope with some of the inevitable effects of a changing climate. These included adapting your garden to meet the evolving needs of local wildlife and training as a volunteer with emergency relief organisations such as the Red Cross.

(Energy Saving Trust logo with the caption:
In areas where no industry standards on energy consumption exist, such as small electrical items, we work with the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to promote low-energy-use products.)


Water consumption
We are not big users of water, but recognise the need to use less of this increasingly scarce resource. Our total Partnership consumption has reduced by 19%, largely due to the sale of the production unit Stead McAlpin, which was the Partnership's single largest user of water. Consumption in John Lewis shops has also reduced to 26 cubic metres per full-time equivalent Partner.