It sounds faintly bonkers - indeed, industry executives have mocked it as pointless and absurd - but, under new rules being introduced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), weapons manufacturers have been told to account for the environmental impact of making depleted uranium shells or the social consequences of assembling cruise missiles.

The Sustainable Procurement Charter, which has been sent to defence suppliers to the MoD and which all will have to sign, tells companies to minimise any adverse effects on society from their activities, which may be hard to establish for makers of nuclear submarines or weapons of mass destruction.

Sustainable procurement (SP) is a government-wide initiative to reduce the environmental and social effects of producing goods and services for the State. The charter says: “SP is a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services ... and utilities in a way that achieves best value for money on a through life basis with minimal adverse impacts on the environment and society.”

There is also concern that the Government is adding further bureaucracy to MoD procurement. One industry executive said: “This is yet another example of civil servants living in a parallel universe. Everyone knows the MoD is broke and by its own admission is constipated with process, much of it pointless and counter-productive, so why has it launched another vacuous initiative that will consume resources?”

Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners, the brokerage firm, said: “These policies all sound nice but then it gets out of hand when the bureaucrats and academics get involved and the costs go up and up.”

The MoD said that it was introducing the charter as part of an effort to get suppliers to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions and to limit their adverse effect on society.

Times Recommends

• Calls grow for steep rate cut as services deteriorate
• Stagecoach shares fall 20% on rail warning
• UK broadcasters web TV 'limits competition'