The Lancaster University wind turbine viewed through the trees on campus

Sustainability Commitments

As a department, we make the following annually reviewed commitments to improving our sustainability.

Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) recognises that sustainability needs to be embedded in everything we do:

  • Through our research and partnerships we strive to address the big environmental and societal challenges we face.
  • Through our teaching we aim for students and staff to inspire and influence each other to develop and apply the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to creating a sustainable, more equitable world.
  • Through our everyday work we also aim to practice and promote sustainability.

We recognise that many of our current practices are not in line with addressing the climate and ecological emergency, and we seek to change this as soon as possible.

We support calls for Lancaster University to commit to a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and we want to play our part in achieving this target.

We have developed a ‘decision tree’ to assist with decision-making about travel modes and alternatives to travel. Download a copy: Travel Decision Tree‌.

Tab Content: Community

  • We actively encourage and welcome ideas on advancing our sustainability as a Centre and a University.
  • We will support the work and suggestions of a working group of LEC students and staff to continuously develop the sustainability of our department in an open and inclusive way.
  • We will work with others in our campus community and beyond to help advance our wider institutional sustainability policies and help promote and influence sustainability in the wider world.
  • We will develop ways to quantify and track our progress against specific targets.

Tab Content: Teaching, learning & engaging

  • We will integrate sustainability knowledge and skills into teaching and learning across our degree programmes, doctoral training programmes and extracurricular activities (e.g. Beyond LEC and LEC Society events).
  • We will provide opportunities for students to research aspects of LEC/LU sustainability (e.g. through dissertations) and ensure that the recommendations arising from their research are considered by decision-makers and implemented where possible.
  • We will provide information to students on the environmental impacts of our modules and other activities to help inform choices.

Tab Content: Travel

  • We will encourage and support our community of staff, students and affiliates to avoid or reduce work and study-related travel emissions wherever possible. This will include the provision of information, time, IT equipment, training and support to enable virtual meetings to replace long-distance travel to face-to-face meetings wherever possible.
  • We will use a ‘decision tree’ to assist with decision-making about travel modes and alternatives to travel. Download a copy of the 'Travel Decision Tree‌' to reassess your own travel planning.
  • We will avoid flights to destinations within the British Isles in all but the most exceptional circumstances, and advocate avoiding flights to European destinations easily reachable by train (e.g. Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam).
  • We will consider and consult on ideas for reducing the number of LEC field courses which are dependent on flying, potentially switching to alternative, attractive locations reachable by coach/rail/ferry for future cohorts of students.
  • We will consider the delivery distance of goods that we purchase, and prioritise local/UK suppliers over international deliveries where feasible.

Tab Content: Food & catering

  • We will aim for all catering purchased by the department to include ingredients that are local / seasonal and / or organic, and for information about food sustainability to be available when procuring and consuming catering.
  • We will minimise meat and seafood consumption and food waste by purchasing catering for departmental events that is entirely or mainly vegetarian / vegan.
  • Vegan options will be available as standard, without attendees having to request it as a special dietary requirement, and we will work with caterers to ensure that vegan options are not inferior.
  • All dishes will be clearly labelled to give confidence to all diners regarding the content of the options available.
  • Fairly traded food and drink will be purchased wherever possible (e.g. tea, coffee, chocolate, fruit).
  • We will not use single-use plastic cutlery, crockery or food serving equipment.

Tab Content: Waste

  • We will reduce food waste and other waste associated with catering, e.g. by working with Green Lancaster on waste and composting initiatives, and by avoiding single-use plastics (such as bottled water, disposable cups, plates and cutlery).
  • We will audit our laboratory and procurement practices to reduce the waste generated from our research.
  • We will seek ways to reduce the amount of electricity, gas and water consumed by our buildings and equipment.
  • We will purchase recycled and recyclable products and packaging wherever possible, and dispose of waste responsibly, prioritising re-use and recycling where possible.
  • We will encourage practices which reduce our paper consumption.

Lancaster Environment Centre Sustainability Group

These commitments have been developed by the Lancaster Environment Centre Sustainability Group in consultation with all members of the department.

The Sustainability Group is a diverse team of researchers, non-academic staff and students who are working together to enhance the environmental sustainability of the department and its community of staff, students and partners.

The group was established to:

  • Help enable Lancaster Environment centre as an institution and community to put sustainability into action
  • Engage with the wider institution on University sustainability
  • Act as a forum and platform for debate on sustainability issues

The new LEC Sustainability Group website contains details of current and previous initiatives, and updates on the department's progress towards meeting our commitments. Its blog will feature the insights and experiences of group members.

Engagement and ideas from undergraduate and postgraduate students, staff and colleagues are very welcome!

Connect with the group

We believe in learning and acting together as we strive to make our department more environmentally sustainable. To connect with the group any of the Steering Team below.

We encourage students and staff to share personal reflections on environmental sustainability as posts on the Sustainability Group blog. If you would like to write a post, please see the "Welcome to the Blog!" post for inspiration.

For more information, progress updates and discussion, visit the group's website: LEC Sustainability Group.

Steering Team

Douglas Orr

Dr Douglas Orr

Lecturer

Plant and Crop Science

+44 (0)1524 593476
Rachel Marshall

Dr Rachel Marshall

Senior Research Associate

FST Sustainability Advisory Committee

Andrew Jarvis

Dr Andrew Jarvis

Lecturer

Jessica Davies

Professor Jessica Davies

Professor of Sustainability

Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science, Improving global stewardship, Soil Plant and Land Systems, Sustainable Catchments, Understanding a changing planet

+44 (0)1524 595009
Catherine Baxendale

Dr Catherine Baxendale

Envision Training and Placement Officer

B - Floor, LEC 3