Case study detail
EMAS (Eco Management Audit Scheme) in Leicester schools
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Sustainable Development Commission
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Through Leicester’s EMAS (Eco Management Audit Scheme) Education Programme, 72 schools in the city are now part of the City Council’s corporate environmental management system.
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Overview
Through Leicester’s EMAS (Eco Management Audit Scheme) Education Programme, 72 schools in the city are now part of the City Council’s corporate environmental management system. This has enabled the authority to put in place measures and support systems to encourage schools to set CO2 targets and reduce their carbon emissions.
The commitment to include schools within the corporate EMAS system dates from 1999. From this point on, working in partnership with Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire (GWLL), the authority has been developing targets for key environmental impacts which are common to the authority and schools alike. Currently no target has been established for reduction of school carbon emissions, but the feasibility of extending present city-wide and council-wide targets to schools is being actively explored.
In the mean time the following measures have been put in place in schools:
• Intelligent metering for electricity, gas and water for 95 per cent of EMAS schools, allowing immediate monitoring of utility use, identification of leaks etc.
• School Travel Plans are a required aspect of Leicester’s EMAS system for schools.
• EMAS schools have a target of increasing their energy supply from green energy tariffs.
• A Scrutiny Review Group is drawing lessons from Leicester’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme for application across its whole schools estate.
The programme is currently seeking to create a Carbon Neutrality post, with a remit to analyse school-based environmental data in more detail and produce league tables of school carbon emissions within the city, not just covering electricity, gas and water, but extending this to also look at emissions from transport, food and the supply chain.
One of the dilemmas faced in setting realistic targets on CO2 emissions for schools is the need to take account of the increasing uptake of ICT equipment and other energy consuming teaching methods used in schools. Whilst this can lead to a variety of educational benefits it is vital that the associated electrical and cooling load of the technology is minimised in the overall architecture and choice of equipment.
Leicester City Council and GWLL are working with others on the development of a schools version of the Nottingham Declaration on climate change, with a particular view to ensuring that schools feel a sense of ownership of the Declaration. They are also addressing the challenge of making targets measurable and realistic, to ensure the Declaration’s goals can be monitored effectively.
The authority’s EMAS system is regularly reviewed and monitored, both internally and annually via an independent, external organisation. Progress, barriers and next steps are identified and as necessary actioned through the EMAS process, which involves all partners at each stage. The system is currently being reviewed to link the authority’s CO2 targets more intrinsically to its Climate Change Strategy, which emphasises engagement with targets and the power of individual action.
Key features
education
energy
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