Environmental Sustainability
Annual Report 2023
Foreword
Academic year 2022-23 saw a significant step forward in our work on environmental sustainability. One of the highlights was the launch of the sector’s first Low Carbon Technology Labs in our Hackney and Rainham campuses, delivering much needed qualifications in retrofit and low carbon technologies.
This report celebrates the positive changes we have made and the impact they have had. There is much to be proud of. Yet we are still in the early stages of this journey that keeps getting more challenging as we push ourselves to think what sustainable actions truly require of us as individuals and as a College.
This is the second year we are publishing an annual report in this format, providing a narrative that goes beyond the strict requirements of carbon emission reporting. The continued objective is that others can keep us to account for the actions we are taking in becoming a greener college.
McDonald
Group Principal and CEO December 2023
Introduction
New City College (NCC) launched its Green Strategy in January 2021. The purpose of this Strategy is to create a greener NCC. It is aligned with the Climate Action Roadmap for FE Colleges and covers actions related to Leadership and Governance; Teaching and Learning; Estates and Operations; and Partnerships and Engagement. The Strategy is being delivered in phases with Phase 1 taking NCC from an emerging to an established college on environmental sustainability over the calendar year 2021. Phase 2 is under delivery and will take NCC from established to a leading college by December 2024.
This is the second annual report on NCC’s environmental sustainability work. It presents NCC’s carbon emissions and how those have evolved over time. It provides an overview of actions and activities undertaken as part of the Green Strategy during the academic year 2022-23. It concludes by outlining the focus areas for work in 2023/24.
Purpose of carbon reporting
The purpose of carbon reporting is to track the greenhouse gases emitted by organisations with a view to demonstrating how organisations are meeting the Government’s and international net zero targets. The scientific consensus is that the rise in average global temperatures should be limited to below 2°C from pre-industrial levels, targeting a maximum rise of 1.5°C.
In order to achieve this, Governments have set net zero targets i.e. targets for completely negating the greenhouse gases produced by human activity. This can be achieved in two ways: by reducing emissions and by absorbing existing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Organisations report on greenhouse gases by converting all emissions into carbon dioxide equivalencies (CO2e). Reporting is done on three Scopes.
Scope 1
Emissions that are directly under our control e.g. emissions arising from gas boilers and owned vehicles.
Scope 2
Emissions that are indirectly under our control, primarily from purchased electricity.
Scope 3
Emissions associated with our organisation that we are indirectly responsible for e.g. waste, water, travel, purchases etc.
Organisations usually report on emissions by referring to tonnes of CO2e emitted. One tonne equates to driving an average petrol/diesel fuelled car for 2,500 miles.
Achieving net zero means reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions to 0 or as close to it as possible. For Scope 3, the focus is on reducing emissions as much as possible and offsetting what cannot be reduced by contributing to initiatives that absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
1. www.eauc.org.uk/fe_roadmap
NCC’s carbon emissions
NCC reports on its carbon emissions using the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) process as recommended by the UK Government. The full 2022/23 report is included in Appendix A.
In 2022/23 NCC produced 16,538 tonnes of CO2e emissions.
This is the first year that NCC has been able to report on nearly the full scale of its Scope 3 emissions, including those arising from its supply chain. As expected, Scope 3 emissions form the great majority (79%) of emissions from NCC and as such the reported carbon footprint is significantly higher than in previous years when this information was not available. Further detail on Scope 3 emissions is provided later on.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions demonstrate a significant reduction in emissions that are in control of NCC:
The reported reduction in emissions is not entirely accurate for Scope 1 as full gas consumption data could not be acquired from Epping Forest campus. As a result, data for 2021/22 is used for Epping Forest. On this basis, the reduction in Scope 1 emissions amounts to 8% compared to 2019/20. The reported reduction in Scope 2 emissions is accurate and amounts to 20% compared to 2019/20
The primary driver in reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions has been reduced consumption as outlined on the next page.
A year-on-year comparison between campuses shows that there has been a major reduction in gas consumption per square metre in Arbour Square, Poplar and Redbridge campuses.
In Redbridge, the primary driver for the reduced consumption has been a faulty boiler. In Arbour Square and Poplar, the introduction of a temperature protocol at NCC, standardising the approach to heating and cooling of buildings, has helped to bring the approach to heating in line with other campuses. A further reduction in gas consumption is expected at Arbour Square in 2023/24 as a result of the improved insulation following a window repair project undertaken in spring and summer 2023. Note: the Epping Forest data should be ignored in this table as noted above.
Consumption has only increased in Westbourne, NCC’s language school in Bournemouth, and Rainham campus. Rainham has seen the highest increase in consumption and is the only campus where consumption per square metre is above the benchmarks set by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineering (CIBSE). This is likely to be due to the very poor insulation of the Rainham old building, combined with a colder winter compared to the previous year.
2021 CIBSE benchmark for FE and HE
Typical Practice: 120 kWh/m2
Good Practice: 100 kWh/m2
Gas consumption compared to CIBSE benchmark 21/22 22/23
The changes in electricity consumption demonstrate a reduction in all campuses.
This has been driven by a number of factors, including the forced shut down of PCs every evening. The reduction in consumption of electricity does not alone explain the significant reduction in Scope 2 emissions. A major factor reducing the emissions from electricity includes the increased use of renewable energy sources in the national electricity grid, which is reducing the overall emissions arising from the use of electricity.
Ardleigh Green and Rainham continue to be to only sites where consumption is above the CIBSE benchmarks. In Ardleigh Green this is due to some of the blocks being heated purely with electric heaters. In Rainham, the Construction and Engineering curriculum use of specialist equipment explains the high electricity consumption.
Detailed decarbonisation plans were sourced for every NCC campus during 2022/23 with funding from Salix’s Low Carbon Skills Fund.
The only exception is Poplar campus for which there have been major redevelopment plans in the pipeline. The advice and guidance from these decarbonisation plans is directing work on estate decarbonisation during 2023/24, with ‘quick win’ actions being prioritised.
The major change from last year’s annual report is that NCC is now able to report on nearly all of its Scope 3 emissions. The missing data includes student and staff travel to and from college and some waste date. It is anticipated that both datasets can be added to the 2023/24 SECR report.
NCC has used a Scope 3 tool to calculate these emissions, a typical way for calculating Scope 3 emissions 2 .
The calculations are based on money spent on non-payroll items by NCC. The tool calculates the carbon emissions associated with different cost items by using agreed conversion factors. These conversion factors were last updated in 2021. Whilst this tool is helpful in understanding the scale of emissions associated with different business areas, the figures are not fully accurate as they do not reflect the specific contracts that NCC holds. As the alternative would be to review every purchase item and contract separately, the tool is used as an efficient option to begin to understand Scope 3 emissions.
As a result of the increased Scope 3 data collection, NCC’s total carbon emissions rose by 72 tonnes of CO2e from 2019/20 to 2021/22. The overall emissions are likely to continue to grow over the next few years as Scope 3 data tracking improves. Some estimates suggest that Scope 3 emissions account for 90% of an organisation’s emissions, depending on the range of data points that are tracked and reported on. NCC will continue to report transparently on its emissions as data tracking improves.
The great majority of Scope 3 emissions at NCC arise from business services (72%).
This includes everything from marketing, staff recruitment and conferences to banking, insurance and auditing. The second biggest contributor to Scope 3 emissions is construction (12%), which includes all capital works on NCC sites from estates management to major projects. The third major contributor is information and communication (9%) incorporating all IT hardware and software licences. Together, these three areas create 93% of NCC’s Scope 3 emissions.
2022/23 will now be the baseline year for NCC’s Scope 3 emissions, with changes in emissions reported year-on-year. Whilst NCC is not in a position to report on Scope 3 emission reductions at this point, there is evidence of Scope 3 emission savings achieved in 2022/23.
The biggest impact was achieved by the decision to stop selling beef in college catering outlets (excluding the curriculum training restaurants where beef cooking is part of the qualification requirements).
As a result of this decision, NCC saved over 3,000 tonnes of CO2e from being emitted –a broadly similar amount that was created by Scope 1 and 2 emissions in total.
Other actions that saved emissions from being created include:
• 90 tonnes of CO2e saved by choosing to use a laminated timber frame instead of a steel frame in the construction of the new Epping Wellness Centre (opening in autumn 2023),
• Nearly 70 tonnes of CO2e saved by using 100% recycled paper in all NCC printers instead of virgin paper,
• Over 217,000 fewer plastic bottles sold as a result of selling drinks only in cans and cardboard containers,
• 693 kg of CO2e saved by partnering with Too Good To Go to minimise food waste.
