Our commitment...
Education is often cited as the answer to some of the world's greatest challenges, including climate change. At Barnsley College, we understand we have a duty to equip students, staff and stakeholders with the tools and knowledge to make a difference to the world around them. We continue to work to embed sustainable development into all aspects of teaching and learning, while striving to ensure our estate stands as an example for its efficient, environmentally-conscious design and operation.
Engagement is also a key part of our award-winning approach – cascading knowledge and opportunities throughout the College and wider community to effect real cultural change in attitudes and understanding of climate change and its impacts.
Our driving themes
Estates
Our aim is to reduce energy usage across the whole estate. We prioritise sustainability when constructing and maintaining buildings, such as in our new Church Street campus. Nature plays a big part in our estate, and we continually search for ways to enhance, improve, and protect biodiversity.
Operations
We endeavour to operate as a sustainable institution, from the way our staff and students travel to college, all the way through to our procurement practices. This is no easy feat, and we constantly search and develop new methods of improving our sustainable operations.
Curriculum
Sustainability is woven through all of our teaching and learning. By using methods like ESD, we aim to prepare our students for a future in a low carbon economy. All of our staff are offered the opportunity to become certified Carbon Literate.
Engagement
Bringing our stakeholders on board with our Sustainability Strategy is key to achieving our aims. We celebrate and share best practice, seek collaboration opportunities, and work together to embed a positive sustainability focussed-culture, across the organisation and beyond.
Sustainability News
Our Sustainability Strategy
The Sustainability Strategy sets out our vision, approach and driving themes in detail. The College has set a target to become net zero carbon by 2045, joining more than 1,000 global education institutions in the Race to Zero campaign. Embedding Education for Sustainable Development into the curriculum, and tailoring this to each subject area, equips students with the knowledge and skills to make a difference – and prepares them for a future that's more conscious of environmental impacts than ever before.
As a local anchor institution, we also have a duty to sustainable procurement and use our position to make, and encourage, more considerate choices – taking into account the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
