THE leading ecowarriors of the future will not come from Greenpeace, but the nation’s unheralded bunch of public sector accountants.

The sober-suited bean counters may look like the epi-tome of conservative corporatism, but whether England remains green and pleasant hinges more on them than all the recycled paper in Christendom. It’s obvious really: as protectors of the public sector purse, accountants wield influence over whether sustainability is built into government procurement plans.

The Accounting for Sustainability Group, which was convened by the most blue-blooded green, the Prince of Wales, has published a report urging accountants to wake up to their responsibility.

It claims that central government could save 350,000 trees each year by switching its order for 21,000 tonnes of copier paper to recycled paper.

“Government influence through its spending is argu-ably on a par with its influence through policies, taxation and legislation,” says the Realising Aspirations report.

According to MORI, 50 per cent of people think the Government should be mainly responsible for tackling environmental issues. Twenty per cent cite local councils.

With the public sector buying goods and services worth £125 billion each year, more environmentally friendly procurement plans would go a long way towards helping civil servants to take the lead.

The Prince, who established the group last year to encourage broader decision making in accountancy, says he hopes the report will be a “spur to action”.

“Decisions are taken regularly to achieve objectives or cost-savings when the perceived gains are, in fact, far outweighed by longer-term and wider costs,” he says.

The group claims that take-up of official guidance, such as the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government, has been “patchy”. It blames ignorance, confusion, poor leadership and short-term decision making for accountants failing to take sustainability seriously and criticises the Gershon review for not addressing sustainability.

“Sustainable thinking ought to come naturally to the public sector since it is government that has the overall job of representing the interests of communities,” says the report, which outlines six ways to improve matters. The suggestions include purchasing targets for public bodies based on green requirements, for example, decreases in the volume of paper, and new accounting systems that allow environmental issues to influence procurement decisions.

“It is vital that the accountancy profession understands the concepts of sustainability and the challenges and opportunities it poses in achieving long-term value for public,” the report says.

www.princeofwales.gov.uk/speeches/asg.html

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