North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College

Green footsteps - our sustainability journey

Climate Change is recognised by our students as their biggest concern for the future. In response to this, we have responded by creating a cross-college Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan. This covers engagement, procurement, curriculum, training, carbon reporting as well as built fabric improvements. Alongside our Sustainability Policy and Action Plan, we have developed a Decarbonisation Plan which seeks to establish the requirements of each site to become ‘Carbon Neutral’.

As such, the college proposes that by 2025 we will seek to:

Consume only 75% of the electricity that we purchased from the National Grid in 2015;
Consume only 50% of the gas we consumed in 2015;
Self-generate 30% of the electricity we use;
Reduce the college carbon footprint by 60% from 2015 levels;
Ensure electricity not generated on site is procured from green sources;
Install the facilities on site to charge electric vehicles.

The college is currently implementing a multi-million-pound Decarbonisation Project at its Nuneaton Campus, taking a whole building approach to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. This includes (but is not limited to): replacement of single glazed windows, new roofs, wall cavity insulation, LED lighting throughout, the installation of solar panels across the site and an entirely new heat network operated by air source heat pumps.

Annual carbon savings achieved with the initiative:

• CO2kg savings 2022/2023:88,464kg (Actual).
• CO2t savings 2023/2024: 77 (Estimated).
• CO2t savings 2024/2025: 510 (Estimated).
• CO2t savings over the life cycle of the project: 10,759 (Estimated over 27 years).

Green footsteps - our journey map

Top 3 Learnings

1. Working together- ‘it takes a village’. Curriculum, estate, contractors, community, student involvement.
2. Whole building approach to maximising carbon savings.
3. Lead from the top, clear strategic objective set by governors.