Latest Updates

Wellcome Trust Funding Requirements

If your institution receives funding from the Wellcome Trust you are now required to offset related travel linked to your funding. This covers ALL funding. You can register to be part of the Carbon Coalition here and you can confirm that the Carbon Coalition will be your provider. You do not need to confirm quantities or any further detail at this stage. We will get in touch with you when you are ready to offset. Click here for more details on the requirements from Wellcome Trust.

Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Carbon Code Restrictions

If your purchase Woodland Carbon Code or Peatland Carbon Code credits institutions can only use these to offset UK-based emissions. This means you cannot use these credits for international travel, non UK-based supply chain or any other non UK-based emissions. Go to the Woodland Carbon Code for more information.

Key Travel

We are aware that many institutions use Key Travel who are including an offsetting option for travel and accommodation. The offsetting they offer does not follow the principles of the COP26 Universities Network Offsetting briefing. We would recommend that if institutions wish to offset their travel and accommodation that they do this via the Carbon Coalition to ensure high quality offsetting projects are used that follow the recommended principles.

Scottish Government Public Sector Offsetting Guidance

Further to the guidance from the Scottish Government, we have sought the following clarifications from the Scottish Government for educational institutions:

Student Travel
Where bodies estimate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with international students travelling from home to their place of study, the whole journey should, as far as reasonably practicable, be accounted for, e.g. as minimum between home nation capital city and the city of study. Bodies should clearly state the methodology used to estimate such journeys, and any assumptions used. Student travel surveys could be used to inform such estimates, for example the typical number of return flights taken by international students each year. It may, for example, be reasonable to assume that students from continental Europe return home more frequently over the course of the academic year than those from the rest of the world, given the relatively lower price of flights and shorter journey time.
 
Offsetting of business travel emissions
Bodies may be asked, as part of funding conditions, to offset any business travel emissions associated with research programmes. As noted in the guidance, the preference is for emissions generated in Scotland to be offset within Scotland. Where it is not possible to source high integrity, verified credits directly attributable to Scottish projects, a reasonable approach would be to purchase UK-based credits. Any purchased credits should be from a government-backed code such as the Woodland Carbon Code or the Peatland Code - but note that these can only be used for UK-based travel emissions so for international travel emissions institutions will have to use non UK-based credit schemes. Bodies should refer to the guidance in relation to how purchased credits should be included in the annual Public Bodies Climate Change Duties report.