Third Annual Progress Review of the University of Leeds Climate Plan
The third annual progress review of the University of Leeds Climate Plan has been published by the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures and is now available on the Priestley Centre website.
The review, was requested by Climate Principles Programme Board, which has overall accountability for delivery of the Climate Plan. The review will ensure that Climate Plan delivery stays true to its original aims, remains ambitious, takes advantage of the developments in social and technical solutions and is responsive to changing local and global conditions.
The report was developed collaboratively between the Climate Principles Programme, who are responsible for delivering the Climate Plan, and the Climate Plan Research Partnership Committee, drawing on their broad range of academic expertise, including finance and investment, technology and innovation, behaviour change and just transitions, adaptation and resilience, and institutional decision-making.
I want our University to remain a leader on climate action and stand as an exemplar of how to make positive change, even in times of significant economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
Spanning all areas of the Climate Plan, the review considers the University’s progress towards its commitments to a resilient net zero transition, sustainable travel, responsible investment, a sustainable curriculum, institutional decision-making, reorienting research and teaching and supporting a net zero city. It also considers key cross-cutting themes, such as communication and engagement and ensuring a just transition.
Success and Improvements
The review report highlights key successes as well as identifying areas for improvement, setting out specific recommendations for each of the Climate Principles, and cross-cutting priorities. These have been considered, and accepted, by the Climate Principles Programme Board. Key successes include:
- The electrification of heating at the Brownlee Centre through the installation of heat pumps
- Better than expected results from the geothermal drilling on campus
- Pilot of the Climate Conscious Business Travel Policy in a number of Schools and Services, with wider rollout planned this year
- Full establishment of the Geosolutions Leeds centre
- Embedding Sustainable Curriculum as a priority theme within the new Leeds Curriculum Framework
- Expansion of the Positive Impact Partnerships and Living Labs schemes and re-launching the Leeds Anchor Network Climate subgroup, under the University’s leadership
- Development of a comprehensive Ethical Investment and Banking Policy
Geothermal drilling on campus
However, though good progress has been made in many areas we must recognise that there are areas where we are not yet meeting the targets we set out in our original Pathway to Net Zero. Opportunities highlighted in the review include recognising and reviewing and assessing our targets for net zero and sustainable travel to ensure they remain realistic but also ambitious, developing a clear and up-to-date narrative of our ambitions and success on climate and sustainability and enhancing collaboration between the principles and within the city and region to support climate action more broadly.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the review and any questions you have- get in touch with any feedback.