Objective 8: Data management and reporting

In order to make informed decisions we work hard to have a robust system for data capture and reporting which we are continually improving. Our Environmental and Energy Management System (EEMS) is externally certified to ISO14001 and ISO50001.

Measuring

Energy

• Direct manual meter reads

• Automatic meter reading (half hourly data)

• Financial data (invoices).

Waste, food & procurement

• Pay-by-weight automatic monitoring

• Visual waste audits

• NetPositive Futures supplier engagement tool

• Contract meetings with suppliers

• Sales information from catering outlets.

Travel

• Annual travel survey

• Direct data on journeys made from UNIBUS contract

• Automatic business travel booking data.

Monitoring

SmartSpaces alarms

Invoice and manual data validated in Systems Link software

Weekly data review for energy by Sustainability & Energy Analyst

Monthly contract meetings

Annual reporting to Sustainability Committee

Analysis

Monthly reports produced and reported at Estates

Senior Management Team meetings

Annual ISO50001 energy review

Identification of significant energy users

Identification of opportunities for improvement

Targets and objective-setting

Energy projects and estate changes

CECAP Annual Report created

Emissions and energy usage is reported on monthly and is annually reviewed by the Sustainability Committee. The annual ISO50001 Energy Review assesses the impact of variables such as estates size or weather on our energy usage and identifies areas of Significant Energy Use at the building, user or equipment level, and Opportunities for Improvement which are used to set targets, objectives and to identify potential projects. For key areas, including waste and transport, environmental targets and monitoring are embedded into contract standards to ensure we can gather and monitor this information.

This year we have continued to make improvements to our metering which gives us our data foundation for carbon reporting. We have added 35 new meters to our system to include sub metering at Chapel Gate and as part of the Studland House office refurbishment. For Chapel Gate these meters will give us better quality data to identify and develop new energy and water projects to deliver further carbon savings.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data

To improve data management and ensure that we are reporting as many GHG sources as completely and accurately as possible, a guidance document for emissions data has been produced to move our data reporting closer to best practice.

This guidance includes:

• Definitions of the boundaries of the organisation (BU)

• Definitions of the activities included and excluded from the current GHG footprint calculation, by scope.

• Definition of the reporting and base year

• A list of information to be included in the annual CECAP report

• A statement of the activities included within each scope for the current and baseline years.

• A statement of the activities that are not included within each scope for the current and baseline years, with the reasons for exclusion if necessary.

• The total gross GHG emissions for scopes 1, 2 and 3 in tCO2e, for the latest year and compared to the baseline year and the SBT targets for the latest year.

• Any offsets purchased if relevant (and the net emissions).

• Relevant normalised data (e.g. GHG emissions for the current and baseline year in tCO2e corrected for estate gross internal area for the year).

• Emissions avoided through projects (e.g. onsite renewable electricity generation from Photovoltaics)

• A policy for addition/ recalculation of the base year or previous years triggered by a threshold amount (1% of the original base year), in line with the GHG Protocol to account for the below changes and allow for accurate tracking of emissions over time:

• Structural changes to the organisation (mergers/ acquisitions/ outsourcing) that impact activities responsible for GHG emissions

• Changes to methodology:

◘ Improvements to carbon factors or activity data collection or calculation methods

◘ Improvements to the footprint by addition of activities not currently reported on

• Correction of significant errors (above the threshold amount)

• A log of changes caused by the above recalculation policy

• Recommendations for data verification

• Data sources, responsibility and calculation method for each data source.

• Recommendations possible by including more sources of emissions (for example, this year we are including the emissions from travel to open days) and ensuring that data is of good quality and methods of calculation are the same for each reporting year. This allows for the tracking of emissions across reporting years to aid decision making on projects for reducing emissions.

We aim to continually improve our reporting, particularly around key emissions areas. For example, in recognition of the large environmental impact from procurement, over summer 2022 we have started work with an external consultant, to estimate the emissions of our purchases more accurately. We aim for this work to be completed next year and help guide our emissions reduction trajectory for this area. We have also conducted new analyses including into our digital footprint for example, exploring emissions from our website. This year we have added emissions from travel for Open Days into our scope. This data will help us set a target for reduction through incentivising sustainable travel options. The inventory of scope 3 data that is reported is also to be expanded, following advice from the new standards being produced by the EAUC (The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education) and aligning with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard.

For Future

improvements

to the GHG footprint

The aim of these changes is to ensure that BU is reporting our GHG emissions as completely and as accurately as

The impact on the baseline from the additions of activities and improvements in data quality are shown in the below chart and table.

Liquid Petroleum Gas

Biomass (Non-CO )

Fleet vehicles

Fugitive emissions

Grid Electricity

Electricity T and D

Flights

Bus Fleet Water

Rail

Waste water

Grey Fleet Operational waste

Construction waste

Open Day travel

Changes made to reporting methods in 2021/22 with reasons and impact and distribution emissions to scope 3, in line with GHG protocol. Net change to footprint is zero, but 226.9, 179.73 and 175.9 tCO2e were moved from scope 2 to scope 3 in

External reporting

Estates Management Return (EMR)

HESA, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, collate and publish environmental information from the Estates management record data returned by universities across the UK. We submit annually to the EMR data across categories including buildings and space, energy, emissions and waste, and transport. You can see all the published information on the HESA website.

THE Impact Rankings (SDG Report)

The THE Impact Rankings assess universities contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and forms a global benchmark. BU has submitted data to the Ranking since its launch in 2019 and for the past three iterations have done so for all 17 SDGs. The Ranking asks for data across our operational practice, education and research impact. It covers areas such as governance, environmental management, student support, equality and access activity and collaborative, impactful research. You can read the 2022 methodology here

People and Planet

People & Planet’s University League is the only comprehensive and independent league table of UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance. It is compiled annually by the UK’s largest student campaigning network, People & Planet. The League table uses information on our website to address its criteria, so we do not formally need to report to it. Nonetheless, we annually take stock of its reporting and review it at the Sustainability Committee to address areas it highlights for improvement. You can find the latest League table here

SDG Accord

We have signed up to the SDG Accord: a sector-wide commitment to supporting the SDGs within our institutions. We contribute annually to the SDG Accord reporting which asks us to reflect on the SDGs we have been, and plan to be, taking the most action on and to share areas of best practise to support other institutions to further their own action. Collaboration is a key part of achieving and support these global goals effectively.

Race to Zero

Powered by the UN Environment Programme, EAUC & Second Nature - Race to Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and action in the education sector. Since we’ve pledged as part of this scheme to reach net zero emissions as soon as possible, this report also represents our annual update on the actions we are taking towards this target.