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Climate Emergency Framework

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The EAUC are leading the sector in developing a response to the Climate Crisis.

Below are areas that institutions need to develop their own response to, along with resources to help and guide.

This is being continually developed through engagement with institutions and sector agencies.

The UK government has legislated to achieve net zero emissions on all Green House Gas emissions by 2050 under the 2008 Climate Change Act.

The core areas are the same as the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard.

Leadership and Governance

This includes Staff Engagement and Human Resources, Leadership, Health and Wellbeing and Risk

Action Response / Guide
Commit institutionally to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest Sign the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges
Use the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard to measure, report and improve your progress on a whole institution approach Use the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard
Create a cross departmental steering group within your institution to engage staff, academics and students to form real actions and change Watch our webinar to share practice
Commit to reporting on the SDGs and provide a common framework of understanding Sign the SDG Accord
Undertake a climate change risk analysis for your institution and work out your action plan Read the EAUC Adaptation Guide
Governors to get engaged Read the EAUC Guide for Governors
Present the business case for sustainability Read the EAUC Guide on Making the Business Case
Ensure senior management have the leadership skills required EAUC Leadership Academy can provide training for SMT
Responding to the Climate Emergency - a guide from Bristol Green Capital Partnership Read this guide

Student Outcomes: Teaching, Learning and Research

This includes Research, Learning and Teaching and Student Engagement

Action Response / Guide
All staff and students to undertake Carbon Literacy training EAUC are partnering with Carbon Literacy Project on developing this for the sector. Information available on the Training Days is available here.
Offer Carbon Literacy Training for Business Schools in your business school

Contact PRME to get guidance
Design carbon literacy training for other disciplines

Contact Petra at NTU 

EAUC are working with PRME to hold regional training sessions
Ensure climate change mitigation is on all curricula Engage with Responsible Futures
Reduce/minimise academic and staff overseas travel

EAUC are partnering with HEPA to develop further guidance. Contact us to get involved. See our Scope 3 Working Group updates.

Use the Travel Better Package. These resources support a reduction in air travel amongst FHE academics and staff. 
Create Citizens Assembly with students  
Engage with other academics and researchers Contact Transition Lab
Sulitest is a global platform to raise and map awareness of sustainable development. There are UK specific questions included  Sulitest
Engage students in research with Meliora - a student run journal for student research Meliora
Engage students in inductions University of Manchester 
Project Drawdown – The world’s leading resource for climate solutions  Project Drawdown
Embed SDGs within curriculum Resources here and here
University of Warwick -  BA degree call Global Sustainable Degree with a Masters coming soon More details

Peter Harper Article - Universities must embrace technological solutions climate change

THE login required

Article here

Kale Yeah! - a sustainability scheme that encourages and promotes a more plant-based diet.  Boost menus with appealing plant-based options, while reducing the amount of meat, fish and dairy on offer.

 Kale Yeah!
Inclusive Curriculum Health Check UCL Health Check List

Estates and Operations

This includes Resource Efficiency & Waste, Biodiversity, Construction & Renovation, Water, Travel & Transport, Climate Change Adaptation and Energy.  

Action Response / Guide
Clear metrics and transparent, accurate information around emissions, scope 1, 2, 3 Read the EAUC Scope 3 Guidance. EAUC are working with HEPA and purchasing consortiums to provide further guidance. See our Scope 3 Working Group updates.
Carbon Offsetting as a last resort

UNFCC

EAUC are exploring a sector wide offer.

Example of offsetting strategy.

SSN Presentation on offsetting

University of Edinburgh approach
Create a Carbon Budget and/or Carbon Tax to fund activities  
Assess your performance and set targets for improvement and learn from others Use the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard

Get your institution engaged with the Roundtable of Sustainable Academic Travel

 Find more information here
Engage with your Local Authority Find out if your Local Authority has declared a Climate Emergency here
The Wellbeing agenda is a powerful driver

Check to see if your institution is part of the Civic University Commission

Engage with Healthy Universities
Engage with behaviour change Jump is a useful tool for engagement
Review your catering to increase plant-based options Goldsmith's have banned beef and bottled water
Retrofit your existing estate EAUC & Salix are able to offer advice and support to public sector bodies looking to invest in energy efficiency.
Develop an Adaptation Plan Use the EAUC Adaptation Guide developed with HEBCoN and AECOM
Use the Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct Find out more here
Oxford Offsetting Principles

Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting
Access the Responsible Procurement Glossary developed by the UKUPC Responsible Procurement Network File available here.

Access tools for the Environmental and Economic Benefits of Re-use

 Access the tools here.

Partnerships and Engagement

This includes Community & Public Engagement, Business & Industry Interface, Procurement & Supplier Engagement and Food & Drink

Action Response / Guide
Engage with students and staff through Green Impact

Green Impact
Collaborate with key stakeholders in your region - especially your local authority if they have already declared a climate emergency Check your local authority status

Collaborate on a national and international level

 EAUC is leading on a Climate Crisis Commission that engages institutional leaders and sector agencies, in partnership with Universities UK, GuildHE, Association of Colleges, NUS and UKSCN.
Engage with Place Based Climate Action Networks  Resources and guidance with examples from Leeds, Belfast and Edinburgh
Engaging Environments ran from October 2017 to March 2019 and was a NERC-funded project supporting consortium and capacity building projects to build a long-term, effective and innovative public engagement community to engage the UK public with contemporary issues of environment science. Six projects were funded to equip the environmental research community to deliver effective, national-scale public engagement with contemporary issues of environmental science. Each project brought a different approach to this challenge, from training researchers to use narrative skills and creative arts to engage diverse audiences, to developing relationships with community organisations to explore what they wanted to know about environmental issues.

Learning from this programme has been used to create the Engaging Environments booklet, which you can find online here. 

It contains lessons around engaging the public with environmental science, and is aimed at both researchers and those supporting researchers to do engagement. 
Universities UK - Stepchange: mentally healthy universities Universities UK - Stepchange: mentally healthy universities

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