The University's carbon emissions come from the activities that support our research, teaching and student experience. These areas require travel, energy, resources, and everyday operations that together create our overall carbon footprint.
Our carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, that we release into the atmosphere either directly or indirectly. The standard unit of measurement for greenhouse gas emissions is tonnes or kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO鈧俥 or ktCO鈧俥)1.
Total carbon footprint
Our total carbon footprint for the 2024/25 academic year was 107 ktCO鈧俥. This is a decrease of 16% compared to the 2023/24 academic year.
| Source | Percentage of total carbon footprint | Carbon footprint (ktCO鈧俥) | Change since 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas and fuels | 7% | 7.8 | +6% |
| Electricity | 5% | 5.4 | -9% |
| Commuting | 4% | 4.4 | 0% |
| Business travel | 5% | 4.8 | -29% |
| Student travel to Bath | 22% | 23.7 | -33% |
| Student placement travel | 4% | 4.2 | -27% |
| Building works | 3% | 3.7 | -1.2% |
| Lab equipment and supplies | 4% | 4.8 | -66% |
| IT equipment and software | 13% | 14.0 | +11% |
| Business services | 11% | 12.0 | +6.2% |
| Catering | 3% | 2.9 | -0.9% |
| Other goods and services | 9% | 9.6 | +34% |
| Investments | 5% | 5.6 | 0% |
| Other | 4% | 4.2 | +7% |
We are continuing to work on reducing emissions produced from our campus and operations, in line with our net zero targets.
Calculating our carbon footprint
We categorise our greenhouse gas emissions into three scopes using the international accounting tool, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and the standard carbon emission reporting guidelines.
Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources owned or controlled by the University. This is mostly gas use in our buildings and University-owned vehicle fuel and fugitive emissions.
Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the electricity consumed by the University in our buildings, off-campus sites and student accommodation blocks, which we do not generate ourselves.
Scope 3 covers the other indirect emissions that are associated with our activities. This includes staff and student travel, supply chain expenditure, investments, waste, deliveries, fuel and energy related activities .
There are no changes to the footprint boundary in 2024/25.
Understanding our footprint
Our total carbon footprint for the 2024/25 academic year decreased by almost 20 ktCO鈧俥.
The most significant changes this year were a result of updates to the emissions conversion factors2 that we use to calculate our footprint. For the past few years, these factors and our footprint have been inflated as a knock-on impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. We now observe them shifting back to more expected levels. For this year, these changes include updates to the electricity, air travel and supply chain emissions conversion factors, all of which saw reductions this year.
Aside from the calculation methodology, there are areas where we have seen changes in expenditure or activity that represent actual increases and decreases to our carbon footprint, including:
- lab equipment and supplies expenditure was 11% down on the previous year, representing the second year in a row where we have observed a fall in spend
- we spent 8% less on IT equipment and supplies, a trend that we expect to continue with the introduction of a 鈥榦ne device鈥� approach and policy this year
- student international travel has decreased slightly due to a small reduction in overseas students coming to Bath though with 6% more home students, we have observed an increase in student travel emissions in the UK
- following a trend we鈥檝e observed since the COVID-19 pandemic, business travel has increased again with the greatest change being a 20% increase in short haul flights to and from continental Europe
- our use of gas and electricity consumption increased, largely as a result of taking on a new city venue and student residential building
Read our annual sustainability reports to see the University's carbon footprint in previous years.
Confidence in the numbers
A key part of our footprint methodology is having confidence in calculated figures. There are two key components to the calculation, the accuracy of the data and the calculation methodology. We鈥檙e continually working to improve the accuracy and confidence we have in our data.
Taking both data quality and methodology into account, our confidence levels for individual categories of the carbon footprint are summarised below:
- strong confidence: natural gas, electricity, fuel and energy-related activities
- reasonable confidence: fuels, fugitive emissions, waste generated in operations, business travel, employee commuting, supply-chain transportation
- limited confidence: purchased goods and services, capital goods, student home and placement travel, student commuting, investments
Notable changes from last year:
- increased accuracy of student home and placement travel data with improved records that allow us to more accurately segment students travelling on placement and those not travelling to Bath
- missing data for fuel and fugitive emissions means our confidence level has not improved, despite previous work with suppliers to obtain detailed refrigeration gas鈥憀oss information
- confidence for investments has decreased as no new data or supporting evidence was obtained this year
Internal audit
The 性视界鈥檚 Internal Audit Department undertook an independent assessment of the carbon data presented within the Sustainability Annual Report.
鈥淚n our opinion, we consider that Reasonable Assurance can be given with respect to the adequacy and effectiveness of the University鈥檚 arrangements for managing the risks relating to the accuracy and reliability of the information and data collected relating to the University鈥檚 carbon footprint. Based on the procedures we have performed nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the carbon emissions reported here for the year ended 31 July 2025, has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the adopted University methodology that also materially complies with the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education with the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC).鈥�
Different types of reporting
We take responsibility for reporting on our carbon footprint through our annual report. However, we also voluntarily provide data to the .
The EMR annual report covers Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions data submitted by universities.
Due to reporting criteria, there are differences in the carbon emissions reported by HESA compared to the data we report ourselves. This is because the scope for our footprint calculation is wider as we think it's important that we take responsibility for all actions we take and are responsible for the carbon emissions associated with them. For example, we include the carbon footprint of IAAPS and our investments in our calculations. We also take a more detailed approach to reporting in some areas like travel, to allow us to better track progress and target actions.
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Our carbon management plan
We were the first UK University to produce a Carbon Management Plan in 2003, where we set out our targets to reduce our carbon footprint and a plan to achieve them. The next plan in 2011 was described as 'exemplar for the sector' by The Carbon Trust.
In 2020, the University set the ambitious and challenging targets to be net zero for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2040.
This is hugely challenging to achieve but can be done through a range of approaches. Our approach focuses first and foremost on reducing our demand. Since 2005, we鈥檝e reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46% primarily through reducing demand and shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
To achieve further reductions, we鈥檙e addressing more complex challenges related to the upgrade of our energy infrastructure. We鈥檝e modelled Scope 1 and 2 carbon reduction scenarios in line with our capital plans. Given the scale of the challenges ahead, we鈥檙e now reviewing our net zero targets and exploring partnerships to support the delivery of large-scale solutions.