Carbon footprint

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced within an organisation's activities. Birkbeck's carbon footprint is reported in line with our financial year (i.e. emissions produced from 1 August to 31 July each year). In line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework (SCEF), we identify our emissions according to three ‘Scopes’, which are used to group together emissions by sources.

All carbon footprint figures are expressed as tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e). There are various greenhouse gases which produce different amounts of warming, so because carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, other gases are converted into a ‘carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)’. For example, because methane has approximately 25 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide, 1 tonne of methane = 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide. All greenhouse gases produced by an activity are added together and expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.

A breakdown of our carbon footprint across these Scopes can be seen in the below chart.

Like many organisations, Birkbeck has historically focused on its Scope 1 and 2 emissions and only reported a small portion of its Scope 3 emissions. For 2023-24, Birkbeck worked with workplace performance consultancy LCMB to gain a full understanding of its carbon footprint. We are now reporting on all Scopes annually and will continue to incorporate further detail through Scope 3 over the coming years, which means our carbon footprint in Scope 3 may gradually increase before it begins to decrease.

Scope 1

Sources directly owned or controlled by Birkbeck.

This includes:

• Natural gas burnt in our boilers onsite to heat buildings
• Refrigerant gases used in fridges, freezers, and air conditioning

For many organisations this would also include fuel used in fleet vehicles; however, Birkbeck does not own any vehicles.

Scope 2

Purchased electricity and heat that is not generated onsite.

This includes:

• Electricity purchased from the national grid
• Heat purchased from the Bloomsbury District Heat Network

Scope 3

Emissions that Birkbeck is indirectly responsible for up and down its supply chain. For 2024-25, our Scope 3 emissions have been re-categorised to align with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the SCEF. This will allow for easier comparison with other organisations using the same reporting framework, and particularly with other universities also using SCEF.

There are 15 categories in Scope 3, and Birkbeck currently reports emissions under 8 of these. As defined by SCEF, these currently include:

• Purchased goods and services: supply chain emissions of goods and services purchased for the operation of the organisation.
• Capital goods: equivalent to purchased goods, but this focuses on fixed assets, so captures construction, refurbishment etc. (not continuous maintenance).
• Fuel- and energy-related activities: supply chain emissions associated with fuels and energy in Scope 1 and 2. This reflects emissions associated with getting fuel/energy to point of use (i.e. well-to-tank, transmission & distribution).
• Upstream transportation and distribution: transportation of goods to the organisation and transportation services paid for by the organisation.
• Waste generated in operations: disposal of waste and recycling and treatment of wastewater.
• Business travel: emissions associated with transportation and related activities, e.g. hotels, for business-related activities.
• Employee commuting:
  • Employee commuting: emissions from transportation of employees between their homes and their worksites
  • Working from home: emissions from energy and heating when employees work from home.
• Downstream transportation and distribution:
  • UK Student Travel & International Student Travel: transportation of students to the institution including daily commuting and return to home
  • Student Accommodation: student accommodation and halls of residence that are on-site but owned/managed by an external organisation
    • We have included an estimate of emissions for Birkbeck students living in UoL-owned or managed Halls of Residence as Birkbeck does not own or manage any student accommodation.

Birkbeck’s baseline emissions

Birkbeck’s baseline is 4,370.0 tCO2e for 2005-06 across Scopes 1 and 2. This is based on our estate in the 2005-06 academic year and includes emissions from any gas burned onsite for heating and hot water, grid electricity used in our buildings, and our connection to the Bloomsbury District Heat Network.

Birkbeck's carbon footprint

Our total carbon footprint has increased in 2024-25; however, this is largely due to better availability of data since 2023-24 with our Scope 3 carbon footprint having increased year-on-year. Meanwhile, our Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint has decreased significantly. When looking only at our gas, grid electricity, and heat network consumption in 2024-25, our carbon footprint has decreased by 66.8% since our 2005-06 baseline and by 24.8% since 2023-24.

While this is a huge achievement, we have noticed that our energy consumption via gas and the heat network were unusually low in 2024-25. Birkbeck’s internal teams are working with energy providers to understand these figures and currently we anticipate an increase in energy consumption in 2025-26. In the longer term we expect to see a trend of decreasing consumption as we improve energy efficiency and work towards behaviour change across our estate.

Our targets

Birkbeck is committed to meeting Net Zero in line with the UK’s 2050 legally binding commitment. We will work towards an earlier target date of 2040 for Scope 1 and 2 and 2045 for Scope 3 emissions.

As of 2023-24, we have already achieved more than a 50% reduction in emissions since our 2005-06 baseline in Scopes 1 and 2, and we are currently deciding further interim targets here. In 2023-24 we achieved a 53.5% reduction and in 2024-25 we achieved a 66.8% reduction against our baseline for emissions produced by our electricity, gas, and heat network energy consumption.