LJMU wins net zero carbon award

LJMU has won a national energy and sustainability award for its work to cut carbon emissions.

The university is the winner of the Net Zero Strategy 2024 award from the Energy Managers Association (EMA), a leading association for UK professionals delivering carbon reduction, net zero and sustainable green recovery strategies.

The award recognises LJMU’s commitment to climate and sustainability and its comprehensive approach to decarbonising its estate and activities.

After declaring a climate emergency in 2020, the university launched its Climate Action Plan, which sets out its path to net zero carbon and a number of impactful supporting plans, including a Decarbonisation Plan and Carbon Management Plan.

Delivering results

The university’s initiatives are delivering significant results, with gas consumption cut by 25% over the last two years and electricity use down by 10% in the same period. The replacement of gas boilers with air source heat pumps at the Henry Cotton Building has cut carbon emissions by 30%.

Further measures being rolled out across the LJMU estate include:

The installation of air source heat pumps in more buildings
Installing more solar panels
Upgrade to LED lighting across the estate
Improving the insulation, window glazing and draft proofing our buildings
Ensuring efficient use of space to optimise energy use
Improving the data we capture on energy use so that we can better target areas on campus
Switching to electric when vehicles are due to be upgraded

We are delighted to win the EMA’s Net Zero Strategy award and receive this external recognition for the work we are doing to reduce our carbon emissions. We have put it in place a wide range of hard and soft measures in recent years to ensure our estate and activities are sustainable and we are already seeing a significant positive impact on our energy and carbon performance.

We will continue to drive forward our green strategies and work with partners locally, nationally and globally to find sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.

I would like to thank everybody at LJMU who is helping to deliver this agenda across all aspects of the university. I’d particularly like to thank our energy manager, Nia Williams, who led on the submission for this award. This success is fantastic recognition of everybody’s dedication to this crucial work.