Carbon Management Programme and UCCCfS

In May this year 2009, the University of Dundee signed up to the Carbon Management Programme. It had previously registered with the Universities and Colleges Climate Commitment for Scotland (UCCCfS).

Both initiatives commit the University to producing a five-year plan on carbon reduction that involves changing the way it works in areas such as energy use, waste management, business travel and procurement.

Energy Performance Certificates

The University is required to display an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) on all ‘public’ buildings over 1000m2. The certificate provides energy efficiency A-G ratings and recommendations for improvement. The ratings - similar to those found on products such as fridges - are standard so the energy efficiency of one building can easily be compared with another building of a similar type.

The University is well through its programme to complete these EPC’s and listed below are the certificates currently on display.

Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 received Royal Assent on August 4, 2009. The Act is a key commitment of the Scottish Government, and is the most far-reaching environmental legislation considered by the Parliament during the first ten years of devolution and will impact all Universities and Colleges.

Part 1 of the Act creates a statutory framework for greenhouse gas emissions reductions with:

• 42 percent reduction target for 2020, with the power for this to be varied based on expert advice,
• and an 80 percent reduction target for 2050.

Part 4 of the Act places climate change duties on Scottish public bodies and contains powers to enable the Scottish Ministers, by order, to impose further duties on public bodies in relation to climate change.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment

The new emissions trading scheme called the Carbon Reduction Commitment or CRC, aims to reduce carbon emissions in large non-energy intensive organisations by 1.2 million tonnes of carbon per year by 2020. At the end of each year, company performance, mainly based on absolute carbon reductions since the start of the scheme, will be summarised in league tables outlining the best and worse performers in terms of carbon emissions and reduction. In its current proposed format, the CRC will cover all organisations whose electricity consumption through half-hourly meters is greater than 6,000MWh/yr.

During the baseline year 2008/09 the University consumed 4,700MWh and therefore will not be part of phase 1 of CRC, however, if as expected the threshold is reduced for phase 2 of CRC, the University of Dundee will be part of the scheme.