Within our Campus Management Climate Action Plan we have made a commitment to 'Effective management of water used on the estate to reduce unnecessary consumption and embed efficiency measures'.
Our measures and targets
2018/19 Baseline (water and wastewater);
92,810 kg CO2e
178,025 m3
Target to halve scope 3 emissions by 2030.
Whilst water consumption is a small part of the University’s Scope 3 carbon footprint, the consumption of water as a natural resource is a significant environmental impact as identified through the University’s ISO 14001 / 50001 management systems. The baseline water consumption has decreased, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and move to hybrid working. Whilst this has become the ‘new normal’ it is uncertain what a realistic level of consumption will be, especially with the roll out of the accelerated campus plan. Whilst the size of the estate will decrease, the number of people on campus is likely to plateau and point of use water consumption may not fall by a comparable percentage. Long term scope 3 targets are to halve emissions by 2030, however it is felt more data, is required to set better informed long- term consumption targets.
Objectives
Actions to achieve for 2023/24 are:
Continuous monitoring of consumption and application of reduction projects as identified
Use data and projects planned to estimate achievable long term water consumption targets
