Carbon Footprint
TO VIEW UCS' EMISSIONS AREAS, CLICK THE DROPDOWN ARROW NEXT TO THIS PAGE
UCS has signed up to be a participant in the UN Climate Neutral Now Initiative with the aim of being carbon neutral by 2030 (which also happens to be the year of UCS' bicentenary). However we cannot start to reduce our emissions if we do not know what they are and where we are emitting the most amount of CO2.
To tackle this the school has signed up to work in partnership with One Carbon World, who are a global resource partner of the Climate Neutral Now Initiative which was launched by the United Nations.
Each year we collect all the data required to calculate our emissions. These are broken down into scope 1,2 & 3 emissions (see the diagram below for more information on what this entails). Once all the data is collated, One Carbon World help produce a report on the whole Foundation’s Carbon Footprint so that we can identify areas of highest priority and to set targets to reduce our emissions.
The UN advises a 7.6% reduction in CO2 emissions each year if we, as a society, are to meet the 1.5℃ Paris Accord. We hope to set these targets and exceed them in the future, so that the school can achieve the UN Carbon Neutral International Standard.
To achieve this we will also need to offset the Foundation’s current carbon footprint through Carbon Credits. A carbon credit is the name given for a unit of one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Specifically, in this case, carbon dioxide that has been reduced, or sequestrated via a project. If you would like to find out more about Carbon Credits please see the One Carbon World website.
ABOVE: An introductory video to explain a little more about One Carbon World and why we are measuring our Carbon Footprint