Responding to the climate emergency: how are UK universities establishing sustainable workplace routines for flying and food?

ABSTRACT

Scope 3 emissions from the UK higher education sector are globally significant, and long-distance air travel and catering are particularly emissions-intensive aspects of workplace routine. They each present complex problems, as transition to low-carbon alternatives requires the reconfiguration of professional practices. This paper examines the sustainability policies of 66 UK universities to establish the extent to which planning and action in these areas are commensurate with climate emergency declarations. The findings indicate that universities recognize their role in creating demand for long-distance travel and sustaining high-carbon diets. However, few have specific emissions reduction targets or action plans that would rapidly and substantially reduce emissions in these areas. Discussion focuses on two core points; first, how greater cohesion in reporting and target-setting can be achieved across the sector to raise the ambition of targets and intervention; and second to identify opportunities for institutions to disrupt and reshape professional practices to reduce emissions in these areas.

Key Policy Insights

• Reducing emissions in the higher education sector requires organizations to foster low-carbon academic practices by engaging with the systemic cultural and material conditions that support high-carbon academic practices.

• The establishment of robust targets, action plans and monitoring processes would further support sector-wide decarbonization, and require consensus across HE institutions and governing bodies.

• Sector-wide agreement on the level and pace of emissions reduction will help to accelerate ambition regarding Scope 3 emissions reduction and determining the appropriate contribution of different institutions will help identify where action is most urgently required.

• Findings suggest a need for absolute targets for emissions reduction associated with long-distance travel, and that food policies focus on achieving a volumetric reduction in the weight of meat served so that absolute levels of greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.

• Travel and food provision are complex aspects of university emissions, but a climate emergency framing requires all organizations to use their full range of influence to rapidly and substantially reduce emissions.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change mitigation
• climate change policies
• corporate social responsibility
• emissions reduction
• education sector

Acknowledgements

The paper is based on research conducted as part of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation (www.CAST.ac.uk), funded by UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council (ES/S012257/1). The authors are grateful to Emma Gardner and Helen Cutts at the University of Manchester for their insight into university sustainability strategy, and Amrita Sidhu for help preparing the final manuscript as well as three anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This paper distinguishes short- and long-distance business travel, the latter referring to travel beyond the host city.

2 The Russell Group are 24 universities often considered to be the most prestigious universities in the UK. They are typically older, research intensive institutions, receiving approximately 75% of all UK university research grants and contract income.

3 Post-1992 universities are typically former polytechnic (in England and Wales) or central (in Scotland) institutions that were given university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

4 The People and Planet League is a comprehensive list UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance compiled annually by People and Planet, a student-led campaign network. Publically available reports and information provided to agencies such as HESA are used to rank universities, awarding 1st to high achievers, followed by 2.1, 2.2, 3rd, failed in a grading system that mirrors degree classifications. Can be viewed at https://peopleandplanet.org/university-league.

5 Research funders are beginning to encourage low-carbon travel, for example, in 2020 Wellcome established grant conditions designed to minimise journeys, increase modal shift and offset unavoidable flights. Additional funding for low-carbon travel is also provided. https://wellcome.ac.uk/funding/carbon-offset-policy-travel.

6 Goldsmith’s University also receive media attention for their ban on beef, however were not found to have a publicly available food policy.

Additional information

Funding

This work was conducted as part of the ESRC funded Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) [grant number ES/S012257/1].