Climate change duties: statutory guidance for public bodies

Annex L: Sectoral guidance: higher and further education

This annex provides further information for colleges and universities:

• role of the Scottish Funding Council
• support for higher and further education bodies
• resources
• reporting - student travel: student relocation travel emissions
• embedding sustainability within learning and teaching
• embedding sustainability within research practices
• internationalisation and sustainability.

Role of the Scottish Funding Council

The Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) Net Zero and Sustainability Framework for Action establishes a clear, long-term plan for how it will support Scotland’s colleges and universities through the transition to net zero, reflecting improved corporate accountability and collective responsibility across the Further and Higher Education sectors.

The SFC expects institutions to have or to put in place organisation-wide net zero plans by the end of 2024, and to be able to highlight key priorities and dates for delivery of these.

The SFC’s Outcomes Framework and Assurance Model sets out the expectations of colleges and universities in return for the funding they receive, and the mechanism by which SFC will engage with colleges and universities to monitor delivery against outcomes. Net zero and sustainability is a cross-cutting outcome across nine themes (seven for colleges), setting the expectation that institutions mainstream and embed net zero and sustainability into all aspects of their operations: Outcomes Framework and Assurance Model - Scottish Funding Council

Support for higher and further education bodies

EAUC and EAUC Scotland

EAUC is the leading body for sustainability in the post-16 education sector in the UK and Ireland. Primarily a membership body, they serve over 300 organisations whilst also working to change systems that enable sustainability action. Scottish colleges and universities, as well as other post-16 education providers, can become members of EAUC to access a wide variety of sector-specific support.

In addition, since 2012, SFC have funded additional support through EAUC to the Scottish sector. The EAUC Scotland programme provides the sector with access to bespoke resources, knowledge-sharing and capacity-building to help institutions respond to the public bodies climate change duties.

APUC (Advanced Procurement for Colleges and Universities)

APUC is the procurement centre of expertise for, and jointly owned by, Scotland’s higher and further education sector. APUC works to help the sector benefit from collaborative procurement. APUC addresses the climate and ecological emergency as a strategic priority and assists member institutions to address these through procurement activity.

Co-ordinated by APUC, the higher and further education sector published its sector Supply Chain Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy 2022-2030 in 2022. This strategy sets out commitments around carrying out operations in an environmentally, socially, ethically and economically responsible manner. The supply chain is seen as a key focus for early attention across all institutions to significantly reduce GHG emissions from goods and services. APUC provides guidance and supporting tools and services to assist its member institutions in the implementation of this strategy.

Resources

Colleges and universities are classed as ‘major players’ and are subject to the statutory reporting duty. College and university specific resources and tools include:

PBCCD reporting:

• Guidance for Scottish colleges and universities: PBCCD reporting. Developed for the Scottish college and university sector, the resource sits alongside the Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN) PBCCD reporting guidance to help draw out what the PBCCD reporting questions mean or could mean for a college or university context.

Emissions reduction and reporting – EAUC Resources page:

• The Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework (SCEF) is a sector-led, voluntary emissions reporting framework that takes the GHG Protocol and applies it to the context of post-16 education. The aim of its use is to create standardised emissions reporting methodologies across the sector
• Business Travel Guide for Further and Higher Education
• Commuting Survey Guide and Emissions Calculator Tool
• Domestic and International Student Travel Emissions Calculator Tool
• Scope 3 Supply Chain Emissions Reporting Tool from APUC
• Walk-through guide to using the APUC scope 3 tool
• Carbon Coalition offsetting service.

Understanding climate risk and taking adaptation action – EAUC Resources page:

• Climate Risk Register Guide and Tool
• Climate Risk Profiles for Scottish College and University campuses
• Climate Risk and Adaptation Communication Pack
• Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Guide.

Acting sustainably:

• FE Climate Action Roadmap – EAUC Resources
• Sustainability Leadership Scorecard – EAUC Resources
• Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice
• Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), My Green Lab and Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation
• Climate Action Barometer for international education
• Sustainability Champions Learning Pack – EAUC Resources
• Staff and student-facing Green Careers Guides – EAUC Resources
• Scottish Government’s Learning for sustainability: action plan 2023 to 2030.

Implementing the first duty: reducing emissions

Reporting - Student travel: student relocation travel emissions

Student relocation travel emissions are those generated by students travelling from their place of permanent residence to the place of study at the start and end of each term or academic year. Domestic and international student relocation emissions form a significant proportion of university scope 3 emissions: for example, within the 2021-22 public bodies duties reporting, these emissions accounted for between 11 and 21% of total reported emissions for the institutions that included them. In line with the GHG Protocol, universities should measure and report emissions arising from this source.

The sector can use the Domestic and International Student Travel Emissions Calculator Tool developed by the University of Aberdeen and made available through EAUC Scotland to measure and report these emissions. The tool requires student registry data (number of students per nation) and the distance from the main regional airport to the institution (in kilometres) to start measuring and reporting these emissions. Institutions can improve the granularity of the tool in future based on available student travel survey data. The tool also includes historical UK GHG conversion factors to allow institutions to backdate emission source data to 2015-16. EAUC will update the tool annually with the latest conversion factors.

EAUC have also developed a Commuting Survey Guide and Tool. This resource package intends to provide a standardised approach for the sector to report on staff and student commuting emissions.

Implementing the third duty: acting in the most sustainable way

Embedding sustainability within learning and teaching

A core function of the tertiary education sector is to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, values and agency to apply their disciplinary expertise to real-world challenges, driving a just, climate-resilient and nature-positive society and economy. This is increasingly recognised through international policy as well as in domestic sector policies, systems and frameworks nationally.

Within Scotland, embedding sustainability in learning and teaching is central to Scotland’s tertiary mission. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) expects providers to integrate Learning for Sustainability (LfS) in universities (internationally this is also referred to as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)) across taught provision and align skills with Scotland’s just transition. This dovetails with economic priorities and several Scottish strategies, including the 2026-2040 Climate Change Plan, which reorientates the skills system towards net zero and green growth. Together, these set a clear policy signal that curricula should equip every learner, in any discipline, with capabilities for a climate-resilient, fair economy.

National reference points increasingly make this explicit. The UK Quality Code for Higher Education (2024) sets sector-agreed principles for quality and standards, within which sustainability is a shared expectation for strategy, partnership and delivery. Subject Benchmark Statements include sustainability as a cross-cutting theme when they are revised. Professional expectations are clear too: the Professional Standards for Lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges require staff to “embrace and embed sustainability in learning and teaching”. These documents shape quality monitoring and reporting as part of Scotland’s Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF).

LfS and ESD approaches taken by institutions will depend upon contextual circumstances: learner cohorts, subject specialisms, level of learning and communities served.

EAUC provides a curated hub of LfS or ESD tools, research, case studies and communities of practice, and provides tailored ESD support with Scottish colleges and universities. Comprehensive and practical guidance is available for universities (QAA, 2021) and colleges (EAUC, 2026).

Embedding sustainability within research practices

Another core function of the tertiary education sector is research and innovation. Scotland is well known as a country whose institutions create, develop and share critically important research. In the last Research Excellence Framework assessment, 84.86% of the research submitted by Scotland’s universities has been judged to be world-leading (4 star) or internationally excellent (3 star) in its quality.

However, institutional research strategies and operations can run outside of, and in tension with, institutional sustainability policies and commitments. Therefore, institutions should reflect on - and then deliver - actions to embed sustainability holistically within their research practices – both in terms of what is researched, and how.

One mechanism to support this is by becoming a signatory of the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice. The voluntary concordat has been co-developed by the UK research and innovation (R&I) sector (including the Scottish Funding Council) and represents a shared ambition for the UK to continue delivering cutting-edge research, but in a more environmentally responsible and sustainable way. It is now a requirement from specific research funding bodies, such as the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, that funding applicants are signatories of the concordat.

SFC itself is also a signatory. While SFC do not currently require institutions to become signatories, it does expect them to be familiar with the principles. Through the 2025 Research Assurance and Accountability process institutions were invited to comment on their current or planned position with regard to the concordat.

Signatories to this concordat agree to the following six areas where they commit to taking action at a whole institutional level and collectively across the sector to deliver real change by 2050:

1. leadership and system change

2. sustainable Infrastructure

3. sustainable procurement

4. emissions from business and academic travel

5. collaborations and partnerships

6. environmental impact and reporting data.

Institutions can also use frameworks such as the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), My Green Lab and Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation to strengthen sustainable research practices within laboratory environments.

Internationalisation and sustainability

Scotland welcomes international students, staff, and researchers, recognising the important and valuable contribution they make to the Scottish economy, our educational environment, our society, and our communities.

Our universities and colleges are globally respected. The National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) highlights that Scotland has more top universities per head of population than any other country in the world and is in the top quartile of OECD countries for Higher Education Research & Development. As highlighted by the College Development Network’s International Ambitions Report, Scottish colleges successfully export, engage, and excel overseas. They welcome students from over 130 countries, hold partnerships from Azerbaijan to Vietnam and attracted more Erasmus+ funding per capita for their staff and students than the rest of the UK. Colleges act as ‘enablers’ of internationalisation given their responsibility to reflect the needs of industry, government, and internationally competitive skills.

Our universities and colleges provide world class education, skills training, and overseas collaborations that bring education to developing countries. This allows Scotland to work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals by providing education, research, and innovation in other countries. Such initiatives are an important part of our overall inclusive, welcoming, and diverse educational environment, which actively promotes knowledge transfer and shared experience between nations.

However, as noted above, internationalisation strategies and operations can run outside of, and in tension with, institutional sustainability policies and commitments.

Therefore, whilst there are no expectations to reduce international student recruitment, universities and colleges should review internationalisation strategies and operations and explore opportunities for improving the environmental and social sustainability of institutional practices relating to:

• international marketing and recruitment
• staff travel
• staff and student engagement.

Considerations to explore include:

• equipping all learners with the skills, knowledge and values to support sustainable development
• ways of reducing business travel flights associated with internationalisation practices
• developing partnerships and building capacity within partner institutions and organisations to support international student recruitment and research activities.

Institutions can use initiatives such as the International Education Sustainability Group’s Climate Action Barometer to inform and support this work.