Education estate net zero?

The Government has admitted its school rebuilding programme alone won’t be enough to hit net-zero targets and vowed to publish its roadmap for making the education estate net-zero.

Academies minister Baroness Barran made the commitment following concerns raised by MPs over the progress the Department for Education had made on decarbonisation.

Whilst the school rebuilding programme delivers energy efficient ‘net zero ready’ buildings, this alone will not enable the education estate, which is managed by over 3,000 responsible bodies, to meet net-zero targets by 2037.

It is now becoming clear that the progress currently being made will not allow the department to achieve its targets with forecasts suggesting it could cost £2 billion per annum to revamp 650 schools each year. Current plans would see only 20 per cent of the schools estate in England net zero compliant by 2050.