Uncovering the workings behind UCL's Sustainability Strategy
Artwork by Christelle Troost
Elly Chaw sheds light on UCL’s ambitious new Sustainability Strategy, with interviews from project kickstarter Joanna Marshall-Cook and Student Ambassador Barbara Leger.
In October 2019, UCL launched its most significant sustainability project to date – one that is bigger, bolder, and better. It is an ambitious yet crucial response to our global climate emergency, honouring the “disruptive thinking” ethos that has been status quo at UCL since the institution’s conception in 1826.
The Sustainability Strategy sets two central goals to be achieved within the next decade: to make all UCL buildings net zero carbon by 2024, and extending this to the whole institution by 2030. These broader aims frame a number of specific targets (again, with 2024 as an endpoint), including reducing waste per person by 20%, creating more green spaces on campus, and providing the tools for every student to get involved with the sustainability movement.
The beginnings of the project trace back to 2017. Joanna Marshall-Cook, Senior Sustainability Manager at UCL, is part of the small team of three who first kickstarted a campus-wide research survey, finding out what students and staff wanted to see around the university. “People mostly want a cut-down in plastic and waste, and more green spaces around campus,” Joanna told me during an informal interview at her office. UCL’s location along Euston Road, one of London and the United Kingdom’s most polluted roads, provided another incentive for change.
Moreover, UCL’s huge international community offered Joanna and her team reason to believe that the Sustainability Strategy could contribute to UCL’s global presence, should international students choose to implement their sustainable habits and knowledge back home. Thus, the Sustainability Strategy not only benefits UCL and its immediate surroundings (such as Euston Road), but also globally, with the institution’s cross-cultural influence.
Equipped with the results of their research, the Sustainability team worked closely with UCL’s experts to devise the different strands of the Strategy we see today: ‘Positive Climate’, ‘The Loop’, and ‘Wild Bloomsbury’. ‘Positive Climate’ aims to achieve net zero carbon goals by 2024 and 2030, while ‘The Loop’ and ‘Wild Bloomsbury’ strive for sustainable consumption practices and creating more biodiverse spaces around campus respectively. The team gradually expanded – today it consists of nine people, with a crossover between the UCL researchers and lecturers constructing policies, and the staff who focus on implementing them. This strategic partnership has already brought about tangible results. Since 1st August 2019, all UCL buildings have been running on 100% renewable electricity, and the team is now looking into a zero-carbon heating system and more investment in environmentally-friendly lighting.
UCL is also working with Sodexo, the university’s official catering partner, to achieve their goal of choosing the best products for people and the planet as outlined in ‘The Loop’. By January 2020, Sodexo will have plastic-free events, and by 2021, all on-campus catered foods will be either vegan or vegetarian. In fact, according to Joanna, UCL’s Provost Michael Arthur has already taken the first step in setting an example by having only vegetarian food at all events he attends at UCL.
‘Wild Bloomsbury’ is up and running, too. UCL’s Plastic and Waste Innovation Hub (led by Professor Mark Miodownik), aims to bring together researchers and businesses to solve the UK’s plastic waste problem: it is currently in the process of developing a special bacteria that “eats” plastic and breaks it down into reusable materials. This composting project, helmed by Professor John Ward and Professor Helen Hailes, is being trialled in the Gordon Square gardens. On top of this initiative, UCL researchers are also looking into the development of porous concrete that allows greenery and mosses to grow, therefore improving the air quality of the surroundings.
Having a net zero carbon institution by 2030 seems ambitious, and some have raised their brows at the feasibility and achievability of the goals outlined in the Sustainability Strategy. In response to this, Joanna encourages us to look forward: “The strategy is meant to be ambitious. It is only then we can start working towards it.”
Student awareness and involvement is pivotal in contributing to the success of the Strategy. There is a free online module for all to enrol into on Moodle, titled ‘GREEN AWARENESS UCL: an introduction to environmental sustainability at UCL’. More academic faculties and individual departments at UCL are integrating modules with a sustainability context; one of the many ways students can deepen their understanding of the global climate crisis and effect change before it is too late.
Through engaging with the Students’ Union and joining more relevant societies targeting climate change, you too can get involved. For example, UCL and the Students’ Union have partnered together in recruiting Sustainability Ambassadors who represent the student body and work with UCL to create a more sustainable university. Barbara Leger, a second-year BA Geography student, is one of them. She is involved in ‘The Climate Collage’, a student-led volunteering programme, where she runs sessions on campus before bringing them to schools around London to raise awareness. Keep an eye out for scheduled on-campus strikes, such as those organised at the end of last month, that call for all UCL students and staff to join the global strike for environmental justice. Collective action spreads the message that we are all going through a climate crisis.
When asked for some tips on being a sustainable UCL student, Barbara suggests: “Eat less meat, think twice before you throw things away, as there is never really an ‘away’. Walk more or bike around, and fly less!”.
Yes, the Sustainability Strategy is ambitious. And it is ambitious for a reason. UCL has heard the voices and opinions of more than a thousand students, academics, and staff, and the Strategy is a true and bold reflection of UCL’s commitment to sustainability by tackling the forces of climate change. As students — and as citizens of our planet — it is our responsibility to support and carry out the goals of the Sustainability Strategy wherever possible. Every action and decision makes a difference.
Read more about the Sustainability Strategy here. I would like to extend my gratitude to Joanna Marshall-Cook and Barbara Leger for the insightful interviews we had.