Carbon, Energy and Water
The University is committed to reducing its energy usage and minimising its environmental impact.
All our learning sites demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and act as a test bed for innovative solutions, where researchers can monitor impact before expanding across the wider estate. They show how we can:
- Operate more efficiently
- Minimise our impact on the environment
- Promote low carbon lifestyles
- Move towards a closed-loop system
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Carbon and energy
The University is committed to reducing its carbon emissions in line with the United Nations Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
As part of its commitment, the University of Chester aims to:
- achieve net zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions across all its activities and operations by 2030.
- determine its Scope 3 emissions baseline and set targets for reduction.
We have:
- reduced our carbon footprint by 48% compared to our 2015 carbon footprint.
- installed 1,608 solar photovoltaic panels across 21 University buildings.
- replaced ageing, inefficient heating systems with electric heating systems.
- replaced petrol/diesel service vehicles with electric vehicles.
- between April 2021 and March 2022, the majority of our electricity was supplied from a REGO backed 100% renewable tariff. Since April 2022, the University’s electricity is supplied from a zero-carbon tariff using solar, wind, hydro and nuclear generation sources.
- Carbon emissions Scope 1 & 2 since 2015.
Education about low carbon habits is important in achieving our targets; since September 2021, we've been delivering Carbon Literacy Training to our students and staff, so that everyone can play a part in working towards the net zero target by developing their own action plan via the Climate Action Programme.
We are creating a decarbonisation plan, which will adopt science-based targets. To this end, we plan to collaborate with our wider community, particularly our local councils, to address the range of Scope 3 emissions. This working document will be reviewed and updated annually to reflect the changing environment and the innovative solutions that become available to enable the transition to a low carbon future.
As part of developing and implementing our Environmental Management System, we will be launching a Decarbonisation Management Group, made up of representatives from the University. The Group will be responsible for implementing initiatives and experiments to reduce our CO2 emissions across all our activities.
HyNet North West, with the University as academic lead, is the collaboration that will begin decarbonising the North West and North Wales from 2025. This initiative will make positive and demonstrable change by reducing annual CO2 emissions by 10 million tonnes by 2030 – the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road.
The University has been working as part of HyNet on initial workforce planning and skills requirements to meet industry demands now and into the future, and on a socio-economic impact assessment, which quantifies the financial, environmental and health benefits of the project.
The Decarbonisation Management Group (DMG) is comprised of representatives from across the University departments and is chaired by the Director of Estates & Facilities. The DMG is comprised of staff from across the University including representation from Support Services, Academic Faculties and senior management, and is responsible for the implementation of initiatives and experiments to reduce our CO2 emissions across all our activities.
The DMG is responsible for measuring, monitoring and reporting on the University’s environmental impact as a result of its activities including education programs, energy and water consumption, transport, waste, procurement and supply chain. It regularly reviews the targets and assesses progress towards net zero targets on an annual basis and reports to senior management.
97% of the University’s carbon emissions derive from the energy (gas, electricity, steam, petrol, diesel) consumed throughout the estate. Waste (1.4%), Transport (1.3%), Water (0.3%) contribute to the remaining 3%.
The University has implemented and completed actions identified in the Carbon Management Plan 2011 including: the removal of an oil fuelled boiler, review of the transport fleet composition, operational energy conservation and efficiency measures, the installation of solar panels, installing sub-meters to individual properties to provide more detailed data for monitoring purposes, behaviour changes and recognition at awards. . The University currently purchases all of its electricity from carbon free sources and has installed over 400kWp of solar panels that provide electricity to 15 of our buildings.
The University is developing its next Decarbonisation Plan with plans to publish this year. This plan will set out a pathway to decarbonise the University’s activities and will aim to be net zero carbon by 2030, to ensure our actions align with scientific data as required to keep global temperatures from increasing by more than 1.5°C. The Decarbonisation Plan will be a working document reviewed and updated annually by the Decarbonisation Management Group to reflect the changing environment and the innovative technology solutions that become available to enable the transition to a low carbon future.
Water
About 71% of the earth is water, it is vital to the existence of all life on earth. Globally water is a valuable and precious resource that is needed for drinking and agriculture. Wasting water adversely affects catchments, and although not all catchments in the Dee Valley Water area have water quality issues, everyone should be encouraged not to waste water.
To improve the metering and monitoring of water consumption across the estate, we work with our water suppliers to identify opportunities for reducing consumption and wastage; notices in bathrooms and kitchens remind staff and students to report leaks or dripping taps to the Facilities Helpdesk to minimise unnecessary wastage.
In 2021/22 the University used 50,875 m2 of water equating to 17.5 tonnes of CO2e.
Over 30 water refill points have been installed across all learning sites, including outdoors near sports facilities, reducing the number of plastic bottles consumed on site. In July 2019, 450,000 less plastic water bottles were consumed on site.
During construction and refurbishment work, the Estates Projects team ensure that sustainable drainage and flood prevention measures are installed. Via a planned maintenance programme, gutters and drains are regularly cleared to prevent flooding during intense rainfall.