Climate reporting requirements for academy schools is continuously developing and involves documenting and communicating your efforts and progress under the three pillars of ESG - environmental, social, and governance - in line with the following requirements.
Climate action plans & sustainability leadership
In April 2022, the Department for Education published the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for the education and children’s services systems. This followed extensive engagement with the sector and young people and set an ambitious vision that the UK education sector would be a world leader in sustainability and climate change by 2030.
Climate Action Plans
In order to meet the 2030 targets, your academy should start to develop a climate action plan which outlines the steps taken to reduce your carbon footprint and improve sustainability practices. The DfE have provided detailed guidance on developing a climate action plan following the publication of in their Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for Education, which includes an intended deadline “By 2025: all education settings will have a nominated sustainability lead and put in place a climate action plan”.
Per the guidance a climate action plan should cover the following four areas, to align with the 2030 strategy:
- Decarbonisation - for example calculating and taking actions to reduce carbon emissions, such as becoming more energy efficient;
- Adaptation and resilience - such as taking actions to reduce the risk of flooding and overheating;
- Biodiversity, for example engaging with the National Education Nature Park launched in 2023, offering children and young people the opportunity for hands-on action improving diversity, learning data science skills and find out out about nature’s role in climate change; and
- Integrating climate education and green careers - such as ensuring the education you provide gives knowledge-rich and comprehensive teaching about climate change, and that your teaching staff and lecturers feel supported to offer this. Incorporating sustainability into the curriculum helps students understand and engage with environmental issues. This can include hands-on projects as well as activities that promote sustainability.
Data and metrics
To have an effective climate action plan academy schools need to collect and analyse data on energy and water usage, waste management, and carbon emissions. This helps in identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress. Get in touch with our team at UHY regarding measuring your ESG data using our VueCarbon platform.
Leadership and structure
Establishing a sustainability leadership team or appointing a sustainability lead is crucial. This team is responsible for implementing and monitoring sustainability initiatives as well as taking ownership of the climate action plan. Best practice shows that change is delivered when driven by a diverse team of passionate individuals. It is important that both educational and operational expertise is brought to this team.
Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (“SECR”)
Whilst this is an existing requirement and is no longer considered “new” it is important to also consider the SECR regulations from the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018 which came into effect for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2019.
The SECR regulations require large companies which consume more than 40,000kWh of energy in a reporting period to include certain information about energy efficiency measures. Large companies are defined by sections 465 and 466 of the Companies Act 2006 as companies which meet two or more of the following 3 criteria:
- gross income of £36million or more;
- balance sheet assets of £18million or more; and
- 250 employees or more.
If your academy trust is deemed to be “large” then the information required to be disclosed includes the following:
- annual UK energy use (in kWh), to include as a minimum purchased electricity, gas and transport fuel
- associated greenhouse gas emissions (in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent “CO2e”)
- at least one ‘intensity ratio’ that expresses the academy trust’s annual emissions in relation to a quantifiable factor associated with its activities. Intensity ratios compare emissions data with an appropriate business metric or financial indicator, such as pupil numbers, to allow comparison over time or with other organisations
- narrative information about energy efficient action taken during the year. If no measures have been taken, this should be stated; and
- methodologies used in the calculation of disclosures.
Comparatives of the above information should also be disclosed except where this is the first year of disclosure and the disclosures should be made in the Trust’s annual trustees’ report.
Trusts that consume 40,000kWh of energy or less in the UK are not required to include these disclosures as long as the trustees’ report states the reason why this information has not been disclosed. Where it is not practical for Trusts to calculate the required energy usage information, this fact should be reported and it should also explain the steps it is taking to calculate this information in future.
Get in touch with our team at UHY regarding gathering this data using our VueCarbon platform.
Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (“ESOS”)
ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations in the UK that meet the qualification criteria. Organisations that qualify for ESOS must carry out ESOS assessments every 4 years. These assessments are audits of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport.
The ESOS audit is designed to identify tailored and cost-effective measures to allow participating businesses to save energy and achieve carbon and cost savings. The audit costs are estimated to be significantly outweighed by the savings from implementing the recommendations.
For the qualification, a large undertaking is any UK company that either:
- employs 250 or more people, or
- has an annual turnover in excess of £44 million, and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million.
Summary of the steps required to complete an ESOS assessment (access the full guidance here):
- Calculate your total energy consumption - This is the energy used by assets held or activities carried out by your organisation or group. This includes the energy consumed by buildings, industrial processes and transport.
- Identify your areas of significant energy consumption - This is the energy used by assets held, or activities carried out, by your organisation that needs to be included in an energy audit or covered by another route to compliance (see 4 below) and must account for at least 95% of your total energy consumption.
- Calculate your energy intensity ratios - You must calculate energy intensity ratios for each of:
- buildings
- transport
- industrial processes
- other energy uses outside of the above 3.
An energy intensity ratio is a measurement which relates an organisation’s consumption to an appropriate indicator activity. This allows comparison of energy efficiency performance over time.
Get in touch with our team at UHY regarding gathering this data using our VueCarbon platform.
Key takeaways
The education sector can make a significant contribution to reaching the DfE’s 2030 strategy and the UK’s Net Zero target by 2050 goal by setting individual targets and climate action plans. We all have a role to play in addressing the climate emergency and educating our young people how to tackle climate change.
The next step
At UHY we can help you prosper and can advise you on starting your sustainability journey by measuring your current ESG metrics and help you develop a climate action plan and advise your sustainability leads. Please do get in touch and start the conversation.
For any related enquiries, please get in touch with Harriet Hodgson-Grove, Matthew Granger, or Ciara Vincent.
