Universities may face withdrawal of funds if they miss green targets

Joanna Sugden
Universities that are not green enough could have their government funding withdrawn.
The plan is the first to link funding to university carbon emissions and is part of a consultation document which sets out how to make the higher education sector more environmentally friendly.
Institutions must have strategies to reduce their carbon emissions by more than a third by 2020 — levels rose by 34 per cent between 1990 and 2006.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which is the biggest single source of university capital, is considering stripping all funding from those that do not have robust plans to achieve the targets.

Some universities receive up to £38 million from HEFCE each year and many would collapse without this public money. The higher education sector relies on the council for £8billion — 38 per cent — of its annual income.
“It will be for individual institutions to decide how to reduce, measure, review and report progress on their own emissions,” the carbon reduction strategy document says.
But universities could face losing between 10 to 100 per cent of their funding if they do not convince the council of their green credentials, it adds.
Other proposals being put before university vice-chancellors include increasing funding for those who have “good or outstanding environmental performance” or witholding it “until institutions can demonstrate that they meet the requirements”.
Universities may have to reach tough interim targets of a 30 per cent reduction in emissions in the next five and a half years, Sir Alan Langlands, chief executive of HEFCE, said in the report.
Universities funding is determined in part by how well they do in the Research Assessment Exercise, carried out every eight years. But the calculation will now also take into account progress in implementing the carbon plans.
Lancaster University is already planning to install two wind turbines to reduce its reliance on imported electricity and the University of East Anglia will establish a biomass energy centre and is set to be the first biomass gasification combined heat and power plant in England.
Sir Alan said: “Higher education needs to play its part in helping meet UK climate change targets and it is uniquely placed to lead the way.
“Collectively, the sector influences many thousands of minds through its students and graduates.”
Its large estate, leading research and use of billions of pounds of goods and services mean that it must find an effective way to reduce emissions, he added.
Greenest universities
Scores out of 60 on nine environmental measures

1. Gloucestershire 55
2. Plymouth 52.5
3. West of England 51.5
4. Anglia Ruskin 49.5
5= Loughborough 47.5
5= Central Lancashire 47.5
5= Cambridge 47.5
5= Hertfordshire 47.5
9= Huddersfield 47
9= Leeds Metropolitan 47