The British Embassy recognises that its day-to-day operations and other responsibilities can impact upon the environment in many ways. We are therefore committed to continual improvement in our environmental performance, preventing pollution and minimising to the extent reasonably practicable, adverse environmental impact. Our Green Committee works to help deliver this.

"The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has set a goal of ensuring that all British diplomatic missions in Europe are carbon neutral by the year 2012. The Embassy in Riga has established a ‘Green Committee’ comprising of a cross-section of staff, to consider how we can reduce our carbon footprint and become more energy efficient – through, for example, modification of our energy, travel, procurement, waste and water strategies. We quickly identified and implemented some easy wins. We installed video-conferencing facilities and thereby reduced our air miles by travelling less. We switched to energy efficient light bulbs (and made sure we switched lights and other appliances off when we didn’t need them). We stepped up our recycling activities (paper, cardboard and glass) And we cut down on our use of Embassy vehicles to travel around town. The Committee also worked up some longer-term ideas  such as long-term investment into sustainable and renewable energy sources (e.g. solar and wind energy) and encouraging the local authorities to provide more accessible recycling points within the villages, towns and cities of Latvia." (from article for the BCCL magazine by Ambassador Richard Moon)              

Photos of some Green Committee initiatives:

Technical Works Officer Edward Stezycky demonstrates lights-activating movement sensors installed at the Embassy

Recyclable waste collection bins at the Embassy yard