Examining GHG emissions in the UK Higher Education Sector using HESA data: The University of Southampton in context
Examining GHG emissions in the UK Higher Education Sector using HESA data: The University of Southampton in context
At the time of writing the University of Southampton is reviewing and refreshing its Sustainability Strategy. One aspect of this is its direct and indirect GHG emissions.
‘Sustainability’ rankings for Universities based on emissions and other data exist and, despite the problems discussed in this paper, they may be useful for benchmarking, However while benchmarks may be useful for comparative purposes, they do not particularly help us to focus on the biggest problems at the institutional level.
This report uses data on GHG emissions (Source: HESA (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/ estates/)) submitted by UK HE institutions to HESA to examine the size of the problems we face with the data we have to hand. As we will see, not all data that could (in principle) be reported is reported by all institutions.
The data used here suggests that energy related Scope 1 and 2 emissions are currently the biggest problem. However this could simply be because non/under-reporting of Scope 3 emissions and systematically under- reporting Scope 3 assessment methods are failing to present the ‘truth’ (Robinson, Kemp, and Williams 2015).
University of Southampton
Anderson, Ben
01e98bbd-b402-48b0-b83e-142341a39b2d
July 2020
Anderson, Ben
01e98bbd-b402-48b0-b83e-142341a39b2d
Anderson, Ben
(2020)
Examining GHG emissions in the UK Higher Education Sector using HESA data: The University of Southampton in context
University of Southampton
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Monograph
(Discussion Paper)
Abstract
At the time of writing the University of Southampton is reviewing and refreshing its Sustainability Strategy. One aspect of this is its direct and indirect GHG emissions.
‘Sustainability’ rankings for Universities based on emissions and other data exist and, despite the problems discussed in this paper, they may be useful for benchmarking, However while benchmarks may be useful for comparative purposes, they do not particularly help us to focus on the biggest problems at the institutional level.
This report uses data on GHG emissions (Source: HESA (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/ estates/)) submitted by UK HE institutions to HESA to examine the size of the problems we face with the data we have to hand. As we will see, not all data that could (in principle) be reported is reported by all institutions.
The data used here suggests that energy related Scope 1 and 2 emissions are currently the biggest problem. However this could simply be because non/under-reporting of Scope 3 emissions and systematically under- reporting Scope 3 assessment methods are failing to present the ‘truth’ (Robinson, Kemp, and Williams 2015).
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Published date: July 2020
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Local EPrints ID: 457430
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457430
PURE UUID: 6173aec9-c71d-467a-bcc3-e21a0d17c781
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Date deposited: 07 Jun 2022 16:59
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 17:40
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