Environmental commitments

We aim to reduce our utility usage while still growing our colleges. This means reducing our CO2 emissions by 50%, by the end of the 2029/2030 academic year. Some small steps we've taken so far include:

• We are in the process of changing all of our lighting to LED, which are more efficient and require less energy.
• We use energy management systems with sensors to ensure our buildings operate in the most efficient way possible.
• All of our electricity is purchased from renewable sources.

As a national college group we are spread across the country. We aim to reduce our CO2 emissions from travel by 50% by the end of the 2029/2030 academic year and develop a transport plan that helps to manage a reduction in travel, as well as investment into electric vehicle (EV) technology.

We have installed EV charging points at our Carlisle, Newcastle and West Lancashire colleges that are reduced cost to staff and students and will soon be launching an electric car lease scheme for staff across the Group. 

We currently hold a Silver Eco Campus Award - a framework for achieving ISO 14001:2015 and hope to achieve an Eco Campus Platinum Award by 2025. 

We aim to reduce our water usage by 10% by the end of the 2024/2025 academic year, by establishing a baseline and identifying areas to reduce consumption. 

By the end of the 2029/2030 academic year we aim to send zero waste to landfill. We'll do this by developing waste management plans and consolidating our suppliers to help us continue reducing our waste, including food waste and will continue to drive down single use plastics from our operations.

We teach thousands of learners across our Group and one of our biggest priorities is ensuring they're given appropriate sustainability awareness training, embedded into their curriculum to support both NCG's approach to sustainability and our learners' awareness of the impact of their industries as they enter the world of work.

We aim to reduce our food waste by 50% by the end of the 2029/2030 academic year and develop a plan for procuring sustainable food. 

We want to increase biodiversity by 5% across all of our college campuses and estate by the end of the 2029/2030 academic year. Newcastle Sixth Form College already has a sedum (green roof) across its building, providing both insulation and biodiversity and we've been busy planting trees across our campuses to help combat climate change and increase biodiversity.