November 2024 was the ninth year for Scottish colleges and universities to submit their Public Bodies Climate Change Duties (PBCCD) reports as named 'major players' within the public sector. 

EAUC Scotland, as part its Scottish Funding Council-funded programme, has produced an annual report analysing 2023/24's submissions and recommending areas for improvement and action. The report for the 2023/24 submissions, as well as separate reports for the college and university education sectors, are available to download at the bottom of this page.

Key trends include:

Emissions reporting and analysis

• Generally, the quality of the sector’s reports has improved this year, and some institutions have expanded their reporting boundaries to include new emission sources for the first time, particularly for f-gases, fleet vehicles, hotel stays, commuting and international student travel.
   
• Whilst reported sector operational emissions have decreased by 21% since 2015/16, they rose 4% between 2022/23 and 2024. EAUC Scotland define “operational emissions” as all scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as scope 3 emissions from energy transmission and distribution, water supply and treatment, waste, business travel, hotel stays and homeworking. The increase is predominately due to increased use of business travel flights within the university sector and improved reporting of fleet vehicle and homeworking emissions.
   
• There has been a 1% decrease in reported emissions from natural gas and a 1% increase in electricity emissions between 2022/23 and 2023/24 reporting periods. These trends are likely to have been caused by a reduction in demand for natural gas through space management, energy efficiency upgrades, heat pump installations and an increase in the use of electric fleet vehicles. Overall, since 2015/16, sector reported emissions from natural gas and electricity have reduced 6% and 56%, respectively

Climate risk and adaptation analysis

• The sector has evidenced an improvement in both its understanding of climate risk and implementation of adaptation action. However, 70% of the sector still evidenced no or limited understanding of their climate risk. In addition, sector PBCCD submissions generally evidence no or limited narrative of how adaptation action has supported the objectives of Scotland’s National Adaptation Plan.

Sector recommendations include:

• Overall, there remains a gap between the sector and its compliance with the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency and draft statutory guidance for public bodies on putting the Climate Change (Scotland) Duties into practice. Institutions should report all relevant emission sources for 2024/25 PBCCD submissions.
  
  Institutions can use the Guidance for Scottish colleges and universities: Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reporting to help the completion of their PBCCD submission. The following resources and tools are also freely available to help measure and report the following emission sources:
  Scope 3 supply chains: APUC Scope 3 Supply Chain Emissions Tool Guide
  Staff and student commuting, and staff homeworking: EAUC Commuting Survey Guide and Emissions Tool
  Student relocation travel: Domestic and International Student Relocation Travel Emissions Calculator
   
• With the Scottish Government expectation of zero direct emissions from public body estate buildings by 2038, the sector must focus efforts to understand, reduce and decarbonise heating emissions.
   
• With 93% of university business travel emissions arising from flights in 2023/24, tackling this area should be an institutional priority. Institutions can draw support from EAUC's Business Travel Guide and Reducing aviation emissions in the tertiary education and research sector series: briefing paper.
   
• Supply chain emissions represent 50% of reported sector emissions for 2022/23, despite only 60% of institutions in Scotland reporting this emission source within their PBCCD return. The sector should proactively reduce institutional demand for resources and engage with their supply chains to improve sustainability understanding and action.
   
• The sector should dedicate time to understand both current and future climate risk, in line with the Climate Change Committee’s advice of adapt to 2^oc of global warming and assess risks of up to 4^oc. Risk assessments and adaptation action should consider the functions of the institution holistically, covering estates and infrastructure, operations and people. Institutions can use EAUC's Climate Risk Register Guide and Tool for support.