Climate Emergency Declaration

At Bath Spa University we are very aware of our responsibility for protecting our environment and over the last 10 years have worked hard to address the climate impacts of our university. To date, we have reduced our carbon emissions by over 50% per m2, increased recycling rates to 80% of all University waste and improved the biodiversity on our sites through our biodiversity and habitat management plan. But, we want to do more, so we’ve set out a pathway to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 in our new Carbon Reduction Plan.

We will achieve this by:

• Making carbon reduction targets a strategic priority to be reported on annually
• Continuing to improve the energy efficiency of our operations
• Buying our electricity from 100% renewable suppliers
• Maximising our use of renewable heat sources
• Minimising our use of resources and our production of waste
• Continuing to improve our recycling rates
• Developing a socially and environmentally-positive offsetting scheme
• Making sure that all our students are sustainability-literate and able to make informed decisions throughout their lives and able to influence others to do likewise.

Our focus so far has been on our environmental impacts from gas, electricity and vehicle emissions. Going forward, we will be focussing much more widely and will use the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals as our framework to measure our progress. Beyond 2030 we aim to become carbon net-positive to help make the world sustainable in the long-term. This will be a whole-institution approach, through our procurement and investment, our curriculum and research, our business operations and our campus development decisions.

At the Students’ Union, we feel passionate about all aspects of sustainability, particularly the environment, and take responsibility for the climate issues caused heavily by the UK. We have a long way to go to become more sustainable, however, we know this is an emergency and we need to come together to do the best we can. This is our future and we need to act now.

At the Students’ Union, we pledge to address the climate emergency with the following actions:

• A sustainability focus in our new 2024 strategy
  
• We’ve introduced a new Sustainability Rep role
  
• We’ve recently introduced a Sustainability action group with students, Bath Spa University staff and Students’ Union sabbatical officers, to share best practice and make actions to ensure the Students’ Union are creating positive change
  
• To reduce our carbon footprint by taking tangible steps such as phasing out single-use plastics and committing to sustainable transport
  
• Offering more education and opportunities for students around sustainability such as workshops.