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Objective 1: Demonstrating sustainable leadership
We aim to demonstrate sustainable leadership both internally and within the local community. This means embedding the responsibility for climate action within all relevant policies and committees and ensuring that our procedures and rewards processes recognise this priority. We also hope to be a regional leader, supporting the local community and sector to act collaboratively, innovatively and effectively to address the climate and ecological crisis. It is our objective that staff across the business will align our governance structures with addressing the crisis and then commit to their implementation, even when facing challenges.
Working together
This year our new Sustainability Manager, Lois Betts, has taken a position on the University Hospitals Dorset Sustainability Committee to share best practice and help students, particularly in our Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, to see the connections between the CECAP and the NHS Green Plan. We worked closely with BCP Council on their travel strategies and are members of the new Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) programme working group for local active travel works and also collaborate with other universities through the EAUC.
Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Awards
The annual Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Awards provide an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements and outstanding work of our staff. There are nine award categories and from this year five of them, the Awards for Responsibility; Creativity; Excellence; Inspiring Learning; and Enriching Society, now highlight environmental sustainability as a key criterion for eligibility, to ensure that staff across BU can be recognised and rewarded for contributing to our CECAP action.
Creating a Climate Assembly
The bi-annual Climate Assembly aims to ensure that student and staff feedback is embedded in our net-zero approach and to hold us to account. In March 2020, we held our first CECAP Climate Assembly, covering three topics: non-air travel, student opportunities and offsetting. The ideas generated included providing carbon footprint information for courses and bus travel, creating more climate education opportunities and choosing local offsetting options. Ideas were then presented to the Sustainability Committee who are using these to shape our net-zero approach.
Diversifying the environmental sector
Careers in Sustainability Insight Day
To support young people from all backgrounds to enter the environmental sector, we hosted a virtual Sustainability Careers Insight Day with Speakers 4 Schools and the Dorset LEP. Over 40 students from local schools gained insight into ‘green’ jobs and the skills needed for a career in sustainability. Student then developed and presented action plans to make their own school more environmentally sustainable with ideas including making recycling fun by adding basketball hoops above bins as well as reverse vending machine.
“Young people have missed out on work experience this year due to the pandemic, so we were pleased to be able to give them an insight into careers in sustainability. The students really impressed us with their ideas!” Lois Betts, Sustainability Manager
Sustainability Challenge: Designs For Your Future
In 2021, we launched our first Sustainability Challenge for schools where students in years 7-9 could design a product to solve an environmental issue. The winning idea came from a student at Avonbourne Academy who designed an innovative process to recycle plastic waste.
“The design demonstrated a clear understanding of sustainability goals and we really look forward to seeing what other exciting ideas young people in the local area have in future years.” Beth Matthews, Schools Liaison Manager You and CO²
“You and CO²” was publicly launched in 2021 as an innovative, interdisciplinary project to encourage young people to engage with climate change and to act. Through three workshops, students learn about the role of carbon dioxide in climate change and the carbon dioxide emissions associated with everyday activities. They then, through discussing and creating their own works of fiction, explore their ideas about climate change and the role individual citizens play in shaping the world’s climate. Find out more about the project at https://youandco2.org.
