Celebrating the Gold Green Apple Award achieved by EAUC-Scotland!

16th November 2021

We are extremely proud to announce that the EAUC-Scotland team have been awarded the Gold Scottish Green Apple Award for the PBCCD Support and Lowering Carbon Emissions in the FHE Sector Project. A special recognition in achieving this award goes to our colleague, Jill Burnett, our Carbon and Estates Project Officer, who leads on carbon and estates projects, data analysis, events, resources and policy engagement within the team.

Since 2015/16, Scottish universities and colleges have been required by the Scottish Government to collate and report their greenhouse gas emissions data through Public Bodies Climate Change Duty Reporting. The EAUC-Scotland team ensures that the FHE sector receives the appropriate support and guidance.

Over this time, EAUC-Scotland through its Scottish Funding Council (SFC) funded programmes, has supported Scotland's institutions through a range of Topic Support Networks, knowledge-sharing events, one-to-one staff training and sector peer-review sessions. In addition, the team published reports, tools and briefing guides such as the EAUC-Scotland PBCCD Overview Report 2021 and The Travel Better Package to offer the relevant support and guidance to the sector. The Peer Review sessions have been particularly valuable in creating shared learning and best practice opportunities, as evidenced by the number of institutions engaging with the process increasing from 11 in 2020 to 19 in 2021.

Establishing close relationships with partner organisations has been instrumental in ensuring a strong voice for the sector. The team works closely with partner organisations such as the Sustainable Scotland Network, APUC, Universities Scotland, College Development Network and Colleges Scotland to improve the sector understanding of emission reporting, particularly for Scope 3 emissions. This year in particular, EAUC-Scotland worked closely with APUC alongside other partners to update the Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct (2021), which will strengthen the social and environmental responsibilities of university and college supply chains. 

We also value greatly the relationship established with the SFC to support dialogue between institutions and break barriers to accessing the funding which is badly needed to tackle GHG emissions.

In response to the Scottish Green Apple Award recognition, Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said:

“As the main funding partner for the EAUC in Scotland since 2008, we know how much impact the organisation has had on the ability of colleges and universities to respond to the climate emergency.

“It’s great to see the EAUC Scotland team being recognised by winning gold in this year’s Scottish Green Apple Awards. The achievement is well deserved and I would like to add my congratulations to everyone involved.”  

The EAUC-Scotland team will continue to support and advocate on behalf of the Scottish FHE sector in its response to the climate and ecological emergency. We were recently a member of the working group tasked to co-develop the latest Scottish Government guidance on Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency (published 29th October 2021). We will continue to work with all key sector bodies and staff to help embed this guidance over the next year. 

ENDS

Notes to Editors
Contact - scotland@eauc.org.uk


About EAUC-Scotland
Primarily funded through the Scottish Funding Council, the core work of EAUC-Scotland centres around our current 3-Year Programme running from April 2020 to March 2023, Accelerating action and leadership in Scotland’s colleges and universities to respond to the climate emergency. Follow the links below for all useful resources, events, networking opportunities and projects.

About the Scottish Green Apple Awards
The Green Apple Environment Awards were established in 1994 as an annual campaign to recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world. The Scottish Green Apple Environment Awards are supported by REHIS – The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland.