Bath Spa University has teamed up with its Students’ Union in declaring a climate emergency and is calling on students, staff and the wider city to pledge their support for urgent action.
The university and the Students’ Union’s pledges support the increasing calls across the world to tackle climate change while also echoing the climate emergency declarations made by universities across the UK.
They have been published online at www.bathspa.ac.uk/climatepledge and students, staff, and the wider Bath community are being encouraged to make their own pledges to pave the way to make the necessary changes.
Bath Spa University vice-chancellor Prof Sue Rigby said: “Declaring an emergency means that we can set big goals. But we can also set smaller ones so that everyone is a part of it. Sometimes people feel powerless in the face of something so big, but actually this is something where everyone makes a difference all the time.
“It works on three levels because we can help everyone who is a part of our community to change their own behaviours. But we can also celebrate and enhance the work that the Students’ Union and the university are already doing to address climate change.
“By declaring an emergency we have something of a voice in the wider community and nationally to emphasise the fact that we want the government to take this very seriously.”
Sustainability is already an important part of Bath Spa’s culture – it has participated in the People and Planet Green League table since 2009, achieving two top 10 positions in that time. Last year it made improvements to reduce its reliance on single-use plastics while all its electricity has come from certified renewable resources since 2016.
It has also reduced its carbon emissions by more than 50% per m2, increased recycling rates to 80% and improved biodiversity on its sites.
The Students’ Union has also made sustainability a core commitment – its building has been fitted with water-saving devices and, along with the university, it has been awarded Fairtrade status, with the SU bar’s hot drinks coming from Fairtrade sources.
Two of the university’s catering outlets also hold the Soil Association’s Silver Food for Life Award, recognising its commitment to using ingredients from sustainable and ethical sources.
Bath Spa Students’ Union president Jazz Nesbitt-Larking said the organisation had been trying to make smaller changes that students could engage with, such as buying their own reusable coffee cups.
“I think the small changes lead up to quite a big change that we can make as a community,” she added.
“This could be a really great start to creating a culture shift for us here at Bath Spa in terms of embedding it in every single thing that we do.”
The university’s pathway to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 is included in its new carbon reduction plan.
It aims to achieve this by:
- Making carbon reduction targets a strategic priority to be reported on annually
- Continuing to improve the energy efficiency of its operations
- Buying its electricity from 100% renewable suppliers
- Maximising its use of renewable heat sources
- Minimising its use of resources and our production of waste
- Continuing to improve its recycling rates
- Developing a socially and environmentally-positive offsetting scheme
- Making sure that all its students are sustainability-literate and able to make informed decisions throughout their lives and able to influence others to do likewise.
The university will use the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as the framework to measure its progress with this.
Beyond 2030 it aims to become carbon net-positive to help make the world sustainable in the long-term. This will be a whole-institution approach, through its procurement and investment, its curriculum and research, its business operations and its campus development decisions.
Pictured: Bath Spa University staff and Students’ Union members pledge their support for measures to tackle the climate emergency
