In October 2021, Colchester Institute joined many other organisations and colleges in declaring a Climate Emergency. This means the College has a full commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and increasing the sustainability of how we do everything.
We have a three year plan for this, and we are now in its second year. We believe there needs to be urgent and substantial action to address climate change.
At Colchester Institute we are passionate about preparing our students and apprentices for enjoyable and productive careers and also to contribute to our society.
Last year we ran a pilot for some of our students in Carbon Literacy and will be offering this to those joining us in 2023-24. Carbon Literacy will be a feature of every course ensuring all students have the opportunity to study and discuss the issues arising from the Climate Emergency.
To do that it is vital that we all understand the environmental challenges facing Essex, England, and our planet. This must, and will, become an ever more important part of what our students learn at College.
How you can make a difference at the College
You can work with the College and join our student Climate Forum. As a part of this, you can advise on:
- Curriculum development
- Green Initiatives (e.g. tree planting, cycle to college schemes)
- Ways to engage your peers in making greener choices
- Organising guest speakers or trips to climate events or training
To support Colchester Institute’s place as a leader in the development of a sustainable, decarbonised future economy, we will continue to change how we act as a business. In 2022 at our Colchester Campus we completed a £5m project to reduce our own carbon footprint which included major alterations, along with improvements, of key buildings. We have introduced new charging facilities for electric cars and are planting 200 trees this year.
Our future ambitions include:
- Establishing e-bike charging points in covered shelters
- Increasing the number of solar panels on our roof spaces
- Installing electric car charging facilities at our Braintree Campus
- Reducing the carbon footprint of our menu on campus
- Growing more of our own food for our on-campus Balkerne Restaurant
- Developing new teaching spaces to allow delivery of crucial new skills in heat pumps, electric vehicles, and renewable energy
