Our University launched its Strategic Plan- Sustainability in October 2020 in collaboration with SUSU. It comprises six key goals, which target our improvement of sustainability across a range of areas including estates, procurement, business travel, research, education and investment.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the leading cause of the planet’s rapidly changing climate. Therefore, the first of our six goals is to ‘Achieve net zero emissions for scope 1 and 2* by 2030’.
Earlier this year, a ‘Roadmap to net zero’ was developed by Estates and Facilities, which sets out how we will achieve this ambitious goal of being net zero for these scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. In the first step towards this, a proposal was submitted to the University’s Sustainability Implementation Group (SIG) and then to the Sustainability Strategy Group (SSG) recommending switching our electricity supply to that produced by renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. This was approved and as of 1 June 2021 we have been on the ‘UK Renewable’ energy electricity tariff provided by our existing supplier EDF.
Professor of Sustainable Energy, head of the University’s Energy and Climate Change Division and Chair of the SIG, AbuBakr Bahaj, said: “Switching our electricity supply to renewable sources of energy is the best option as we progress with our Sustainability Strategy. The slight increase in cost is worth it as the switch reduces our current annual emissions by approximately 17%. This is the first phase of our Implementation Plan which is being developed by SIG, with more work being done on approaches to refurbish our buildings, the role of the combined heat and power unit (CHP) and future of our estate”.
Following this, it is also important to reduce energy demand through changes to the way space is used and continuing to make adjustments to our energy-demanding habits, smarter heating systems, retrofitting buildings and ensuring new developments use low-emissions building principles.
This is the first of many changes the University will be making to achieve this and our other five goals.
The SIG welcomes any feedback or ideas on sustainability and you can do this by emailing [email protected] or posting on Yammer.
*Explanatory notes
Scope 1 emissions come directly from the activities of an organisation. For the University this includes emissions from burning gas in boilers or the combined heat and power unit (CHP) which heats and supplies electricity to much of the Highfield Campus; fuels for University-owned vehicles; emissions released through chemical or physical processing (e.g. in labs) and fugitive emissions (e.g. leaks from cooling systems or gas pipes). The main way to reduce energy-related emissions is to stop burning things that emit GHGs. This could mean switching to renewable energy electricity or hydrogen produced by using renewable energy sources
Scope 2 emissions are released in the production of electricity, hot water or steam that an organisation buys from a supplier. These emissions are therefore the Scope 1 emissions for those suppliers. However, an organisation could also choose to buy guaranteed renewable (zero-GHG) electricity and choose to only buy zero-GHG heat services.
