Educational Institutions (Environmental Performance)
The next item of business is a members' business debate on motion S3M-1100, in the name of Patrick Harvie, on Scottish campuses can go greener. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises the huge potential of educational institutions to provide organisational leadership in environmental performance, reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful impacts on the world and inspire individuals to take action on environmental issues; congratulates the student campaign group, People & Planet, for its Go Green programme which aims to promote a systematic approach to monitoring and improving environmental performance by schools, colleges and universities; recognises that most Scottish institutions appear at the lower end of the People & Planet environmental league table for 2007, showing that there is significant room for improvement; notes that People & Planet groups in Scotland, including at the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde, will be campaigning for greater progress during Go Green Week from 16 to 24 February 2008, and wishes the students every success in their campaign.—[Patrick Harvie.]
I am happy to open the debate. I thank those members who have stayed to participate and those who signed their name in support of the motion.
In recent years, environmental issues and climate change have come to the top of everyone's agenda. Political parties, businesses and the public sector recognise the issues, and they are beginning to be recognised by the education sector. Like any other part of the economy, educational institutions have an impact on the environment, which they can do a lot to reduce.
I will address Scottish issues in a moment, but across the United Kingdom, the higher education sector emits 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year and is responsible for about 1 million journeys every day. Schools emit about 9.3 million tonnes, with an additional 1 million tonnes emitted as a result of travel to school.
The education sector not only has a direct impact on environmental and sustainability issues; it can have an indirect effect by influencing the ideas, perceptions and attitudes of young people and more mature students who are in a learning environment. As a result, it is important to acknowledge instances in which students, such as those in the United Kingdom-wide People & Planet campaign, act as leaders on these issues. That has long been the case. Indeed, 15 years ago, when I was a student, it was the student leadership that prompted my university to attempt for the first time to examine its impact on environmental issues. I welcome the student leaders who join us today in the gallery and those who I know are watching the debate over the internet. Their work is gaining recognition.
In November, at the British environment and media awards, People & Planet received the award for the best campaign of 2007. A large part of its work has been the creation of what it calls the green league, which provides comparative information about the environmental performance of the UK's academic institutions. The organisation aimed not only to applaud genuine progress by institutions that have taken steps in the right direction but to expose inaction by those that have not. It was felt that if such information was not made public, academic institutions would not feel any competitive spirit to improve their performance. Certainly I would like institutions to feel a competitive urge to get to the top of the league fastest or get themselves out of the lower ranks.
People & Planet wanted to provide the information to give prospective students a choice. Although I sometimes feel that choice can creep in a little too much these days, nevertheless it can spark different reactions from institutions. In any case, students should have access to the information that they need to choose an academic institution that behaves in accordance with their values, ideas and aspirations.
What does the league have to say about Scottish institutions? Sadly, it shows that there is quite a bit of room for improvement. The league, which grades institutions as firsts, 2:1s, 2:2s, thirds and fails, has awarded firsts only to the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews. They should be commended for their work to improve their performance; however, their overall score of 40 out of 50 is not perfect and we must encourage them to do more.
No Scottish institutions achieved a 2:1; three of them received 2:2s, and so must try harder; and the rest have poor environmental performance, failed or did not provide enough information to get a mark at all.
Obviously, there is plenty of room for improvement. Of course, such improvement can be achieved not only through student leadership but through organisational leadership. After all, it takes only one or two key people in an institution to be committed to driving these ideas forward to make all the difference.
What role can Government and Parliament play? Over the coming weeks, the Government and MSPs will have the opportunity not only to support and raise the profile of the People & Planet go green week, which will take place in February, but to ask academic institutions directly what they are doing to meet the campaign's aims.
In its campaign, People & Planet is calling for four measures. First, it wants academic institutions to identify high-profile leaders from their senior management teams, such as vice-chancellors or principals, to provide active public support on these matters. Secondly, it calls on universities to have full-time staff who are dedicated to environmental management, to develop objectives, to set priorities and to establish time-bound targets for the fulfilment of those priorities. Thirdly, it calls on institutions to investigate all their environmental impacts through a comprehensive review, whereby current impacts are measured, potential improvements are identified and performance is monitored. People & Planet's league has begun to assemble some of that information, but if the institutions carry out the work themselves, the position will be much easier to assess.
The fourth key measure that is advocated is the adoption of a written, publicly available environmental policy, which will provide a formal demonstration of intent on environmental performance and will enable us to compare practice. Those seem to be relatively straightforward actions for institutions to take.
I end by recalling the words of the director of Harvard University's green campus initiative, who said:
"environmental sustainability is not just right, it is also the financially viable, business-minded thing to do."
If Scottish academic institutions display that attitude, they will be able to make a great deal of progress over coming years.
I warmly welcome a motion that gives us the chance to celebrate some of the fantastic work that is being done on campuses across Scotland, and I congratulate Patrick Harvie on getting it on our agenda. I agree, in particular, with the motion's reference to the importance of leadership in the student movement on the issue. Throughout Scotland and the United Kingdom, groups such as People & Planet are pushing environmental policies and pushing universities to go further in incorporating environmental principles in their daily activities. We know that if every other country had the same carbon footprint as Scotland, we would need three planets to sustain us. That situation cannot continue, and our universities and colleges are leading the way in setting out a different path.
Our educational institutions have begun to act in several key ways. They are looking at their estates, their buildings, their use of energy and how their campuses are accessed by public transport. They are considering whether the amount of waste that they produce can be reduced and whether more of it can be recycled. Some fantastically innovative research is being done on campuses on the new economic opportunities that tackling climate change will create for us. The purchasing and investment policies of our universities and our student associations are another crucial area.
As MSPs, we have a role to play in celebrating what has been achieved and in supporting and encouraging campuses to go further. I am particularly proud of the leadership that has been shown in Edinburgh. Patrick Harvie mentioned the University of Edinburgh, which has done fantastically well, thanks to the actions of not only individual students and university staff, but the academic leaders, who are signed up to making progress. A big change is happening in key areas, including energy, transport and waste.
In their own way, the four universities in Edinburgh are all beginning to be leaders and innovators. The University of Edinburgh has begun to do fantastic work on energy issues. Last year, it gained a national energy efficiency award. Its fantastic trigeneration scheme, through which it saves £500,000 year, is worth going to see. It uses a combined heat and power system, which was retrofitted to make an existing campus more energy efficient.
At its Merchiston campus, Napier University is leading the way in the retrofitting of photovoltaic panels, and the new Craiglockhart building has a highly visible set of solar panels. The university is taking day-to-day measures, for example to minimise heat loss, use natural daylight more effectively and make better use of natural means such as shading and window operation that prevent energy from being wasted and flying out through the windows.
At its new campus, where it uses biomass heating, Queen Margaret University has a huge focus on reducing its carbon emissions. It has sought to achieve a 75 per cent reduction on the carbon emissions that would have been generated through the use of traditional methods. Significant gains are being made on our campuses.
Students and universities can also use their purchasing power to make a difference. At the University of Edinburgh, fantastic progress is being made on Fairtrade products, which are now offered as the default option in all bars, cafeterias and campus outlets. People at the university drink an awful lot of coffee, but nowadays they drink Fairtrade coffee, which makes a difference not only by raising awareness but through better terms and conditions for people who produce coffee and better environmental conditions in coffee-producing countries.
There is a huge amount of best practice out there. I hope that, in her summing-up, the cabinet secretary will commit to taking on board the best practice across Scotland and making it everyday practice.
On the procurement guidelines for new investment in our institutions across Scotland, all institutions need to hit the best targets that they can achieve. They need to be leaders and champions in tackling climate change and promoting high energy efficiency and low consumption standards. There is a huge opportunity. I hope that the cabinet secretary will seize the day.
I congratulate Patrick Harvie on bringing the motion to the chamber and facilitating the debate. I was happy to lend my support to the motion.
People & Planet has been active since my time at university, although my experience is rather more recent than that of many members in the chamber. That said, one notable exception is Richard Baker, who was the president of the National Union of Students in Scotland when I was the senior vice-president of the University of Glasgow student representative council.
Those involved in People & Planet are to be congratulated on their activism. In a day and age when cynicism seems to run rampant, those involved in People & Planet scotch the myth that the young, including students, lack the social concerns of their forebears. I challenge anyone to turn up at an event that it has organised and go on to assert that student activism is dead.
The young may identify less with traditional party politics, but the big issues of our time—whether the drive for environmental change or the anti-war movement—continue to attract support. It is important for those of us who went down the traditional party-political route to engage with and support such extra-parliamentary activity. Today's debate is an important part of that process.
This Government and previous Administrations have stated their desire to use universities as a driving force for economic development. I have no problem with that—indeed, I support it. However, as much as being drivers for economic growth, our universities must be exemplars when it comes to environmental management. They must make the best use of the resources that are available to them.
Therefore, it is with some disappointment that I note the relatively poor performance of Scottish higher education institutions in the People & Planet green league for environmental performance, which is the league table to which Patrick Harvie referred. The league table is a clever idea: it ranks the performance of universities by traditional university grade. Congratulations are due to the two Scottish universities that achieved a first: the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews. Given the commonplace suggestion that almost all students come away from university with a 2:1—and before any member asks the question, I include myself in that category—it was with some surprise that I noted that no Scottish university achieved that grade. It was also with some disappointment that I noted that my alma mater, the University of Glasgow, achieved only a 2:2, although I take solace from the fact that we finished just ahead of the University of Strathclyde. That should just about see us through.
Joking aside, we have to think about why Scotland ranks so badly among United Kingdom universities. Are our sights as a nation lifted high enough? In the past, did our universities not receive the support that they needed? Would it not be better for our university principals to direct some of the thousands that they awarded themselves in the recent pay increase towards ensuring best environmental practice?
I look forward to hearing what the cabinet secretary has to say on these matters. Climate change is the great challenge of our time. Nowadays, students may be the ones who rise to meet the challenge. Today, we need to encourage them. I congratulate People & Planet on the positive role that it plays.
I add my thanks to Patrick Harvie for bringing the debate to the chamber.
It goes without saying that there is now almost universal acceptance that one of the greatest challenges that faces politicians these days is the tough assignment of changing attitudes on climate change. The temptation is to think that it can be left to international organisations and national Governments, but much of what has to happen is personal and has to be done at the local level. It is therefore vital that the large proportion of local government activity should be underpinned by constructive greener politics. Of course, that has a major implication for many of our higher education institutions.
Without any question, there is an issue for schools, universities and colleges. As has already been said, they can be the driving force. In the first instance, it is vital that they understand the bigger picture and are provided with a clear statement of the objectives or targets that they are expected to meet, of the initiatives that they can adopt and of how government at whatever level can help them. In that respect, it is important that all action to change our attitudes on climate change is based on sound scientific reasoning. There should be a clear understanding of the level of commitment—especially of financial resources—that will be required both to ensure the success of green projects and to find the appropriate incentive for essential economic growth. I am all too well aware of the different tensions that pull in opposite directions.
Clearly, budget spending in the area is extremely tight. On top of that, our educational institutions in Scotland face major difficulties in funding their basic teaching duties—which, as we know, are already under considerable strain—as well as in finding adequate resources to address the green agenda.
People & Planet and its go green campaign have done a huge amount to highlight the problem, but there will have to be a much wider debate on the need to balance an extremely ambitious—sometimes overambitious—set of green targets with the academic priorities of institutions and the needs of the rest of the economy.
If anything was thrown up by the recent good but controversial debate about AI Gore and the Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth", it was the need to keep hold of the true perspective—arousing the powerful emotive responses that are required to change our attitudes, while at the same time ensuring that policy is based on scientific fact. On that front, results from the green agenda will be important.
In summing up, I will give a brief list of what I think we have to do better. First, we should not overlook the role of our universities and colleges and their outstanding research into technological innovations that are aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of mankind's activities. Government needs to consider carefully how to provide the best incentives for that research in Scotland.
Secondly, we need to ensure that universities and colleges use existing technology and good practice to make their campuses greener, for example by applying for funding for microrenewable installations such as on-campus wind turbines and solar panels.
Thirdly, I ask ministers to consider setting up the Scottish public procurement unit that was proposed in the Conservative manifesto. The unit would allow local food producers to serve the institutions and therefore reduce the carbon footprint.
People & Planet's intentions are admirable, and it has done a huge amount of work for which it deserves great praise. However, there should be a word of caution about setting unrealistic targets. It is vital that we take this debate forward in the wider context. For that reason, my congratulations to Mr Harvie on his motion are not quite unqualified. Nonetheless, it was vital that he secured the debate in Parliament.
My congratulations to Patrick Harvie are completely unqualified.
I have an interest to declare: I am a former rector of the University of Edinburgh and I am the present rector of the University of Aberdeen. I congratulate People & Planet on the huge amount of work that it has done over the past decade, if not longer, and on the results that it has achieved. The new tool—which is how I think of it—of comparing the environmental performances of universities and colleges will be extremely useful.
I will dwell briefly on a couple of points that Patrick Harvie made. He mentioned the need to involve senior staff at universities, the need for full-time members of staff to address environmental performance and the need for a comprehensive review of the environmental performance of universities. Those are important starting points.
The University of Edinburgh is so far ahead because it took exactly that route. It also had a think tank in the form of the centre for human ecology, which was led by Ulrich Loening. David Somerville also deserves to be mentioned because, as the environmental manager for the university, he has moved issues forward greatly. At Edinburgh University there has been People & Planet, pressure from the students association and the appointment of vice-principal Geoffrey Boulton to head the university's environment committee. Other universities and colleges should examine that committee as an example of how to make progress. The committee membership includes students, academic staff, the trade unions and a representative of City of Edinburgh Council. The way to take matters forward is to realise that the environment is comprehensive, and that universities sit within another environment as well.
I must spring to the defence of Aberdeen University—we deserve better than third place. A couple of things are not measured, one of which is progress in curriculum development, on which Aberdeen has made progress, for example in the engineering department's sustainability course. Like Edinburgh University, most of the Aberdeen campus is serviced by a combined heat and power system, which will pay for itself in future.
Elizabeth Smith had concerns about investment, but investment in sustainability results in a win-win situation, because universities and colleges save money. It is a question of public money, and the greater the efficiency, the more money will be saved.
I remind members that in the previous session, when the Audit Committee took evidence from the head of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, I asked why the funding council did not ask universities to report on their environmental sustainability. He told us that he had not been instructed to do so by the Government. Shortly afterwards, I believe that Jim Wallace required the funding council to ask universities to report on their energy efficiency and environmental performance. I ask the cabinet secretary whether she will require the new funding council to do exactly the same.
I again congratulate Patrick Harvie on securing the debate.
I also congratulate Patrick Harvie on securing the debate.
World-leading research on environmental policy and renewable energy technologies is going on right now in many of our campuses, not just at Aberdeen University but at Edinburgh and other institutions. It is particularly important that such crucial research takes place on campuses that are themselves environmentally sustainable.
Patrick Harvie was right to highlight where Scottish institutions came in last year's environmental league table and where they could do much better.
Institutions could do better in repairing and replacing ageing university infrastructure. That requires additional investment, as highlighted in a recent Audit Scotland report. Colleagues will be aware that I have taken great issue with the Scottish Government on revenue funding for our universities. Environmental sustainability on campus is likely to be affected by the funding settlement. As under the previous Executive, there is significant capital investment in tertiary education, therefore it is vital that it is invested in buildings that have environmental sustainability at their core. It is also important that the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council should have a role in ensuring that that is the case, as well as in encouraging university courts and boards of management to develop sustainability policies for their campuses.
The motion is particularly important because it acknowledges that creating greener campuses is not simply about decisions that are made at an institutional management level. There cannot simply be a top-down approach. It is important that students themselves take the initiative, through the campaigning of individual groups and through the efforts of NUS Scotland and individual students associations. Jamie Hepburn took the initiative with Glasgow University students representative council—when he was not calling on me to resign. It is important that political societies also take the issue seriously. I know that Labour students do.
The work of groups such as People & Planet is vital, not only for securing the future sustainability of campuses but for our society as a whole. While the activities of those students benefit the environment, their educational campaigns have an impact on the rest of our community.
Our educational institutions should be at the forefront of research into environmental sustainability, and there should be exciting capital projects on campuses. For example, the University of Aberdeen's new library must be sustainable. I am sure that our rector, Mr Harper, will do all that he can to ensure that the project is exciting and environmentally sustainable. That should be the model for campuses throughout Scotland.
The University of Aberdeen should also be congratulated on recently adopting an environmental strategy—the court has approved it. Also, 20 environmental champions have been appointed throughout the university's departments.
The rector is of course right, and I am sure that he takes credit for that.
Through such initiatives and through capital projects such as the exciting new library in Aberdeen, we should ensure that Scotland takes a world lead in securing greener campuses.
I thank Patrick Harvie for securing the debate, and I broadly welcome its terms. He is so youthful—I cannot believe that he was at university 15 years ago. However, I am sure that that is the case. I acknowledge the role of People & Planet in campaigning on environmental performance. If I heard correctly, Robin Harper is appealing for a resit for the University of Aberdeen to raise its position from third in the green league table. I am afraid, however, that my responsibilities do not extend to that.
As members know, a greener Scotland is one of the Government's five strategic objectives. We want Scotland to be a global leader in combating climate change. We will consult on a Scottish climate change bill, which will include proposals for a statutory target to reduce Scottish emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. That target is ambitious, and it will require everyone to contribute. Educational institutions can be leaders, both through improvements to their infrastructure and through the education that they deliver.
Scottish building regulations already have the most demanding energy standards in the UK. Through Scottish planning policy 6, which is entitled "Renewable Energy", all future developments of more than 500m2, which will include most of our educational institutions, should incorporate on-site zero-carbon and low-carbon equipment, which will contribute at least an extra 15 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions beyond the stipulations of the 2007 planning regulations. We will consult on further changes to the building regulations.
The Government is committed to encouraging energy efficiency and making the most of Scotland's vast renewable resource. We support a number of measures to achieve those aims, such as the central energy efficiency fund and the Scottish community and householder renewables initiative.
There are already some fantastic examples of sustainable schools, such as Windygoul primary school, which the First Minister opened last year. We will work with the school to provide further advice and guidance and to promote good practice as the fabric of the school estate is improved. I have already instructed officials to provide opportunities for the sharing of best practice in the environmental and sustainable development of the school estate.
Learning to make Scotland sustainable is a major strand of our approach to sustainable development issues. In his speech to Parliament on 13 June 2007, my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, made clear our commitment to drive forward Scotland's action plan for the United Nations decade of education for sustainable development in our schools, colleges and universities. Scotland's educational institutions are ideally placed to lead by example, by addressing their own contributions to climate change, by educating others and by helping to develop the solutions and technologies that will be needed for Scotland to be at the forefront of the global response.
We support the eco-schools programme. More than 90 per cent of our schools are registered on the programme. Scotland is at the forefront of that important international initiative. Last year, the Minister for Schools and Skills, Maureen Watt, presented the 500th green flag award. That is a fantastic achievement, and we are international leaders in that regard. In addition, we fund Learning and Teaching Scotland to support sustainable development education in schools, and the curriculum review will ensure that environmental education is integrated into all curriculum areas. Members might be interested to know that this year, for the first time, the Scottish education awards has a greener schools category.
The student-led campaign from People & Planet that we have heard about today identifies that some of our higher education institutions could perform more strongly. There is room for improvement, but we should also recognise some of the achievements of our colleges and universities in creating green campuses. Liz Smith was correct to address the issue of research. Just last night, I was discussing with Professor Andrew Hamnett and his colleagues from the University of Strathclyde some of the issues around power and renewable energy. I hear the call for university principals to do more to support the go green campaign. I note that Professor Hamnett previously took part in a go green week at his institution, and I urge other principals to do likewise.
As a number of members have said, in November 2006 The Times Higher Education Supplement named the University of St Andrews as the university that had made the most outstanding contribution to sustainable development. St Andrews is also delivering internationally recognised education in sustainable development. Its sustainable development undergraduate programme is unique, not only within the UK but globally. It is a direct response to the United Nations decade of education for sustainable development and its first graduates will qualify in 2008.
The new John Wheatley College in Glasgow was built on a commitment to the philosophy of sustainable development, and it has gained an excellent rating in the Building Research Establishment environmental assessment method—BREEAM—assessment, which is a fantastic achievement. Further, as Sarah Boyack said, the University of Edinburgh has shown leadership in reducing energy use.
There are numerous other examples of good practice across the further and higher education institutions, which are signed up to the objectives of the environmental association for universities and colleges through its campus sustainability programme, which is supported financially by the Scottish funding council. Those institutions are well placed to pursue best practice, as a number of members have said. The principles of sustainable development have been incorporated into the Scottish funding council's estate strategy guidance, and data on environmental indicators will now form part of the estates returns from colleges to the Scottish funding council. I expect the Scottish funding council to contribute to the Government's strategic objectives for sustainability, which Robin Harper and Richard Baker mentioned.
There is much room for improvement. I look forward, in particular, to Aberdeen University improving its position—I am sure that there is a great drive for it to do so, under the leadership of its rector. It is important to share the best practice that exists throughout the sector. Measures are in place to support our objectives and, more important, the Government and our institutions have the aspiration and drive. As many members, including Jamie Hepburn, have recognised, the leadership that students and staff of our institutions show is as important as what we do at a national level.
I fully support students' involvement in the go green week and I wish them every success.
Meeting suspended until 14:15.
On resuming—