Carbon Management

At Coventry University we acknowledge that climate change is a long-term threat to society globally recognising that we have a clear obligation to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases, of which carbon dioxide is the largest contributor.

We’ve been actively managing carbon emissions since 2010 when we agreed our first Carbon Management Plan establishing a 2005/06 baseline against which future carbon reduction measures would be assessed.  Our 2030 Group Strategy identified physical infrastructure as a strategy enabler - confirming that we will invest in appropriate facilities and technologies to minimise energy consumption and reduce our carbon footprint, aiming to be net carbon neutral. 

We’re working closely with colleagues across the Group along with consultants to understand our scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions in depth to make sure we can accurately measure, report and manage them.  This will inform our net zero carbon planning out to academic year 2030.  While this detailed work is ongoing, we have produced an interim Carbon Management Plan outlining how we plan to work to reduce emissions to achieve net zero carbon.

In addressing this global issue we recognise significant changes are needed, and we will continue to evolve our approach as we find new and better ways to operate, working with others locally and globally to ensure we are progressive and innovative in transitioning to a cleaner, greener future.

How it's measured

To assess the carbon emissions of the University we need to look at where they originate, whether it’s directly from the burning of fuels such as gas and petrol/diesel, from the use of electricity, or from indirect sources such as emissions resulting from travel, use of water and disposal of waste.  These various emissions are classed as either scope 1, 2, or 3 - the information below outlines which activities contribute to each scope of emissions and how these come together to form the overall carbon footprint of the University.

While scope 1 and 2 emissions mainly arise at the time of use, scope 3 emissions include carbon generated from upstream activities such as student and staff commuting, business travel, and purchased goods and services - as well as downstream activities such as the disposal of waste and treatment of wastewater.

We measure and report on scopes 1 and 2 plus scope 3 emissions arising from business travel, commuting, waste, water use & disposal, leased building/accommodation providers, and our procurement of goods and services. We’re working closely with our colleagues in procurement to improve the accuracy of our reporting of carbon emissions arising from the purchase of goods and services which constitute the bulk of the university’s overall carbon footprint. Guidance on emissions reporting is provided by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the EAUC Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework, both of which we are using to improve our reporting processes.

Our emissions

Our ongoing challenge is to continue to manage carbon emissions at the same time as both the size of the campus and student numbers grow. The chart below shows our scope 1 and 2 emissions from the baseline year of 2005/06 to 2021/22.  Despite the size of the campus growing by nearly 70% (orange line) and staff and student numbers rising by almost 130% (green line) – our carbon footprint over this period has reduced by around 12% and currently stands at just over 11,350 tonnes.

How we’re reducing our carbon emissions

We regularly review the actions and improvements we can take to reduce energy use, carbon emissions and generate more renewable energy, examples of how we’re doing this include:

• Solar photovoltaic panels on five major buildings generating zero carbon electricity
• Combined Heat and Power units at eight locations efficiently producing heat and electricity
• Ground source cooling at the Hub avoiding the use of air conditioning
• Biomass boilers at two of our campus locations burning wood pellets
• Regular student and staff energy efficiency campaigns
• Requiring new build premises to achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard such as the Alison Gingell, Engineering and Computing, and The Hub buildings
• Increasing the number of electric vehicles on our fleet reducing fossil fuel use
• Using a “soft landings” approach for new buildings to help ensure real world energy use and carbon emissions are as close as possible to what was designed
• A new Green Lab Group set up by students and staff to improve the sustainability of our laboratories
• Delivering Carbon Literacy training to students and staff to equip them to help cut carbon where they work and study - as well as at home
• We have dedicated courses on energy management and students use our campus as a ‘living lab’ conducting real life projects on energy and carbon management
• Working with students and staff to monitor and develop the actions in our carbon management plan, for example around reducing energy use in student accommodation and scope 3 emissions from travel.
• Developing design guides for new builds and building refurbishments to ensure carbon emissions are minimised.

In addition, our research institutes are strongly aligned to tackling the most significant global challenges we currently face. The Research Institute for Clean Growth & Future Mobility considers innovation and technological change to support low carbon transformation with a focus on transitioning cities to a clean, low carbon future. Climate change and resilience forms the basis of much of the research carried out by the Research Institute for Sustainability, Equity & Resilience.

The institute has a focus on sustainable communities, equity and agroecology – supporting sustainable food production in a local and global context.

To find out more about renewable energy and sustainability features please view our google map

Key documents

• Interim Carbon Management Plan 2022-2030
• Sustainable Development Report 2021-22