Sheffield Green Credentials

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At Sheffield, we not only want our research to be world-leading, but we also aim to put out knowledge into practice locally.

The university has invested an equivalent £3.8 million to reduce energy use by 15-20% and CO2 emissions by 1.68 million kg per year through a strategic partnership agreement with Schneider Electric [1]

A University of Sheffield Environmental Policy was released in 2009 [2], including the following targets:

By 2015/16 carbon emissions will be reduced by 10% from 2005/6 baseline
Energy and water consumption will be reduced by 10% over 5 years
10% of university-produced waste would be recycled by July 2009 (currently over 82% [3])
Maintain the current level of 72% of staff travelling to work sustainably (currently 74% of the university’s staff commute sustainably [3])
70% of construction, demolition and excavation waste to be diverted away from landfill by July 2010
Environmentally responsible procurement policy and guidelines to be produced by July 2009 [4])

The policy also sets out that sustainability will be incorporated into the curriculum wherever appropriate, sustainable alternatives to single-occupancy car travel for commuting will be encouraged, business travel will be reduced or sustainable alternatives encouraged, all new builds and major refurbishments will aim to achieve BREEAM “Excellent” rating and legislation will be met for pollution with further reductions aimed for.

In collaboration with the Carbon Trust the university has set out a Strategy and Implementation Plan to reduce carbon emissions from 33,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by 20% by 2016-17 [5]. The strategy and implementation plan sets out the above policy points in more detail.

CO2 emissions associated with heating from the university are low due to its connection to Sheffield’s district heating scheme.

University of Sheffield
Dept. of Engineering Materials
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin St.
Sheffield S1 3TD

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fax +44 (0)114 2226015