Governance
Our Environmental Sustainability Strategy is our Carbon Management Plan. The document provides a clear overview of the carbon targets embedded within our University Strategy, the measures and actions we continue to embed, and the governance principles we have in place including the support of our Environmental Sustainability Strategy Board of Governance (ESSBG). The document also clearly explains the actions we are taking towards Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. To ensure clarity and purpose in meeting our carbon targets, we monitor, audit and publicly report our annual carbon emissions across our operational, wider and legacy boundaries.
Operational Carbon Emissions
Our operational carbon emissions (tCO2e) encapsulate emissions associated with the consumption of electricity, gas and water (including generation of waste water); business travel; fluorinated gases (f-gas); and generation of waste. Our operational emissions encompass all residential (student accommodation) and non-residential (campus and office) buildings managed by the University.
We have proven and publicly reported success in reducing our operational carbon emissions. For instance, emissions associated with the use of electricity, gas and water (including generation of waste water) reduced by 65% between our original baseline year of 2006/07 and the end of our 2019/20 academic financial year.
When we developed our current University Strategy and Environmental Sustainability Strategy, we updated our carbon reporting baseline year to 2018/19 (from 2006/07). We did this for a number of reasons, including the fact that our 2018/19 reporting was significantly more accurate than 2006/07. In addition, when considering our future carbon target, 2018/19 was the last uninterrupted year ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A snapshot of our annual operational carbon emissions is shown below:
Carbon (tCO2e)
|
2018/19 |
2023/24 |
2024/25 |
| Electricity |
2093.7 |
1529.6 |
1294.2 |
| Natural Gas |
1835.8 |
1856.5 |
1566.6 |
| Water |
22.1 |
5.0 |
4.6 |
| F Gas |
0.0 |
101.6 |
30.1 |
| Travel (business) |
2463.3 |
1737.3 |
969.1 |
| Waste |
7.7 |
2.0 |
1.3 |
| Total |
6422.6 |
5232.0 |
3865.9 |
Wider Carbon Emissions
In addition to our operational carbon emissions, within our University Strategy we have committed that “we will also seek to minimise both our wider and legacy carbon emissions and influence sustainable practices within and beyond our campuses”. As publicly reported within our 2024/25 PBCCD report to the Scottish Government, we estimate that in a typical academic year, as a University community, we emit the following wider scope 3 carbon emissions:
- 15,251.5 tCO2e Procurement of goods and services.
- 6,230.9 tCO2e Commute, day-to-day (commute of students and staff to our campuses in Edinburgh).
- 6,867.4 tCO2e Commute, term-time (commute of students to Edinburgh).
- 285.7 tCO2e Homeworking (staff working from home).
Procurement emissions are estimated through the Higher Education Supply Chain Emission Tool; day-to-day commute emissions are estimated using data gleaned through travel surveys and post code analysis; homeworking is estimated using the PBCCD reporting template.
Legacy Carbon Emissions
Through clear and detailed reporting we have a good understanding of the carbon we have emitted as an organisation and as a community over recent years. We will action legacy emissions through different means, including working towards negative carbon emissions.
Reporting Carbon Emissions
Our carbon emissions, including progress towards our carbon targets, are reported through a number of internal and external reports. This includes monthly reports within our Property & Facilities Department, quarterly reports shared with our Environmental Sustainability Strategy Board of Governance, and annual reports presented to our University Court. All reports provide detailed analysis of our operational carbon key performance indicator (KPI). They also all look forward, linking to carbon modelling and projection information developed to plan action towards our carbon targets.
For external and public reporting, the University is legislatively required to submit an annual Public Bodies Climate Change Duties (PBCCD) report to the Scottish Government. Using the PBCCD reporting template supports best practice and ensures we use accurate and current carbon conversion factors issued by the UK Government. Copies of our reports between 2014/15 and 2024/25 are publicly available within the
Sustainable Scotland Network website. We also publicly report an array of information through the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Estates Management Record (EMR) as well as other bodies such as the Scottish Funding Council.
Carbon Offset
To achieve our net zero carbon target we will utilise ethical carbon offset. In the long term, we will address our legacy carbon emissions through ethical offset. Our approach is explained from page 6 of our Environmental Sustainability Strategy. In order of priority we will:
A: Reduce operational emissions through the embedment of best practice and further development of projects within our operational boundary.
B: Use our influence and position as a thought leader to work with our community, partners, stakeholders and wider society to reduce their emissions.
C: Offset emissions that we cannot avoid or legacy emissions that we have already produced through projects that are verifiable, fair and bring benefits in addition to carbon reduction.
The University is a key partner of the Association for Coastal Ecosystem Services. Professor Mark Huxham (School of Applied Sciences) and Dr Anita Ogilvie (Strategy, Planning and Governance) are members of the ACES Board. Within 2021/22 the University Leadership Team agreed to support ACES and the development of the Vanga Blue Forest to secure ethical offset opportunities that the University would be confident and comfortable procuring in future years. The investment supported significant community leadership as well as further academic and research development.