The technology and innovation centre Energy Systems Catapult has today launched a new “greenprint” aimed at reducing emissions and energy demand across public buildings and estates.

The ‘Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance’, developed with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Government Property Function, provides public sector organisations with new tools and approaches to simplify decarbonisation across their sites, including hospitals, schools, leisure centres, museums and universities.

The suite of tools, templates and checklists includes guidance to help public sector organisations consider their overall decarbonisation solution, what this could look like and the role that technology can play.

The guidance is based on insights and experience gained from the Modern Energy Partners programme, which has worked with 42 sites to discover the best ways to decarbonise public sector estates.

In total, the public sector accounts for around 2% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and the government has set a target to reduce these emissions by 75% by 2037 as part of its Net Zero Strategy.

Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Alex Burghart has said that the partnership with Energy Systems Catapult was created to support the government’s property strategy, which is focused on creating a smaller, cleaner and greener public estate.

Christine St John Cox, Lead of Complex Site Decarbonisation and Head of MEP at Energy Systems Catapult, said that helping the public sector decarbonise will benefit patients, pupils, and local places by redirecting funds from energy savings to vital services in the longer-term.