Update from UCCCfS - reaffirming the Commitment

8th December 2014

In November, EAUC-Scotland wrote to all Scottish Principals in universities and colleges and asked them to re-commit to the Universities and Colleges Climate Commitment for Scotland (UCCCfS).

The UCCCfS is the EAUC's largest programme in Scotland has been facilitated since 2009, and offers a framework for institutions to structure their activity and report on progress. All institutions signed the Commitment by October 2011, but with changes within the sector, it was felt further engagement was necessary.

Now, five years since the launch, the Commitment still has strong support from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Scottish Government (SG) in addressing climate challenges within universities and colleges from operations to curriculum. The UCCCfS is a delivery mechanism for the Duties on Public Bodies (under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009), which names universities and colleges as ‘major Players’ and it continues to be a useful driver for environmental change within the tertiary sector in Scotland.

The UCCCfS was formally re-endorsed by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in October and aligns to the announcement, of ‘Required Climate Reporting’ for Public Sector Bodies at the recent Sustainable Scotland Network Conference with support from the previous and new Ministers for the Environment and Climate Change.

As an existing signatory, each institution created a 5-year Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) and should report progress annually. EAUC-Scotland is now supporting institutions who are at the end of their 5-year Plans to redevelop activity looking ahead to the next stage and reporting progress through the soon to be new Required Reporting legislation. This will ensure the sector provides leadership to other public sector organisations; addresses SFC Outcome Agreement requirements and aligns with data flow from EAUC to the SFC on sector progress.

Find out more about UCCCfS and the CCAP