Annual Environmental Report 2013/2014
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Annual Environmental Report 2013/2014 Board for Energy & Environment November 2014 Contents STATEMENT....................................................................................................................3 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS................................................................................3 ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................4 QUALITY ASSURANCE ...................................................................................................5 GOVERNANCE.................................................................................................................5 SCOPE OF REPORTING.....................................................................................................5 ISO 14001 ....................................................................................................................6 OTHER REPORTING..........................................................................................................6 BASE YEAR RECALCULATION POLICY...................................................................................6 CARBON AND ENERGY .................................................................................................7 WATER, EMISSIONS AND DISCHARGES.......................................................................8 WASTE AND RECYCLING...............................................................................................9 TRAVEL .........................................................................................................................10 FAIRTRADE AND SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT ......................................................11 BIODIVERSITY...............................................................................................................12 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT .......................................................................................13 SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE ..................................................14 NOTES:........................................................................................................................15 KEY CONTACTS: ...........................................................................................................16 Page 2 of 16 Statement Professor William Stephens Chair of Board for Energy & Environment As an exclusively postgraduate university Cranfield prides itself on being a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management. A core part of this mission and our Corporate Plan is the development of a sustainable estate to ensure the University practices what we teach. Cranfield University has achieved a number of its environmental targets in the past 12 months and made good progress against others as outlined in this 2013/14 annual report. Our Key Performance Indicators are summarised below with detailed explanations of progress for individual targets outlined on the following pages. A key achievement of which the University is extremely proud is being awarded, once again, a Highly Commended Green Gown Award, this year in the Continuous Improvement: Institutional Change category. This was in recognition of the last 5 years of progress Cranfield has made to reduce its environmental impacts. A special thank you must be mentioned to our staff and students who have been instrumental in supporting and contributing to the on-going improvements we have made in 2013/14. We are also grateful to the on-going support and guidance from contractors, partners and others who have helped us to meet our continual improvement aims. Key performance indicators Issue Description Progress Target By when Carbon Scope 1&2 emissions1 20% 50% reduction 2020 Waste Total weight produced 0% 10% reduction 2020 Recycling Segregated on-site 42% 75% of total waste 2020 Travel Single occupancy car use 3% 10% reduction 2017 Water Consumption volume 27% 10% reduction 2015 Community ‘Green’ Volunteers 5% 10% of staff & students 2015 Discharges Effluent permit levels 55% 50% below permit levels 2020 1 Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources relating to energy and fuel use. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. Page 3 of 16 Environmental Objectives Issue Objectives Why Supports ‘5’ of Plan 415i - Carbon & Reduce absolute Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions by 30% in reduces operating costs & 2015/16 and 50% in 2020/21 from a 2005 baseline Energy meet HEFCE sector target Reduce absolute total waste by 5% in 2017/18 and 10% in Supports ‘5’ and ‘i’ of Plan Waste & 2020/21 against a 2010 baseline 415i - reduces operating Recycling Increase segregated waste reused or recycled to 50% of costs & demonstrates best waste produced in 2015/16 and 75% in 2020/21 practice to staff & students Supports ‘i’ of Plan 415i - Achieve certification for all Schools and Services on the ISO 14001 demonstrates best Cranfield Campus in 2013 – awarded in October 2013 practice to staff & students Reduce staff commuting in a single occupancy car by 10% in Supports ’10’ of Plan 415i - Travel 2017/18 from a 2012 baseline reduces road congestion Reduce Cranfield Campus water consumption by 10% in Water, 2015/16 from a 2009 baseline Supports ‘5’ of Plan 415i - reduces operating costs & Emissions & To reduce pollutant load exiting our sewage works by 30% in demonstrates best Discharges 2017 and 50% in 2020/21 below permissible discharge practice to staff & students consent levels In line with the HEFCE Sustainable Development Strategy Supports ‘10’ and ‘i'’ of Fairtrade & achieve level two, or above, across all five themes of the Plan 415i - reduces Sustainable Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan in 2015/16 operating costs & Procurement Achieve Fairtrade University status in 2014 – certificate demonstrates best awarded in September 2013 practice to staff & students Supports ‘10’ and ‘i'’ of Sustainable Plan 415i - reduces Achieve BREEAM Excellent for new buildings and all major Buildings & operating costs & refurbishments from 2012/13 Infrastructure demonstrates best practice to staff & students Produce a Biodiversity Action Plan for the Cranfield Campus in 2014 Supports ’10’ and ‘5’ of Plan 415i - reduces Increase farmland bird species on University grounds by 10% Biodiversity operating costs & by end of 2015/16 academic year from 2013 baseline improves wellbeing of staff Increase area set aside on University grounds for conservation & students by 50% by 2015/16 academic year from 2013 baseline. To ensure environmental awareness training is delivered to all staff and students from 2013 Supports ’10’ of Plan 415i – encourages collaborative Community To encourage environmental volunteering with 10% of staff working and ensures base and students participating in 2015/16 Involvement level of knowledge To develop a plan to strengthen links with the local community amongst staff & students on environmental issues Page 4 of 16 Quality Assurance Governance The Board for Energy & Environment (BEE) was established in 2011 to report to the Cranfield Executive and Council on energy and environmental issues. The priority aim of the Board is to ensure Cranfield University demonstrates a leading capability in environmental performance by providing oversight and direction. The Board consists of senior managers from across the University and is chaired by a member of the Executive. The Board has established a number of working groups, whose members are drawn from operational and academic staff and students, to progress key environmental targets. A dedicated Energy & Environment Team facilitates the delivery of the energy and environment objectives and reports progress to the Board on a regular basis. The Board also has the ambition of ensuring a close relationship between BEE’s environmental activities across the University and the teaching, learning and research taking place within the Schools on environmental best practise. During 2013/14 Cranfield University has been moving across to a new Governance structure as outlined below: (Contact details for key environmental representatives are provided on page 16.) Scope of Reporting The environmental objectives on page 4 encompass activities taking place on the Cranfield Campus including subsidiary companies and tenants based on site (see Note 1 on page 15). The University’s operation at COTEC is included and also historically Silsoe Campus. Unfortunately reporting for Shrivenham Campus, where we are a tenant, is not included at this stage as no data is available (See Note 1, page 15 for further details). Page 5 of 16 ISO 14001 Cranfield has established an Environmental Management System that provides a framework for managing and reducing Cranfield’s environmental impacts, establishes programmes to help achieve our environmental objectives and tracks the reporting of environmental incidents as part of our continual improvement process. Cranfield was proud to achieve campus-wide certification of this management system to ISO14001:2004 in October 2013 when the School of Engineering (now the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing), Cranfield Airport and Cranfield Press were bought in scope with the previously certified Schools and Service Departments. Thirty environmental incidents were reported in 2013/14; these included: Two incidents related to inappropriate waste storage or disposal, Six small scale spills/leaks, mainly due to laboratory or workshop equipment failure