3. Environmental Plan
Developing an Environmental Management Plan
Once an environmental management structure is in place and you have begun to integrate this structure with as many campus sectors and activities as possible, the next step towards working towards a sustainable campus is the development of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), or at the very least an Energy Management Plan. This can be done in several smaller steps, each of which will most likely require a substantial period of time for development, implementation and review.
The first of these steps however, is identifying all key activities across the overarching categories of carbon (energy and transport), water and waste that impact negatively on the university environmental footprint and measure the level of the impact of each of the overarching categories (the key indicators of environmental performance). Once baseline values have been measured and established for each indicator, these data will be critical in identifying the key areas for improvement and building strategies based on needs to ultimately, create a comprehensive EMP.
STEP I. Determine what will be measured.
Which ecological and social quantitative indicators give insight into the university’s environmental impact?
Natural resources
- Energy: greenhouse gas emissions, electricity and gas consumption, green energy
- Water use: potable water use, percentage recycled water and water capture
- Procurement and waste: waste reduction, recycling and re-use, waste to landfill, total purchases and percentage of green purchases
Infrastructure
- Buildings: current ratings from certification schemes for buildings, green loans
- Sustainable landscapes: watering systems, carbon sequestration, native vs. foreign species
- Sustainable transport: green commuting, bicycle parking, air travel and vehicle emissions and offsets
Community
- Outreach: contact, commitments
- Training: professional development and information transmission
- Events: levels of participation
- Projects: project time and audits
STEP II. Conduct environmental audits, including assessments of current carbon (energy and transport), water and waste volumes.
How will the measurements be made, when and by whom?
- It may be most cost-effective to use existing systems and work out how to maximize the benefits (e.g. using electricity, water and gas bills and embed electronic billing in contracts and training existing staff to collect data in their departments on a regular basis and enforce it through contracts)
- Look for opportunities to streamline and/or standardize measurements to aid in later analysis
STEP III. Analyse and organise the data
Which are the best quantitative units and what presentation format will be employed?
- Keep the following in mind: ease of use, relevance/effectiveness for spurring change, long term consistency, variables’ ability to cut through the “noise” (eg. carbon emissions vs. time, population, floor area or research funding)
- Put the data analysis together in a report, keeping the following in mind:
- Who is the main audience of the report and consequently what is the best format for it?
- Will this format still be applicable in years to come for future reports?
- Develop a reporting structure, including public reporting, and present the information on sustainability performance to University management and the whole university community on a regular basis.