Carbon Footprints in the UK Further Education Sector

We’ve been talking to colleagues in the Further Education (FE) and Independent Training Provider (ITP) network about carbon footprints and C02 emissions. We posed ourselves a simple question. What is the carbon footprint of a typical FE College or ITP? ?

Surprisingly we found very few organisations had completed a carbon audit. Or at least, if they had, the people we were speaking to didn’t know about it. Even fewer were able to quantify the tC02e emissions of their college, business or charity.

(tCo2e = tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents)

However, a recent report from the University of Leeds sheds light on the carbon emissions of the Further Education and Higher Education Institutions (referred to as the tertiary education sector). ?According to the report, the tertiary education sector, which includes universities, colleges, and vocational training centres, is responsible for 1.38% of global carbon emissions. This might seem like a small percentage, but it is equivalent to the annual emissions of a medium-sized country such as Portugal.

The report also highlights the significant variations in carbon emissions among institutions within the sector. For example, the top 10% of institutions in terms of emissions contribute to 33% of the sector's total emissions. This shows that some institutions have a much larger carbon footprint than others. They would need to take more aggressive steps to reduce their emissions.

One of the key drivers of carbon emissions in the sector is energy use, particularly from buildings and transportation. The report notes that institutions can reduce their carbon footprint by improving energy efficiency in buildings, adopting renewable energy sources, and encouraging sustainable transportation options such as cycling or public transport.

The report also identifies other areas where the tertiary education sector can make a positive impact on the environment. For instance, institutions can reduce their carbon footprint by adopting sustainable procurement practices, encouraging behaviour change among students and staff (through CPD for example), and integrating sustainability as core knowledge on all learning programmes.

In its conclusion, the University of Leeds report highlights the significant contribution of the tertiary education sector to global carbon emissions and the need for urgent action to reduce this impact. By adopting sustainable practices and encouraging behaviour change, institutions can play a key role in mitigating climate change and creating a more sustainable future.

Back to our own research and a couple of follow up questions that we’ve been asking ourselves:

1). Why have so few in our sector completed a carbon audit?

There are a plethora of good quality carbon audit providers operating in the UK. Costs are correlated to type of organisation and number of employees which makes services pretty cost effective relative to income. What’s the barrier and what can we do to unblock it?

2). Are there CPD resources available to support staff development?

There are but awareness among key decision makers is low. ?Several providers offer fully certificated CPD programmes using best practice digital learning. Certification is available from a number of awarding organisations: City and Guilds, NCFE, Pearson, Ascentis and Carbon Literacy. ?How can we create better partnership networks to enable dissemination?

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3). Are learning resources for students available?

We think that a basic understanding of climate change and sustainability should be a core part of every learners curriculum. It’s taken some time but there are now a good range of learning resources that target specific ‘green qualifications’. Plug and plug ‘stretch and challenge’ resources that can be plugged into most VLEs are also available. How do we make sure these are readily available and accessed on a large scale ?

The FE and ITP sector has a crucial role to play as we transition to a Net Zero economy. Not only can tertiary education organisations, businesses and charities reduce their own tCO2e emissions and those in their supply chain – they can also build the knowledge and skills of their learners. That could impact nearly 3 million people a year. And that causes a ripple effect with real impact.

Sources:

https://climate.leeds.ac.uk/news/analysis-reveals-scale-of-tertiary-educations-carbon-emissions/