Environmental responsibility

Annual Report 2021 - 2022

Legal Aid NSW is committed to becoming more environmentally sustainable.

Goal	Target	Achievements in 2021–2022
Reduce electricity consumption	Install smart meters for greater analytical ability of usage.	Smart meters were installed at Lismore and Albury offices.
Increase use of green electricity	Green electricity to represent 6% of electricity consumed.	We worked with the NSW Government’s preferred electricity provider to ensure that all office tenancies are covered under the 6% green energy consumption agreement. In our large sites, such as most of the Central Sydney Office, we achieved 20% green energy consumption.
Reduce fuel consumption	Increase numbers of hybrid vehicles.	All new vehicles orders were for hybrids, with the exception of outreach vehicles due to operational needs.
Reduce fleet size	Not replacing vehicles with low kilometres or low usage.	Upon agreement with office managers four vehicles (5% of the fleet) were not replaced with potential further vehicles when their leases expired.
Reuse office furniture	Recondition visitor chairs rather than purchase new.	Over 120 visitor chairs were sent to Hunter Correctional Facility for cleaning and reupholstering by Corrective Services industries, to be used in accommodation projects.
Green fleet	Meet NSW Government fuel efficiency standards for new light vehicles.	We continued an initiative to ‘hybridise’ our fleet of 79 vehicles, receiving five Toyota Corolla Hybrids this financial year. We only leased vehicles that are included in the NSW Government pre-qualification scheme to ensure all vehicles meet fuel efficiency standards. Hybrid vehicles produce 10% fewer smog-inducing emissions than non-hybrid models, decreasing our organisation’s carbon footprint.

The year ahead

We will add at least nine additional hybrid cars to our fleet of vehicles to reduce our impact on the environment