The target of our Climate and Ecological Crisis Action Plan (CECAP) is to achieve net zero emissions across all activities, known as scopes 1, 2 and 3, by 2030/31.

We will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible, with particular focus on energy consumption, transport and capital development, and invest in high-quality carbon offsets, where necessary, to achieve the science-based net zero target.听

Reducing BU鈥檚 emissions from energy and water is a key part of meeting our net zero target.听BU听has been focused on听continuously improving our energy and water management听on campus听and reducing our听emissions听since our first听Carbon听Management听Plan听in 2010. We have made great strides in this, reducing our听GHG听emissions by 45% in 2018/19听compared to the 2005/06 baseline, two years earlier than our target, and now raising our ambition further within the CECAP. You can read about our progress since 2018 in our latest CECAP Annual Report听on the side of this page.听

Our integrated Environmental and Energy Management system is certified to ISO50001:2018听and we are ranked 6th听in the country for our contribution to SDG13: Climate Action according to the THE Impact Rankings 2023.听

2000+
solar panels across our BU campuses
33%
reduction in carbon emissions since 2018/19 to 4,335t carbon equivalent

Sustainable IT

BU take a sustainable approach to managing our IT services. This relates to both equipment used by our students and staff听on campus and equipment used听behind the scenes in data centres and comms rooms to enable the systems we rely on to work. Our sustainability considerations cover the decisions made at point of purchase听to how听we use the equipment and how we dispose of it.听Everyone at BU has a responsibility to follow our Sustainable IT Policy.

For end users, the key actions to remember are:

  1. Turn off听peripheral equipment听such as monitors and听scanners when not in use (all BU equipment including desktop PCs automatically听enters power saving mode to reduce energy consumption听when not in use),
  2. Minimise the amount of printing you carry out听and use our听default printing standards to save paper and energy (double-sided printing, black and white),听
  3. Use video conferencing and other BU-provided collaboration technology to reduce the amount of business travel where appropriate and achievable,
  4. Use the BU softphone on your BU mobile device over a physical IP Phone, where possible.

We have a Sustainable IT Group who meet bi-monthly to oversee our sustainable approach to IT, which is based on the . Within this, we focus on three areas, detailed below.

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