Total Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions for the 133 providers who submitted data stood at 1.4 million tonnes CO2. Of the 126 providers who submitted data in both 2019/20 and 2020/21, 65 saw an increase in emissions.
132 providers submitted total energy consumption data for 2020/21 compared to 130 in 2019/20. Of the 126 providers who submitted data in both years, 85 saw their energy consumption rise. The total energy consumption of all providers in 2020/21 was 6.9 Terawatt hours. Consumption and emissions data will have been impacted by the varying COVID-19 restrictions which impacted activities on campus in both of these academic years.
129 providers submitted data on waste mass with a total of 247,000 tonnes. 70% of this waste mass was recycled with 8% going to landfill.
The figures come from environmental information published by HESA from the annual Estates management record (EMR). The open data publication HE Provider Data: Estates Management includes the area of universities’ buildings and grounds, renewable energy generation, water consumption, emissions, waste, recycling, transport, and environmental management.
From 2019/20, the EMR return is a statutory requirement for HE providers in Wales but is optional for HE providers in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Notes
Carbon emission figures relate to Scope 1 and 2 emissions excluding emissions from supply chain, transport and waste. Scope 3 emissions figures are included separately in the Environmental information statistics tables for most HE providers.
See Definitions: Estates management for full definitions of terms used in the release and explanation of the coverage of statistics.
HESA cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the data by third parties.