UCL pledges net zero carbon emissions by 2030

Source: Sustainable UCL

Joe Kenelm reports on Sustainable UCL’s new strategy, which includes a pledge for net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The announcement comes as part of the new Strategy for Sustainable UCL 2019-24. The strategy targets a 40% reduction in energy consumption by 2024, when all UCL buildings will be net zero carbon and energy supply will be from renewable sources exclusively.

These targets underpin one of the strategy’s three signature campaigns, “Positive Climate”. This campaign also includes promises to review UCL’s portfolio investments (prioritising funds which have a positive environmental impact), and to ensure catering for events and hospitality is entirely vegetarian.

Among the other six headline commitments, the strategy promises that every student will have the opportunity to study and be involved with sustainability, citing induction programmes centring on sustainability, and a new cross-disciplinary climate change module.

Another signature campaign, “The Loop”, targets unsustainable consumption. The report pledges to reduce waste per person by 20% by 2024; providing platforms to share and swap items such as clothes and scientific equipment, and committing to electronic records management. UCL will work towards an 85% recycling rate and a campus free of single-use plastic. 

Coordinating with Camden and other local partners, the “Wild Bloomsbury” campaign will see natural interventions such as green walls, brown roofs and pocket gardens across campus. The report includes plans to create a “living landscape” at the new East Campus, and promises to develop walking and cycling routes in and around UCL. The campaign aims to create 10,000m² of biodiverse green space — roughly equivalent to one and a half football pitches.

The report claims that the Sustainability Strategy continues the “disruptive thinking” that has been at the heart of UCL since it was founded. Among others, the strategy is signed by Provost Michael Arthur and Dean of Life Sciences Professor Geraint Rees, who is also the Chair of UCL Sustainability Steering Group.

This strategy follows the opening of the Student Centre in February, which is one of only 320 buildings in the world to be awarded BREEAM Outstanding rating. As such, it is among the most sustainable buildings in the UK.

Alongside the university’s 27% reduction in carbon emissions in the last ten years, and its zero-to-landfill status, this is a credit to UCL. There is some way to go yet, however, and it remains to be seen whether these welcome but ambitious targets can be met. As the report suggests in its final section, “to be successful we need engagement and action from across our community; both at an institutional level, but also as individuals.”