Financing Decarbonisation of Schools
The UK education estate’s primary objective is to provide safe, healthy and productive learning environments for the UK’s children, yet it is responsible for 37% of the public sectors greenhouse gas emissions. Against a backdrop of a rapidly changing climate and the Department for Education’s (DfE) goal to reduce school emissions by 75% by 2037, a coordinated and herculean cross-sector effort is required to support schools to transition to net zero.
Current government funding available to schools through grant schemes and Local Authorities is insufficient to meet the £16.3 billion investment challenge. Used more strategically, public funds could catalyse private investment. However, deploying private capital into the school estate is hindered by restrictive policies designed to prevent schools from incurring unmanageable debt.
The GFI in partnership with Ashden’s Let’s Go Zero campaign, the national campaign for all schools, colleges and nurseries to be zero carbon by 2030, published the Financing School Decarbonisation Report, outlining the barriers and potential solutions that could significantly reduce the £16.3 billion investment gap to decarbonise the UK’s 32,149 schools.
In collaboration with
