Two sustainability plans launched today (Monday 4 December) aim to help Forth Valley College to reach its ambitious environmental targets over the next five years.
The Net Zero Plan and the Strategic Travel Plan have been developed by FVC’s Estates Team and Rory Hill from EAUC, the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education – who supports the Central & South Scotland College Partnership (CSSCP), involving FVC, Borders and West Lothian Colleges.
The unique partnership model – which allows all three Colleges to share Rory as Sustainability Project Manager – has become much admired by organisations across the country, and won both national and international Green Apple award sand has been nominated prestigious awards at the recent Green Gown awards and College Development Network CDN Awards – Highly Commended for the latter.
FVC’s new plans will allow us to:
- Further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from College operations
- Introduce dedicated working groups to deliver key actions
- Promote sustainable practice and knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals
- Encourage staff and students to make sustainable travel choices
With Scotland’s colleges as a whole committed to achieving Net Zero by 2040 – and the three Colleges being among the smallest FE institutions in Scotland and without staff dedicated exclusively to sustainability – they developed this new approach to achieving their Net Zero goals.
By providing additional resource and knowledge, the Sustainability Project Manager has helped guide sustainability practice and policy at the colleges and to expand this in scope and ambition. This has included supporting campus decarbonisation projects and developing updated plans.
The partnership’s work across multiple institutions has been particularly beneficial as this has allowed for experience and knowledge to be shared, whilst making use of resources efficiently. Based on its success CSSCP are planning to continue the partnership and EAUC are exploring similar partnerships with other institutions.
Rory Hill Sustainability Project Manager for the partnership, said: “Forth Valley College and the Scottish college sector have ambitious targets to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions and to become more sustainable. This will take action from across the College and the new Net Zero Plan is designed to guide this over the next five years, by setting out what we hope to achieve and shared responsibilities for specific areas of action. This is supported by the Strategic Travel Plan, which gives more detail how we will reduce our emissions from transport.”
Martin Loy, FVC’s Head of Estates, said: “A lot of hard work has gone into the development of these plans and we are delighted and excited about how they will help Forth Valley College – and our partner colleges - achieve their ambitious Net Zero goals. I would like to thank everyone involved for their excellent efforts to get to this stage and we look forward to making a sustainable difference moving forward.”