Higher education institutions and carbon management: cases from the UK and South Africa

Abstract

As the world sets its eyes firmly on sustainability issues, carbon management has found its way onto the radars of higher education institutions. When one considers carbon management, global warming and climate change automatically come into the picture. To this end, carbon management policies seek to lower greenhouse gas emissions mainly through migrating to renewable energy, as well as clean and energy efficient technologies. Although South Africa has clearly defined its agenda to move towards low carbon development, the role of higher education in managing own carbon footprint is still not clearly defined. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the United Kingdom where higher education is expected to implement carbon management strategies. From the United Kingdom perspective, carbon management in higher education institutions seeks to fulfil two requirements: (1) a contribution towards attaining national targets articulated in the 2008 Climate Change Act and (2) achieving targets set for higher education by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to have carbon management policies in place by 2011. Drawing insights on carbon management experiences from the higher education sector in the United Kingdom, this paper concludes that although higher education institutions in South Africa still lag behind in managing its carbon footprint, there are institutions that have awakened to the dictates of a decarbonized higher education sector. Evidence to this effect includes the progress made by institutions such as Rhodes University and the University of South Africa that have drawn up carbon footprints and associated management strategies. However, work still remains in terms of having more projects implemented on the ground.