Achieving a net-zero education

The DfE’s sustainability plan says that efforts to achieve a net-zero education sector will accelerate. Hannah Gains examines how schools can improve the sustainability of their buildings and grounds.

In 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) promised to accelerate their progress towards achieving net-zero from 2025 onwards, as the best value for money approach would be understood. Their proposed approach, including new targets, standardised reporting frameworks and effective data-gathering mechanisms, is set to innovate, test and invest in the sector. However, considering the progress made and the potential effects an accelerated approach will have on students, are we as close as we think to achieving a net-zero education sector? And how can leaders in the sector get to the finish line faster?

Making slow progress

In April 2022, the DfE published the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for the education sector. However, concerns were raised by MPs last year who believed government progress is lacking as only 20 per cent of England’s school estate will be net-zero compliant by 2050. This is a significant concern as education is currently the largest emitter of carbon from buildings in the public sector.

One of the key factors affecting progress is the availability of sufficient funding. For schools to transform their estates to net-zero, they would need around £16.3 billion in funding, a figure that sits on top of a backlog maintenance of £11 billion to simply keep the school safe. In many cases the safety of schools remains a top priority and achieving this alongside sustainable goals is a balancing act schools need to learn how to effectively manage to ensure cost efficiencies and reduce the overall spending.

Despite a number of net-zero compliant schools opening since the strategy was introduced, the government’s concerns and issues of funding suggest that we aren’t as close as we should be to achieving a net-zero sector and that the upcoming year will be no different. 

However, as a shared goal by leaders in the sector, industry stakeholders, government officials and students, everyone has a significant part to play in making this goal attainable. Educational institutions, in particular, can focus on making improvements in and around their estate. 

Identify actions

As a starting point, all educational stakeholders from teachers to management should be aligned in a sustainable strategy or specific goals, whether this is issued by the school itself or from the government’s strategy. A change of behaviour could be the driver that is missing or often overlooked in the sector that can deliver the move to net-zero. Once understood and aligned on what a sustainable estate is and how it can be achieved, working collaboratively to make improvements will become part of the school’s wider vision and real progress can start to be made.

Going the extra mile to employ a sustainability lead is also something schools should consider to make quicker progress and to ensure that their school is on track to achieving the government’s strategy. Ensuring that someone in the school is responsible for reducing energy use and being sustainable such as switching off the lights at the end of the day, is an example of a simple change with great financial and environmental outcomes.

Improvements can be even simpler than switching off lights. For example, if there is an area of under-utilised grass, deliberately choosing not to remove it and letting it grow to become a biodiverse area is an easy way to increase green spaces. This can be used as a positive natural learning environment for students, without any costs. Some students only experience or have the opportunity to connect with nature when they are at school. This connection improves wellbeing, as even just viewing scenes of nature can reduce anger, fear, and stress. With this in mind, schools should also consider what they shouldn’t change to preserve existing green spaces as well as what should change to develop new ones.

Improving learning spaces

To make initial changes in behaviour, schools should assess all areas of the learning space and understand how it is used to identify areas for improvement. From the lighting to temperature and ventilation, choosing innovative solutions and approaches to address these areas is key to seeing success. 

There are a countless number of green technologies and solutions to implement, which will lead to better results for estates, such as installing ground-source and air-source heat pumps, solar panels, EV chargers, biomass boilers, LED lighting, measurable energy and rainwater harvesting. However, the effectiveness of these solutions is dependent on the site. Therefore, thorough assessments of how the building is used, who uses it and how often it is used are required prior to making changes to the site.

Making use of available funds

Although making physical changes to sites is a clear gateway to net-zero, a lack of funding inevitably hinders this opportunity for schools. To combat this, schools must make better use of their available funds.

After salary, the biggest expenditure used in schools is to estates, and in order to achieve a more sustainable estate, funding needs to be prioritised on making tangible changes rather than short-term, temporary fixes. 

Currently, managers are trying to be sustainable in their decision making, but their actions aren’t decarbonising the estate. For example, repeatedly repairing an old broken boiler will see schools spending more money each year which could be invested in high performance sustainable technology.

To make the most out of available funds, estate managers must allocate their annual funding to making physical improvements for the following year, as per when funding is received. Effective long-term planning is crucial and can be a key task delegated to the school’s sustainability lead to develop, update and monitor as well as giving feedback on progress internally and externally.

Prioritising sustainability and accelerating the pace towards net-zero in the year ahead will not only help schools reach government targets but it will also have a significant impact on the wellbeing of students. 

Climate anxiety

Climate anxiety is an important concern amongst today’s students, with 59 per cent feeling very or extremely worried about climate change and 84 per cent at least moderately worried. The education sector has an opportunity to address this feeling of fear over climate change, which is associated with perceptions of inadequate action by adults and governments. By being more environmentally conscious and making better long-term choices when it comes to the building and design of school estates, leaders can enable more positive learning environments which will allow students to achieve natural and emotional support. 

As they are equally important when it comes to the use of the estate, teachers will also benefit from this shift in behaviour as it will enhance their teaching and workplace experience.

Though there are concerns regarding the progress education is making towards net-zero, the government’s pledge to accelerate transformation by 2025 is a move in the right direction. To achieve their objectives, educational leaders must look holistically at their estate and think green, embed the sustainability culture, collaborate, adopt green technology solutions, use their available funds effectively and forefront the impact of students and teachers.