Environmental Sustainability Delivery Plan
• Commissioned a study on the University’s current resilience to climate change to inform how we can reduce its impact on the institution and enable us to prepare and adapt sustainably • Begun the journey of embedding carbon reduction and sustainability ambitions into our plans for the University estate, further reducing emissions from our buildings, increasing on-site sustainable transport and integrating on-site renewable energy schemes • Reduced the amount of travel we undertake on University business, particularly air travel • Make sustainability a priority area in our Universities for Nottingham partnership with Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham City Council to maximise our collective impact and support the city’s ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2028. • Launched a Green Rewards programme across the universities to incentivise positive sustainable behaviours by our staff and students. • Enhancing the flora and fauna of our campuses supporting our Nature Positive and Bio-diversity commitments
The University has worked hard on its own campus environmental performance, over the last ten years we have: • Delivered year-on-year reductions in our carbon dioxide emissions since 2009 • Developed a focused delivery plan for sustainability • Established a science-based targets for carbon reduction supported by a carbon management plan. • Invested in renewable energy installations on campus which generate 950,000 kWh each year to power our activities sustainably • Provided sustainable transport between campuses through our Hopper bus services, which carry more than 1 million passengers each year • Divested from all fossil fuel investments and introduced an ethical investments policy to guide our other financial investments and activity • Ensured that less than 1% of our waste enters landfill, recycling 38% of our waste on site, and converting food waste into energy and bio-fertiliser • Driven down single-use plastics on campus through our WasteNott campaign, which includes a ‘latte levy’ to fund waste reduction initiatives, a ban on plastic straws and a reduction of more than 75,000 disposable cups in the past year.
The University of Nottingham is committed to environmental sustainability through our research, teaching, campus activity, investments and our work with partners locally and globally. Over the last decade and more, our University has been taking action to support the environment and deliver research to secure a more sustainable planet. Over the next decade, in partnership with our staff and student community, we will make a step-change in our efforts to assist the response to the climate emergency and to support environmental sustainability more widely. Our recently University Strategy puts sustainability at the heart of the core goals that will guide our work as an institution for the years to come: We will make an outstanding contribution to supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through our research and education, our engagement with partners and our behaviour on campus and in our communities. We will place a special emphasis on environmental sustainability, supporting the City of Nottingham’s desire to be a net zero carbon city by 2028 and working with partners in China and Malaysia to improve sustainability within their regions.
At the same time the University’s global research programme has a well-deserved reputation for supporting a more sustainable planet and we are constantly developing our teaching and learning in line with this. Building on the journey so far we are now seeking to accelerate our efforts to further improve the sustainability of our estate and embed environmental sustainability in our education and research, as well as in the mind-set and behaviours of our community. Central to this will be the development and delivery of a decarbonisation road map for our scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions and the establishment of Scope 3 targets and projects.
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