All our environmental policies and key documents are reviewed and signed off by senior management, with values embedded in the University strategy.
Campus Management Climate Action Policy
Sheffield Hallam University is committed to achieving Net Zero Carbon Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 and Scope 3 by 2050 (with meaningful progress by 2038), compared to the 2018/19 baseline. In 2021, the University signed the ‘Race to Zero’ commitment to publicly announce this commitment, and in 2023 launched Sheffield Hallam’s Climate Action Strategy which outlines a whole institution approach to achieve these ambitious targets.
The University’s Climate Action Strategy sets targets to deliver a net zero campus as well as a commitment to deliver a whole-of-institution approach to climate action. The strategy is organised around five workstreams. The Campus Management Climate Action Policy (PDF, 179.9KB) is aligned to one of these workstreams, which is the Campus Management workstream. This policy sets out objectives to achieve the long-term targets of this workstream, using the University’s ISO 14001 Environmental and ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems, the Climate Action Strategy recommendations and SHU’s Campus Management Monitoring Tool, which records the impact and progress of actions on the University’s carbon footprint and other key environmental impacts.
Sheffield Hallam University has a responsibility to reduce the environmental impacts of its activities whilst maintaining compliance with legal and other requirements. The University is committed to setting an example by going beyond this minimum, including delivering against the ambitious carbon targets set through the Climate Action Strategy. The University’s ISO management systems facilitate an environmental risk profile of the University which identifies over 600 potential environmental risks. These are used to shape the Policy commitments and identify the areas that have the biggest environmental risks and where the most significant improvements could be made. These align with the Climate Action Strategy, therefore providing assurance that the University can be confident that these are the key areas to focus on to not only achieve carbon reductions but also continuing to prevent pollution and protect the natural environment. The University will ensure the availability of information and necessary resources to achieve objectives, as well as its commitments and targets, through the application of embedded management systems and the Climate Action Strategy.
Each of the Policy commitments is detailed further in the Campus Management Climate Action Plan, where specific objectives and targets are developed to ensure continuous environmental improvements and progress towards Net Zero Carbon.
Campus Management Climate Action Plan
The Campus Management Climate Action Plan (PDF, 208.7KB) sits alongside the Campus Management Climate Action Policy, which sets our policy commitments to achieve carbon reduction towards net zero and the effective management of environmental impacts, in line with the Campus Management strand of the Climate Action Strategy and the University’s ISO certified environmental and energy management systems.
It sets out long and short term objectives for each policy commitment to both achieve the University’s carbon goals, and where relevant, the reduction of other relevant environmental impacts identified through the ISO systems. The current version of the Plan includes long term targets to meet 2030 commitments as well as short term objectives to complete in the 2023/24 year.
Progress against these objectives will be monitored and reported annually to the Climate Action Strategy Group, and the Campus Management Monitoring Tool will be used as a live document to project actual energy consumption and annual targets as well as the potential carbon impact of actions whilst recording achievements to continually monitor progress against the 2030, 2038 and 2050 targets of the University’s Climate Action Strategy. The tool will be used to highlight where targets are or are not being achieved, with findings inputted into annually reviewed objectives to ensure they remain as accurate, relevant and realistic as possible.
