Climate Change and Schools
What was the problem?
In 2007, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) recognised the need for an all encompassing policy on climate change and carbon emissions for the entire schools estate.
It was to be the first document of its kind, establishing clear targets for reducing carbon emissions and offering detailed practical recommendations to schools, local authorities and government on how to achieve them. With a timeframe of three years, this was an extremely challenging and high-profile project with significant consequences for future environmental policy nationwide.
What did we do?
With no existing documentation on carbon in schools, our first task was to draw together and analyse all the existing data covering everything from energy use in schools, to pupil and staff transport, to the procurement of goods and services and the construction of school facilities. Working with the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, we oversaw the development of a detailed modelling tool to turn this data into a predictive carbon footprint for the schools estate over the coming decades.
The next phase of the project was to investigate all possible routes to carbon reduction, looking at the roles that schools, local authorities, government, industry and the charities sector could play in meeting future targets. Having begun with a completely blank canvas, our next task was to engage with this incredibly diverse group of stakeholders, through online surveys and stakeholder events, in order to filter these ideas and come up with a range of workable recommendations.
From this, we produced the formal consultation paper Towards a Carbon Management Strategy for Schools, published by the DCSF in June 2009. We then analysed the enormous volume of responses to produce a summary report that accurately represented all of the views expressed. Recommendations drawn from this report then formed the basis for the official carbon management strategy document.
Returning to the Stockholm Environment Institute, we were able to use the carbon footprint modelling tool to show the effects of these recommendations and set challenging but achievable targets for government, local authorities and schools to meet.
What difference did we make?
Climate Change and Schools: A Carbon Management Strategy for the Schools Sector was published in 2010. Over a three-year period, SE2’s dedication and hard work were crucial to the successful completion of this project.
Crucially, in the course of producing this landmark study, SE2 brought together a truly diverse group of stakeholders to talk about how they could work together to reshape the relationship between schools and the environment. A key finding was that the majority felt that the schools sector should not just be meeting targets but should lead from the front by striving for further reduction in carbon emissions.
Our technical knowledge and attention to detail ensured that the document was rigorously supported by hard fact. Our communications skills and understanding of all the stakeholders involved were vital to producing a set of positive, workable recommendations for future carbon reduction.
- Since then, we have written a further series of reports for the DCSF, investigating how schools can to adapt to the effects of climate change. We have also produced the first guidance for schools on solar power.
- From 2011, we have been working with the Carbon Trust on two projects that are putting the recommendations of the strategy for schools into action: SCORE (Schools Collaboration on Resource Efficiency) in the East Midlands and CLCSS (Collaborative Low Carbon Schools Service) across England as a whole.