Watch: 'Exciting' opportunity to improve carbon footprint, says outgoing defence chief

The outgoing Chief of the Defence Staff says the UK military has a "very exciting" opportunity to improve its carbon footprint and become more sustainable in its energy use.

General Sir Nick Carter opened the Defence Infrastructure Organisation's (DIO) first low carbon headquarters at Defence Medical Services Whittington in Staffordshire.

He told Forces News: "It's really interesting because I imagine that people think of defence as being one of those institutions in Government which is profligate when it comes to carbon and everything associated with it.

"I think what's really exciting is that the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, which essentially sits over nearly 1% of the UK's real estate, has got some really exciting ideas about how it can turn us into something that becomes net zero."

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General Sir Nick added: "On many of the battlefields that we're going to fight on in the future, we'll need to be sustainable because we'll be doing it at reach, at distance.

"The whole logistics system and the way we fight, has got to take account of trying to minimise that logistic footprint. For us, it's a very exciting opportunity.

"The reality is our climate appears to be changing and if we don't grip that now, it will become too late."