The University occupies a large and mixed-heritage estate, which presents significant complexities for integrating sustainable practices into our existing assets. Our Estates Strategy has been designed to consider these challenges and will facilitate new mechanisms to embed sustainability into our estate planning and operations. It is underpinned by our Climate Plan, published in 2022, and more recent Biodiversity Plan, which set out our responses to achieving net zero carbon emissions for scope 1 and 2 across all sites where we have operational control, including our halls of residence which are home to 4,407 students each year, as well as the UK requirements for biodiversity net gain across our public realm.
In addition, we are committed to tackling scope 3 carbon emissions, especially those associated with our travel habits, waste, and supply chain. Leveraging our status as an anchor institution within the city of Liverpool, and in support of our ‘Place and Innovation’ vision to drive prosperity and wellbeing for the Liverpool City Region, our commitments have been designed to drive social value, building on the figures published in our Economic and Wider Impacts Report 2024 which highlight that we contribute £183million in GVA and support 2440 jobs across the Liverpool City Region.
We will also utilise our influence to drive positive change with external partners across our value chain in line with our Procurement and Ethical Investment Policies. Through development of these strategic plans and policies we will provide alignment to the cross-cutting ‘People and Culture’ theme in Liverpool 2031, offering direction for staff, with clear and actionable processes and guidance, empowering them to contribute meaningfully to university values and sustainability goals.
Commitments
Sustainability will be embedded throughout our estate operations, creating sustainable, inclusive and resilient campuses. We will do this by:
Driving forward the implementation of our Climate Plan, including our key priority to develop a new Energy Strategy and Net Zero roadmap
Our priority is to develop a new Energy Strategy and roadmap for achieving net zero for scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions. With clear targets to reduce the impacts of core business activities such as travel, waste and water we will also tackle our scope 3 impacts and emissions. All our actions will be driven forward in-line with the core principle set out in the Climate Plan to ensure a just and equitable transition.
Achieving the success measures set out in our new Biodiversity Plan
The Biodiversity Plan will set out our response to the ecological crises and global decline in biodiversity, whilst encouraging the use of our green spaces to promote our estate and the benefits of spending time in nature, including our botanic gardens located in Ness on Wirral. Beyond our own estate, we will review and update our policies to reduce harm to, and maximise opportunities to promote, biodiversity.
Reducing waste in line with targets set out in our Waste Management Plan
In 2021 the University set an ambitious target to reduce general domestic waste sent for incineration with energy recovery by 50% by 2025. Compared with a pre-pandemic baseline, we have achieved a 43.11% reduction so far (measured in Oct 2024). Our aim is to continue on this positive trajectory and achieve our goal by the end of 2025. Beyond this a new Waste Management Plan and targets will be developed to take us up to 2031.
Monitoring compliance with the University’s Environmental Policy, through continuous improvement facilitated by our ISO 14001 Environmental Management System
We will provide assurance around regulatory compliance, with robust monitoring of data to support decision-making and ensure the long-term value of our assets. This will be facilitated through integration of our UKAS accredited ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.
Address the environmental impacts of our digital infrastructure and services. We will do this by:
Considering the impact of the growing use of AI on energy consumption as part of the wider Energy and Digital Strategies
Utilising frameworks to mitigate the environmental impact of computation labs
Our world-leading research often requires the use of high intensity computational, dry laboratories that consume high amounts of energy to store data. We will explore the Green DiSC - Digital Sustainability Certification to mitigate the environmental impact of these labs, and their associated carbon emissions, building on our successful implementation of the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) for our other laboratory environments.
Identifying opportunities to reduce e-waste associated with our IT Services
We will pursue a circular economy approach for the procurement and disposal of IT equipment, adopting sustainable practices set out in the University’s procurement strategy and exploring opportunities to generate social value through organisations such as the Good Things Foundation, as well as establishing effective WEEE waste management systems in-line with the University’s Waste Management Plan.
Providing digital sustainability education and skills
Our staff and students will be equipped with the skills needed to use digital technologies and AI responsibly and mitigate their impacts on the environment. Alongside this we will facilitate effective digital environments enabling users to maximise opportunities to collaborate online and minimise activities associated with the University’s carbon footprint.
Develop sustainable procurement standards which actively promote local impact and supply chain equity. We will do this by:
Promoting principles of circular economy to eliminate unnecessary spending and consumption
Our first priority is to reduce consumption. We will do this by eliminating unnecessary spending through re-use and recycling schemes such as WarpIT and Leave Liverpool Tidy.
Implementing appropriate policies and frameworks that prioritise sustainability across our procurement activities
Our policies will serve as an enabler for driving behaviour change within our procurement practices and will allow staff to feel confident when making purchasing decisions, considering the environmental, social, and economic impact of their choices. We will take a collaborative approach with our suppliers and stakeholders to ensure that sustainable and responsible practices are embedded into the procurement process, influencing change beyond our campus boundaries. This partnership aims to ensure that the procurement activities promote ethical, social, and environmental standards. We will do this by influencing our supply chain, via a collaborative approach ensuring our suppliers are in a position to support us in achieving our sustainability targets, enhancing worker and human rights throughout their organisation and supply chains, and to understand and deliver additional benefits to our local community.
Ensuring the data needed to effectively monitor and report on scope 3 emissions is available, accessible and accurate
We will be bold and leverage available technologies to enhance sustainable procurement practices, optimising the use of applicable systems relating to expenditure and data capture, such as using AI for supplier sustainability assessments. Enhancing our data quality, and information sharing, in order to provide us with improved spend data which will increase accuracy of carbon emissions in relation to supply chain. We will track our data and progress, reporting on key sustainability achievements. This transparency will demonstrate our commitment to sustainable practices and help us maintain accountability.
Building social value into our supply chain and contracts
By creating and implementing a standard framework for measuring social value we can seek ways to use our numerous external relationships to benefit people, communities and the environment. By involving suppliers, staff, and other stakeholders in the continuous improvement process to build a culture of sustainability and shared responsibility we will create a framework to enable suppliers to commit to key social value themes which can be included within every applicable tender, ensuring that any social value commitments are articulated within the supplier contract, and develop a reporting mechanism so that all social value commitments can be tracked throughout the contract lifecycle.
Create a confident and knowledgeable workforce that is empowered and supported to contribute to sustainability targets. We will do this by:
Embedding sustainability within our polices, processes and practices
Since the launch of the Climate Plan we have reviewed and updated several key policies. Shortlisted for a Green Gown award, our Sustainable Food Policy is one such example. Alongside this we have developed guidance for Sustainable Events and a review of the Business Travel Policy is underway. We will continue to embed sustainability throughout all relevant policies and decision-making frameworks, supporting university staff and the wider community to make individual and collective decisions that are responsible and sustainable.
Supporting and empowering staff to develop their understanding and confidence in making sustainable decisions
Beginning at the start of their journey with us, all new starters will receive an induction on sustainability at the University of Liverpool. To complement this, appropriate and accessible materials on sustainability will be promoted to all staff through the LearnWell platform hosted by the Academy, including an introductory module on Sustainability and Climate Change. We will prioritise more in-depth training, guidance and support for staff with role-specific requirements around sustainability.
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