New University of Bath students are to be the first in the UK to get the chance to learn about the environmental impact of their everyday activities such as travel and eating habits, along with how they can reduce it.
The university said carbon literacy will now form part of the traditional annual induction sessions given to all 5,000 students arriving for their first year later this month.
The scheme, part of the university’s whole-institution response to the climate emergency, will also give students the opportunity to complete follow-up training and earn a Carbon Literacy certification.
The roll-out of the scheme to all new undergraduate and postgraduate students follows a successful pilot last year involving around 100 students.
Returning second year students will also be offered the chance to take the course, which looks at the environmental impact of activities such as travel, energy use and food consumption and how emissions linked to these can be reduced by individuals as well as organisations and systems.
The scheme is being run with the Carbon Literacy Project, which has run similar sessions with 1,700 organisations ranging from businesses to local authorities and charities. The University of Bath is to first to offer its sessions to students.
University of Bath climate action learning & teaching liaison Dr Steve Cayzer said the idea came from the belief that every student coming to Bath should have a level of carbon literacy.
The university also wanted to weave it into the student experience and give everyone the chance to get involved.
“We know that this is an issue that students care about passionately and is something that will have a bearing on the rest of their lives,” he said.
“By introducing carbon literacy right at the start of the university experience we begin to get people into that mindset and thinking straight away, as well as helping them develop knowledge and skills that will be valuable throughout their lives.”
The initiative is part of the University’s response to the climate emergency through its Climate Action Framework.
This commits the university to a series of climate goals, including total carbon neutrality by 2040, as well as giving all students the chance to learn about climate change and supporting the university community to enable carbon emission reductions.
Elsa Swetenham, a Natural Sciences student who took part in the pilot, said it was a great way for her to get thinking about what problems the world is facing in terms of the climate crisis and how Bath is responding.
“It really inspired me to find out what the university is doing and how I could personally get involved in climate action at the university. I found the course engaging, the right length and it came at a good time,” she said.
“The course also encouraged me to look at what career I could have and how I can incorporate climate into it. Overall, it has made me a lot more climate conscious with most decisions I make.”
After the initial session, students will have the opportunity to complete further training with The Carbon Literacy Project and earn a certification in carbon literacy.
Emma Richards, project leader at The Carbon Literacy Project, added: “It’s great to see such high ambition from Bath and we can’t wait to see more universities follow their lead.
“Carbon literacy is a core competency in the workplace, much like health and safety, so by increasing access to carbon literacy whilst at university, students like those at Bath will be much better equipped for entering a zero-carbon workforce.”
