written by Joseph Farthing on February 12, 2010
Students and staff at the University of Edinburgh have pledged to cut their carbon emissions by 10% this year.
“10:10 Week” – a series of events centred around the 10:10 campaign – closed with the unveiling of a three metre wide 10:10 sign made out of recycled aluminium from a scrapped Boeing 747 named “The City of Edinburgh”.
The University’s award-winning CHP Energy Centres have already cut CO2 emissions by 10% over the last five years, but they aim to achieve another 10% reduction this year.
The focus has moved from carbon reductions on campus, which account for just one fifth of the University community’s carbon footprint, to the activities of all 37,000 students and staff.
Vice-Principal Mary Bownes said “As a university we have invested heavily in energy efficiency projects – and will continue to do so; but we seek to engage our most valuable resource – our staff and students – with this issue too.”
Across the campus, Transition Edinburgh University is running specific activities that will cut their personal lifestyle emissions. This new £340k project – funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund – is the first to follow the “Transition Towns” model of grass roots carbon cutting in a higher education setting.
“With the failure of international efforts at Copenhagen it s up to us all to change our own carbon footprint and apply an active handprint to this global challenge” said David Somervell, the University’s Sustainability Adviser.
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