Green Gown Awards 2016 – Carbon Reduction – University of Oxford – Winner

The University of Oxford Carbon Reduction Programme

The University set an ambitious target (considering its estates!) to reduce scope one and two carbon emissions by 33% by the end of 2020/21 against a 2005/06 baseline.

A generous budget of £14.6m was awarded in 2011 to aid achieving the target of 21,773 tonnes of carbon savings. 4,767 tonnes of carbon and £1.1m of annual energy costs have been saved at the University of Oxford since 2011. Over 180 projects have been completed ranging from Solar PV to lighting upgrades and roof insulation.

A number of projects are currently in the pipeline and will achieve 41% of the target by the end of 2017. The journey has inspired a number of new initiatives such as the Low Carbon Oxford Week Treasure Hunt, the ISCN (International Sustainable Campus Network) award winning Carbon Innovation Programme and a range of training courses for staff and students.

Top 3 learnings

1 Collaboration with academic departments and estates services increases the knowledge base for carbon reduction projects and increases their value and success

2 There is scope for new research roles within the carbon reduction space taking advantage of the living laboratory approach within the estate

3 Considerable financial and people resource is required to run a programme like this but it would fail without the buy in of the building users and so it is important to focus on innovative engagement and attractive communications.

CO2t Savings: 21,773 
Actual/Estimated: Estimated
No. of yrs: 2011 - 2021

Videos

• The University of Oxford Carbon Reduction Programme (click to hide)