A survey of the public, private and third sectors by The Guardian has revealed that the public sector is the most committed to reducing carbon emissions.
The survey was an online poll conducted among 1,256 respondent on the Guardian Sustainable Business website between November and December 2011.

More than half (58 per cent) of public sector respondents said their organisation planned to make 'tangible investments' in carbon reduction in 2012 with 77.9 per cent agreeing that it had remained a key facet of the organisation's objectives despite the difficult economic climate.

In contrast, less than half (46 per cent) of private sector workers confirmed their company will be making such investments in the coming year.

The majority (78 per cent) of respondents are looking to the public sector to lead the way on carbon reduction by cutting their own emissions.

Richard Rugg, director of Carbon Trust Programmes, said: 'An open goal for the public sector is engaging their staff in energy efficiency programmes. The business case for carbon action stacks up. It's an essential opportunity for cost saving not a costly nice-to-have.'

Carbon Trust has opened registration for its 2012-2013 public sector carbon management programmes, inviting all types of public sector organisation to participate. For more information, see: www.carbontrust.co.uk/publicsector. Registration closes at the end of February.

Further areas covered by the survey include procurement, where an encouraging 50 per cent of respondents from all sectors stated that carbon is a consideration in their organisation's decision-making processes.

However, neither public or private sector have yet capitalised on the savings that can we achieved by engaging their employees. Under a third of all respondents said their organisation had engaged employees in cutting carbon.

'But,' said the Carbon Trust, 'help is at hand in the form of Carbon Trust Empower which was recently launched by the Carbon Trust. This unique tool, containing quizzes, animations, tutorials and a virtual tour, enables employees to see how they can make a difference, and make a commitment to act. It also encourages sharing of ideas between employees and their managers leading to more effective engagement, improving the chances of carbon saving programmes being successful.'