School report

Councils ‘must try harder’ on emissions, says sustainability watchdog

What would it take for Britain’s schools to halve their carbon footprint? Local councils now have a direct interest in finding answers. The CO2 output from their schools will be counted as part of each authority’s total under the Carbon Reduction Commitment, the domestic emissions trading scheme due to be launched in 2010.

The Sustainable Development Commission, which backs the move, has released a report claiming that schools could halve their carbon footprint by 2020. “When local authorities work collaboratively with clusters of schools, remarkable savings can be made,” said SDC education commissioner Ann Finlayson.

The report cites examples such as Kirklees, where the council is advising schools on energy saving measures and helping secure funding for them, and an initiative in Worcestershire where pupils help conduct ‘energy audits’, and follow up with a week of practical energy saving measures. Electricity consumption cuts of between one-third and one-half have been achieved as a result. It’s the kind of achievement highlighted among the winning schools in the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy [see ‘Energy for change’ GF69, p44].

However, says Finlayson, long-term problems, such as a lack of investment in school refurbishment, must be addressed too. And action should not stop at energy efficiency on site, she adds. Heat and power account for just 37% of the 9.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions generated by English schools each year, says the report.

A larger proportion, around 45%, comes from the supply chain of companies providing goods and services to schools, while pupil and staff travel and school transport accounts for 16%. Local authorities could help reduce such emissions through their influence over transport and infrastructure schemes and school suppliers, the report concludes.

“Current levels of investment in new buildings gives us a once in a lifetime opportunity to create real change in the sustainability of the school estate and the learning it is designed to support,” adds Jane Wilkinson, principal sustainability advisor at Forum for the Future. She’s working on several projects with the National College for School Leadership that look at how committed headteachers can not only help create greener buildings, but can foster more dynamic, sustainable schools overall. – Alison Winward

7 October 2008

Alison Winward