萌妹社区

We understand our key role in helping to address the climate emergency and also to drive forward efforts to be more sustainable across our whole organisation, as well as supporting the people and communities that we serve.

In response to this we have developed a comprehensive Environmental Sustainability Strategy of which the central aims are to:

• 鈥淏e a college at the cutting edge of environmental sustainability through its learning, teaching, partnerships and operations鈥�
• 鈥淩educe carbon emissions by 75% by 2024 and to be carbon neutral by 2030鈥�

The importance of our efforts cannot be overstated. Many college students will, in their working and personal lives, come face-to-face with the realities and challenges of climate change, which will impact every aspect of their daily lives. As an educational institution and one of Scotland鈥檚 largest colleges, we have a responsibility to ensure it is preparing students for these challenges.

Carbon Emissions 鈥� where we are now

萌妹社区鈥檚 operational carbon footprint has reduced by听57%听from our baseline of 7271 tCO₂e in 2013-14 to 3126 tCO₂e in 202021. This reduction is due to several factors including significant investment by the College in energy efficiency, energy management and behavioural changes as well as changes to the carbon intensity of the national grid.

We report annually to the Scottish Government as part of our Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reporting. Reports are available on the .

Despite the good progress to date, we still face an enormous challenge if we are to meet our interim target of 75% reduction by 2024, and to be carbon neutral by 2030. The biggest long-term challenge is how to reduce our carbon emissions from natural gas, which we use to heat our campus buildings. This challenge is recognised by the Scottish Government in its 鈥� and will require action at local and national levels. We are working with partners to innovate and address this, but there are no simple solutions.

Learning and Teaching

The College鈥檚 鈥楽ustainability in Education Group鈥� is building on previous work to further embed sustainability in the curriculum and develop new online learning and teaching resources, with the aim of ensuring that sustainability becomes a core concept in the delivery of 萌妹社区 courses. This will support our students in preparing for the requirements of a low-carbon and sustainable 21st-century workforce. This work is in line with the Skills Development Scotland Regional Skills Assessment and the , which indicates that employers are increasingly looking for awareness of good sustainability practices in their prospective employees. We aim to integrate the principles of sustainability more widely across all curriculum areas.

萌妹社区 Students Association (ECSA)

Our Students鈥� Association ECSA has been awarded funding from the Scottish Government's 听to run its project at the College. This is the second time they鈥檝e received funding 鈥� the first project ran from 2018-2020 and focused on sustainable transport. The project achieved its carbon saving targets more than twice over, and reached over 1200 students through numerous activities.

The new project will expand on this success with continued support for students to travel sustainably through cycle training, promotional campaigns, and . It will also aim to establish a community fridge on each campus to redistribute waste food from local businesses and has already set up a for students to donate and collect clothes and books. The project staff are also working with tutors and lecturers to deliver climate literacy workshops in classes to raise climate change awareness and highlight the links that sustainability has to different subject areas.

Travel

At the College we have been working to increase sustainable travel opportunities for many years. Being located in Edinburgh and Midlothian means we are very lucky to have excellent public transport services. In our 2016-17 travel survey, 62% of our students said they used pub