Essex one of first to sign concordat on environmental sustainability

The University of Essex is one of the first universities to sign the voluntary environmental sustainability concordat co-developed by more than 25 organisations across the UK research and innovation sector.

The concordat supports the wider ambition set out by the UK Government to achieve net zero by 2050. The Concordat is being hosted on the Wellcome website with signatories and supporters committing themselves to progressively embedding environmental sustainability into all research and innovation practices.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Chris Greer said: ““We’re very proud to be one of the first signatories of the Concordat.

“Essex was among the first institutions to declare an environmental and ecological emergency, and our whole research community is committed to being more environmentally sustainable across all our research and innovation work.

“We hope many other universities and organisations will follow our lead and sign join us in signing the Concordat in the coming months so as a sector we can set an example in terms of environmental responsibility. Universities are at the heart of creating solutions to the challenges we face and the Concordat offers us a framework for doing this in the most sustainable way possible.”

The concordat is aimed at all organisations in the research and innovation sector. An initial group of 15 signatories and six supporters have joined at launch, and they are calling on other organisations to do the same. The ambition is to create meaningful, and long-lasting impact to reduce the environmental impacts of carrying out research.

Signatories agree to action six priority areas outlined in the concordat, such as maintaining transparency about the environmental impacts of research output and finding new climate-conscious, low-carbon approaches. There is also an expected commitment from signatories to publicly share how their organisations will deliver its sustainability aims and publish annual summaries of progress.

Cancer Research UK (CRUK), an initial signatory of the concordat, have also developed a new policy introducing requirements for grant applicants and core-funded institutes to demonstrate the environmental sustainability of their labs, as well as for institutions hosting CRUK-funded researchers.

Iain Foulkes, Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: “We have a key part to play in reducing the environmental impact of our research by addressing how the labs and facilities we fund operate, enabling researchers to carry out their activities in a sustainable manner. The concordat will allow us to work together to build a more sustainable research system."

The concordat represents a shared ambition for the UK to continue delivering cutting-edge research but in a more environmentally responsible way. It also recognises the critical role of research and innovation to understand how our planet is changing, and creating solutions to the challenges we face.

Organisations from across the UK research and innovation sector have worked together, involving extensive consultation, to develop the set of priorities and responsible behaviours set out in the concordat. The final document is owned collectively by the UK research and innovation sector.

Wellcome is hosting the concordat on its site providing information on how to join, alongside a regularly maintained list of signatories and supporters. The EAUC will provide the secretariat function for the concordat's signatories. A new oversight group will be formed to co-ordinate a review of the content and impact of the concordat in line with new innovations in sustainability.

Initial concordat signatories include:

• Bangor University
• British Academy
• Cancer Research UK (CRUK)
• John Innes Centre
• Keele University
• National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
• University College London (UCL)
• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Essex
• University of Glasgow
• University of Leicester
• University of Liverpool
• University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE)
• Wellcome

List of initial concordat supporters at launch:

• Academy of Medical Sciences
• Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC)
• Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland (DfENI)
• Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC)
• Royal Academy of Engineering Royal Society