Transport and travel

Staff and student travel surveys were undertaken in 2022. The student survey did not include international student travel to and from the UK.

Electric vehicle charging has been introduced on campus with the ability to expand the number of charging stations as demand increases. In 2023, the University upgraded its fleet of on-campus service vehicles to electric, where possible.

The pandemic accelerated the use of digital solutions and on-line collaborations, which led to a considerable reduction in business travel, but this has started to increase again, but has not reached the pre-pandemic levels, which is positive.

This plan is lead by:

• Helen Rutherford, Head of Sustainable Campus Operations

This plan is enabled by:

All University on-campus service vehicles are electric. Staff and students can travel to and for work in more sustainable ways, for example using electric vehicles which can be charged on campus, or by public transport powered by clean energy, or by cycling or walking safely.  Sustainable digital solutions and collaborations support all of our work on campus in order to reduce the need to print out documents and to travel to other locations.  Emissions associated with our global academic programmes are minimised.

UN SDGs

Targets and progress

Target

Reducing the carbon footprint of staff and student travel by 50% by 2030

Progress

Progress status: RED

The baseline carbon emissions for student and staff travel within the UK (commuting to and from the campuses) have been quantified in 2022 as:

• Staff commuting 1,500 t CO2e
• Student commuting 4,800 tCO2e

A similar survey was undertaken in 2023 which showed that:

• Staff commuting 1,859 t CO2e an increase of 23%
• Student commuting 7041 tCO2e an increase of 46%

Operational priorities for 2024/25

• Work with staff and students to minimise international air travel.
• Promotion of sustainable travel at a local level and creation of sustainable travel group within the institution.