ISBA

14 Autumn 2021 | Environmental sustainability www.theisba.org.uk The main issue is our ability to provide the means by which everyone can change their behaviours positively – the biggest challenges at our school now are around travel to and from school and air travel. How did you go about drafting and presenting the business case for the work? The most important aspect when presenting the business case to the board of governors has been the ability to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of proposals. The reality is that sustainability costs money – and this can be challenging when the paybacks are slow or where there are no direct educational benefits. However, the board accepts the need for change to meet environmental standards set by Government. Did you use a consultant and how did you decide what to do? We worked with consultants linked to our site masterplan and specialists in ESOS compliance to develop the initiatives. In addition, we are supported by OneCarbon World (an organisation that works to deliver the UN’s Climate Neutral Now initiative) to provide an independent assessment of our progress. We also participate in and report on progress to the UN Climate Neutral Now scheme. Our catering company, Chartwells, has been particularly progressive in helping us put in place initiatives on food and housekeeping and we are fortunate in having a very committed team within the school; all of whom have read up extensively on the actions that need to be taken. How are you measuring success and what has been the return on investment so far? We are measuring success against an overall plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030. So, we have a series of targets against all the main initiatives and we are refining the measures continually including the investment needed to realise specific areas. At the moment, it is too early to measure return on investment. The payback on many of the key initiatives will take time to realise and more importantly, we feel it is the right thing to do given the urgent nature of the climate and ecological crises facing humanity. What further plans are in the pipeline? We have a multi-year plan that covers initiatives related to all of the objectives discussed already in this article and our environmental strategy has set quantifiable targets. If budget wasn’t a consideration, what further work would you like to undertake at the school? As you would expect, there are other projects we’d like to consider and these include: • wind turbines (although wind speeds are an issue in north London); • a fully electric coach and minibus fleet (earlier than originally planned); • electric vehicle charging points for use by staff who come to work by car; • more solar panels; • rainwater storage tanks; • kinetic tiles; and • outdoor learning spaces. If you suddenly got an increase in funding for green projects, where would you spend it? Our priorities would be to accelerate initiatives related to electrification of school transport, retrofitting double glazing and then replacing our boilers with air source heat pumps (ASHP) and ground source heat pumps (GSHP). The Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI) ends in March 2022, what do you think the Government could do to replace this and incentivise schools to take action? The RHI relates to biomass and biogas heating systems, but these are not We have raised awareness of our duty to act in a sustainable manner and it has helped to educate our pupil, staff, parent and alumni body of the importance of making sustainable choices.