Leicester Award for Employability: Sustainability – Workshop 2

1. Leicester Award for Employability: Sustainability – Workshop 2 Dr Emma Fieldhouse Environmental Manager Environment Team, Estates & Facilities Management Division

2. Overview of today – before lunch • What is a Sustainable University? • Corporate Social Responsibility • Biodiversity Management at UoL • Waste Management at UoL

3. Overview of today after lunch • Carbon & Energy • Travel, Sustainable Procurement & Green Buildings problem-solving • Behaviour Change & Communications (including Green Impact) • Blogging tools • Evaluation of today

4. Learning objectives for today • To share ideas about sustainability in the context of a University • To explore sustainability issues including biodiversity, waste, carbon, travel, procurement, behaviour change, green buildings • To explore the employability aspects of volunteering with the team and volunteering opportunities

5. Assignment 1 To complete 5 x 100 word blogs about volunteering experiences, how they link to the conceptual elements of sustainability and what skills have been picked up New timeline to fit with volunteering – first two blogs before end of December – other blogs before end of Easter

6. Assignment 2 To complete a report about the auditing process (2000 – 3000 words). The report could focus upon either waste auditing, Green Impact scheme auditing or both

7. What is an Environmental Audit? • Various types of evaluation to ensure: • Compliance with legal standards • Compliance with internal policies or management systems • Both the current waste audit and Green Impact audits are examples of compliance with internal management systems

8. Assignment 3 To produce a 5 – 10 minute interview-style presentation that promotes the Leicester Award for Sustainability Date confirmed as Saturday 19th May 2012

9. What is a Sustainable University?

10. Energy Waste Water Biodiversity/Land management Building/Construction & Renovation Transport Procurement Corporate Social Responsibility An overview of what we do • Legal Compliance • Policy • Communication • Working towards Environmental Management Systems

11. How to prioritise what we do? • A risk assessment of an organisation that has no history of environmental management will dictate you approach the following issues first: • Legal compliance issues e.g. waste, energy • Areas for greatest potential business benefit e.g. cost savings through energy efficiency • Areas requiring least management to change • Areas for greatest reputational benefit

12. What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

13. Other things we could cover • Environmental Sustainability Strategy • Green League Table of universities • Other reporting mechanisms UtC/LiFE • Teaching/Learning • Research • Water • Ethical Investment • Environmental Management Systems

14. Biodiversity In the context of the University of Leicester

15. The University owns and manages over 300 acres of land. This includes the Botanic Gardens and a Local Wildlife Site – Blackthorn Manor. There are 9,000 trees and a number of protected or rare species to be found on University grounds.

16. Our commitment • Undertake habitat and species surveys to ascertain the University’s biodiversity • Create and implement a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) • Mitigate for disturbance to habitats or species from delivery of Development Plans • Engage as appropriate with University stakeholders to raise awareness of biodiversity issues

17. How? • Phase 1 habitat surveys • Surveys of protected species (bat roosts and feeding territories, newts • Habitat creation through Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SuDs)/green roofs/walls/bat or bird boxes or other means • Stakeholders • Development of teaching, learning, research and volunteering opportunities • Interpretation and ‘point of use’ information on species and habitats • Agreed grounds management practices with contractors that conserve and enhance biodiversity • Partnerships with environmental groups and local authorities sharing knowledge and resources • Encouraging appropriate groups and individuals to consider the impacts on biodiversity in relation to purchasing, investments and developments

18. Why? • Compliance with all relevant nature conservation legislation • Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) as amended • NERC Act (2006) • Conservation of Habitat & Species Regulations (2010) • Because ‘protecting natural habitats and encouraging local wildlife’(Environmental Sustainability Policy, 2010) matters…

19. Where you come in… • Volunteering Opportunities: • University of Leicester • Winter/Summer Bird surveys • ‘Bioblitz’ – including plants, fungi, bats, birds, invertebrates etc. • Practical conservation • Pond maintenance • Scrub clearance • Elsewhere • Groundwork • Volunteer opportunities on Tuesdays and Thursdays • http://www.eastmidlands.groundwork.org.uk/leicester--leicestershire/jobs--volunteering/consevation-volunteers.aspx • BTCV • Volunteer opportunities on Wednesdays and Thursdays • http://www2.btcv.org.uk/display/btcv_leicesterandrutland

20. Waste Management

21. Waste Management – Task for pairs • In pairs you will be given one piece of waste legislation to research and one problem to solve. Take 30 mins to gather information about both. • Return to the group and we will take 15 mins to share what you have found.

22. Waste Legislation • Landfill tax (1996) – established market forces to discourage landfill • Environmental Protection Act 1990 – set up Environment Agency duties and defined ‘duty of care’ • ‘Duty of Care’ Regulations 1991- specifically in relation to waste handling, storage and disposal

23. Waste Legislation • Battery Directive (2006) – regulates manufacture and disposal • Hazardous Waste Directive - control substances that have potential harmful health effects • Landfill Directive (2007) ‘pre-treatment’ of landfill waste

24. Waste Hierarchy

25. What has Leicester achieved? In 2007 the University recycling rate was less than 10% In 2011 we are now recycling over 80% of our waste from both academic and residential sites We could fill the Attenborough Tower twice every year with the waste the University currently produces

26. How did we do this? • Changed bin system from bins emptied at desks to staff and students taking waste to recycling points across the university – installed oevr 3,000 new bins (recycled old bins) • New waste contract started in January 2011 with local firm Wastecycle • Able to provide far better data on waste for all of our sites – pay-by-weight system

27. Waste Auditing • Knowing how your systems are working allows you to focus your management on areas of weakness • Auditing shows you where the weaknesses are in the system • The waste auditing we undertake shows us how successful the recycling points are • We can also compare the results in and out of term time

28. Employability skills • Auditing is a key part of any structured approach to environmental management • All Environmental Management Systems demand an aspect of auditing to prove that the systems are working • Audit = Evaluation

29. LUNCHTIME

30. Carbon & Energy

31. Carbon & Energy • What are the carbon impacts of the University? • Group brainstorm on carbon footprint of Leicester

32. Carbon Footprint of the University • Which of the items on your lists MUST be included when calculating the carbon footprint of the University • Justify the inclusion and exclusion of different items – why should ‘x’ be included and ‘y’ be excluded? • You must be able to justify your choices • You have 20 minutes to discuss this

33. Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions

34. Carbon Footprint - 31,167 tonnes

35. What must we cover in our carbon footprint? • Only Scope 1 (Direct) and Scope 2 (Indirect – electricity use) emissions are regulated and make up the University’s ‘legal’ footprint • The Higher Education Council for England (HEFCE) - our funding body - are currently exploring which elements of Scope 3 emissions they will require us to start reporting data for • Some HEIs already capture some of the data

36. Who can remember the piece of legislation from last week that dictates what carbon emissions reductions we should make?

37. Climate Change Legislation • UK Climate Change Act (2008) was a world-leading piece of legislation • 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 (originally 60% but pushed up to 80% by campaigners and a recommendation from Climate Change Committee) • CRC – Carbon Reduction Commitment • Tax of the largest producers of carbon in the country – the University of Leicester is on the list (there are 2,100 organisations on the list)

38. What’s the target? And what are we currently doing about carbon? • Leicester need to make an absolute cut in carbon of 60% by 2020 (against 2004/5) to slightly over-achieve on the Climate Change Act requirements • Spent £1 Million HEFCE/Salix Revolving Green Fund on energy efficiency improvements • Installation of the Combined Heat & Power system (to produce between 10 – 15% reduction in footprint)

39. Salix – Revolving Green Fund • Salix is a not-for-profit investment company • Salix invests money in carbon and energy saving projects in public-sector bodies • The Revolving Green Fund recycles the savings from one project to go into the next • More details on the Salix Revolving Green Fund at Leicester are given in the case study

40. What are we currently doing about carbon? • New Carbon & Energy Officer staring in December • Renewal of the Carbon Management Plan (the existing plan finishes in 2012) • The new strategy and plan will include many more elements and will demonstrate how we will achieve the 60% reduction by 2020

41. A different take on climate change…

42. Employability & Carbon • Current perceived shortage of carbon literate people • If you understand carbon impacts and can demonstrate these at interview then you are a lot further ahead than many! • For Green Impact, using metered energy data to educate staff and students would be a big learning opportunity

43. Employability & Carbon • Undertaking a basic energy audit to find opportunities to switch off or turn down in Green Impact Departments • Creating switch-off events • Creating switch-off protocols for Departments i.e. who switches what off as they leave at night • Vacation shut-down plan (part of Green Impact)

44. The best video about climate change • It’s even better than the polar bears!

45. The Clean Version

46. Group Exercise • Travel • Sustainable Procurement • Green Buildings Create an action plan for your area by answering these questions

47. Who is the main audience that need to be engaged with over this issue (in the university context)? • If there are other audiences that need to be involved then list them too in order of importance • For each audience, specify a message you wish to convey to them and how you would deliver it • What is the main sustainability issue and what would be the aim of any improvement plan? • Imagine you are starting to deal with this sustainability issue for the first time. Imagine you have unlimited resources and describe what you would do in the first 12 months to start to tackle the problems. (Break this down on a month by month basis) • Also consider how this ‘issue’ links with the following areas: teaching/learning, research, employability skills for students, the wider community • You have 40 minutes to complete this task

48. Behaviour Change & Communications

49. How do we change behaviours? • People have to want to change which immediately discounts up to 20% of the university audience • A ttention • I ntent • D esire • Ation

50. How do we change behaviours?