Sustainability
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
At USW, we are committed to becoming an exemplar university for sustainability within Wales and across the UK, embedding sustainability in everything that we do.
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We are keen to identify opportunities to have a positive impact and we are proud of the progress we have made so far on our journey to Net Zero by 2040.
Key Achievements
More on our key achievements
- The Sustainability Committee has effectively provided the strategic direction required by the University in conjunction with USW’s Roadmap to Net Zero and set in motion key work strands to deliver these near-term targets.
- The five sustainability focus groups have successfully combined the skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm of staff and students from across the University to share ideas and implement sustainability initiatives.
- Our Sustainability Champions group has increased membership to 68 volunteers, and acts as an effective medium for engagement through formal meetings and informally via sharing of events, ideas, proposals, and initiatives that will help us achieve our longer term targets at USW.
- We have launched our Turn USW Green web app that rewards 'Green Points' for positive environmental actions which promote sustainable living habits and help USW achieve its 2040 Net Zero target.
- We have reduced our total carbon emissions by 33% compared to the 2018/19 baseline.
- Since 2018/19, USW has achieved a 38% reduction in what are known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions – those that we emit directly through consumption of gas for heating, hot water and ventilation, and indirect emissions such as the electricity or energy we buy.
- The university’s direct (Scope 1 and 2) emissions have reduced by 41% since 2005, despite an increase in campus size and student numbers.
- We have reviewed expenditure data from our supply chain for those categories with the highest Scope 3 carbon impact and improved our understanding of this data with a view to targeting emissions reduction in high impact areas.
- USW has procured all the electricity it uses from 100 per cent renewable sources such as solar and wind since 2016/17 and has retrofitted its buildings to optimise energy use.
- We have installed 400KW of solar panels on the roofs of our academic and residential buildings which generate 0.5% of our total energy demand and we are scoping out further installations in the coming years.
- There has been continued investment in numerous LED lighting initiatives, with more than 85% of our estate now covered by efficient LED lighting cutting carbon and cost and improving the internal environment for students and staff.
- Five solar powered charging benches have been installed at our Glyntaff, Treforest and Sports Park Campuses.
- We have undertaken design work to start moving some of our buildings away from a reliance on natural gas, exploring technologies such as Air Source Heat Pumps.
- We have invested in our Building Management System to improve controls strategies for our building plant and equipment to save energy.
- We introduced a circular economy scheme removing all disposable cups from all of USW’s catering outlets. In its place, a USW Cup scheme was launched for students and staff – a deposit/return initiative. Customers also have the option to use their own cup, mug, or purchase a reusable one at a cheaper price.
- We have launched our own ‘Waste not want not’ scheme alongside ‘Too good to go’ to reduce retail food waste.
- Single stream bins have been introduced across the estate aligned to Welsh Government requirements in support of their strategy ‘Towards Zero Waste’.
- We have purchased seven new electric vans and an electric utility vehicle for the Estates and Facilities teams.
- Six solar powered EV bike charging pods have been procured to promote the use of electric bikes as a sustainable travel mode.
- We have installed an additional eight electric vehicle charging stations, including a 50kw high speed charging unit, two additional 22kW units and one 25KW unit (at our Glyntaff and Treforest campuses)
- We have developed a new three-year Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-26 with site specific objectives and targets that will focus on improving biodiversity and ecosystem resilience across our campuses.
- We have allocated dedicated areas of the Glyntaff Campus for wilding to increase biodiversity, wildflowers, and species diversity.
- We have continued to plant trees across Glyntaff and Treforest campuses.
- We have made upgrades to the Woodland walk in Treforest and provided Woodland Management Training for six members of the Biodiversity Focus Group.