How Green is my university? Sustainability in HE in Wales

EAUC Conference

24th March 2010

Professor Phil Gummett

Chief Executive

Sustainable Development in Wales

• Statutory requirement of section 79 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (updates provisions within previous 1998 legislation);

• Requirement on ministers to develop a scheme setting out intended actions One Wales One Planet published in May 2009 is the third SD plan;

• To present to the National Assembly for Wales;

• Requirement to report on progress annually this is done against UK five principles of SD and includes comparison with other government departments and agencies.

Welsh Assembly Government Approach to Sustainability

• Aims to ensure that:- “Sustainable development will be the central organising principle of the Welsh Assembly Government and we will encourage and enable others to embrace sustainable development as their central organising principle”.

• “In Wales sustainable development means enhancing the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of people and communities, achieving a better quality of life for our own and future generations in ways which promote social justice and equality of opportunity”

Welsh Assembly Government Approach to Sustainability

• Enhance the natural and cultural environment and respect its limits using only our fair share of the earth’s resources and sustaining our cultural legacy;

• Develop a resilient and sustainable economy that is able to develop whilst stabilising and then reducing its use of natural resources and reducing its contribution to climate change;

• Consistency across all policy areas for example the Science Policy includes research into developing low carbon economy;

• And social / economic renewal as priority areas.

Education for sustainable development and global citizenship

•Recognises the unique opportunity education offers to engage with society, to question, to educate, and in different ways to promote an understanding of sustainability, undertake research, and demonstrate progress;

•Links with the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainability 2005-2015 and its four key themes;

•Promotion and improvement of education;

•Reorienting education to include the principles of SD;

•Developing public awareness;

•Training the existing workforce to embed sustainability.

HEFCW approach to sustainability

• Corporate and operational plan Commitment to “Making it Work the HE sector”. Support and develop institutions that have the resources and capacity to thrive in an era of constrained public resource;

• Enabling institutions to develop sustainability as a system;

• The requirement to develop environmental management systems that record both actions and provide data on performance;

• Financial support for the Universities that Count project that enables institutions to explore and understand both environmental and corporate responsibility issues;

• The provision of funding via Reaching Higher to support the introduction of advanced energy and water metering.

HEFCW approach to sustainability

• Supporting the development of sustainable procurement through use of the Sustainable Procurement Assessment Framework, and the Strategic Risk Assessment tool;

• Implementing the WAG Sustainable Buildings Policy;

• Supporting the implementation of the ESDGC Action Plan including the curriculum audit, the best practice study, and the introduction of annual reporting on ESDGC through the strategic planning process.

Research Investments• Climate Change Consortium for Wales - will examine marine and atmospheric systems as

well as looking at human dimensions of climate change.£4M funding provided total project amounts to £11.50M and involves Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, and Swansea universities;

• Low Carbon Research Institute – will be working on low carbon energy generation, storage, and distribution as well as working on energy efficiency. The project includes Cardiff, Bangor, Glamorgan, Glyndwr and Swansea Universities. £5M support provided as part of £9.38M project;

• Biosciences and Environmental Alliance - develops previous partnership between Aberystwyth and Bangor now incorporates the merger of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research with Aberystwyth, £23.5M funding provided out of total project of £55.2M;

• Hydrogen research - Glamorgan university are now working with the LCRI to further develop research on hydrogen.

What has been achieved so far?

• Estates / Institutional Management;

• 5 universities engaged within the Carbon Trust Higher Education Carbon Management Programme;

• Carbon emissions per FTE on the non residential estate have reduced by 12.2% over the last three years;

• Recycling has increased from 14% to 26% by volume over the last three years;

• Introduction of WAG Sustainable Buildings Policy;

• 3 HEIs have already achieved WAG requirements on the SPAF in advance of deadline.

The Kegie Building - University of Wales, Newport

Institute of Life Sciences, Swansea

What has been achieved so far?ESDGC

• First national assessment of sustainability within the curriculum using the STAUNCH tool developed by Cardiff University;

• Swansea University and University of Wales, Newport have been successful in securing a United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise in Sustainability for Wales;

• Ongoing development of environmental management systems;

• ESD reporting incorporated within strategic planning processes.

• Relatively new and innovative areas of research arguably to early to judge success?

• Low Carbon Research Institute has already generated research proposals with a value of £46M including £34M WEFO funded programme to help Welsh businesses develop innovative carbon reduction projects;

• Biosciences and Environmental Alliance - Secured 230 jobs, and enabled the development of world class bioscience research that will underpin the next phase of growth in agriculture, food, bio-renewable and land based industries;

• Glamorgan University has been awarded additional work with a value of £6.3M to undertake research around generating hydrogen from renewable electricity and biological sources, the strategic build up of hydrogen infrastructure, and hydrogen as an energy store.

What has been achieved so far?Research?

• A new ESDGC Action Plan;

• The Welsh Climate Change Strategy;

• New Guidance on Estates Strategies from HEFCW;

• Guidance on carbon reduction from HEFCW;

• Actions to Implement For our Future.

What Comes Next ?

Conclusion

• Challenge of sustaining and continuing progress during the recession and inevitable increased financial pressures.

• Further need to integrate and embed sustainability within systems, and move away from initiative overkill.

• To develop cultural change and strengthen concept of social justice.

• To ensure that education has a robust record of progress in sustainability through research, relationship with the community and in institutional management that will enhance its reputation and provide a clear and distinctive message to both students and staff