Environmental policy and management
Environmental policy and strategies
Environmental Policy 2023 (PDF 401KB) – our mission statement for sustainability at UAL. It sets out our aspirations and how we manage, report, set targets and promote environmental stewardship.
Climate Action Plan 2022 (PDF 4.8MB) - our comprehensive plan to embed climate justice and drive change across the University in teaching, research, operations and collaboration.
SMART action plan (XLSX 21.9KB) - complementing the Environmental Policy 2022 and the Climate Action Plan, this plan lays out measurable targets for reducing our environmental impact in areas such as construction, waste management and biodiversity.
Carbon Management Plan (PDF 3.8MB) – how we’ll reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (PDF 196KB) to meet our net zero targets.
Together these form our environmental sustainability strategy for reducing environmental impact across 8 key areas:
- Construction and refurbishment
- Emissions and discharges
- Community involvement
- Biodiversity
- Waste management
- Travel and transport
- Sustainable procurement
- Water
Environmental auditing and management
Our environmental performance is assessed regularly by external auditors. This ensures that we benefit from objective and independent insights and expertise.
Our management systems are ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 accredited. They are:
- environmental management system for business operations (ISO 14001)
- energy management system and direct (scope 1 and 2) emissions reduction (ISO 50001).
Find out about our environmental performance by reading the supporting documentation, certification and external audits.
The scope of each management system covers all our buildings (including UAL managed halls of residence) and all activities within those buildings. The aspects and key performance indicators (KPIs) are audited at each site every year and define how we plan, operate and monitor our environmental performance and impact. This allows us to manage our environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner.
The management systems help us to achieve our intended outcomes, which are:
- enhancement of environmental performance in response to the climate emergency
- fulfilment of compliance obligations
- achievement of environmental objectives
- the management systems being independently verified to be true and correct.
Managing carbon
Our pledge to achieve net zero includes our full indirect emissions, including the supply chain and international student travel, as well as direct emissions. Read our President and Vice Chancellor's commitment to reach net zero by 2040.
Our Carbon Management Plan (PDF 5.1MB) contains a baseline and reduction targets for Scope 3 emissions, covering emissions linked to residential accommodation, and is reported annually to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) through the Estates Management Record process. Our direct emissions are emissions linked to utility consumption within our estate.
Our total Scope 1 and 2 emissions (PDF 44KB) are on target. They are reported our Court of Governors and publicly on an annual basis. The energy monitoring system we use is proven to be robust and is accredited to ISO 50001 (PDF 108KB). Find out more in the UAL ISO 50001 audit report (PDF 496KB).
We’ve also set a baseline and target for reduction of Scope 3 emissions. The definition of Scope 3 emissions includes:
- supply chain emissions
- business transport
- staff and student commuting
- international student travel
- waste and recycling
- water consumption.
We aim to share information with staff, students and the public. Electricity, gas, water and waste are reported on our external facing carbon dashboard.
We have a budget to implement and resource the sustainability objectives. This is explained in our Carbon Management Plan and full details are in our utility and sustainability budgets document (XLSX 19.5KB). An additional budget supports climate action in our teaching and research, as well as student and staff initiatives.
We’ve also committed to being a pilot institution in The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education's initiative. The initiative is developing 'Science Aligned Target Framework Guidance'.