It’s official: UCS is carbon neutral!
UCS Hampstead has become the first UK school to win gold recognition in every step of the UN Climate Neutral Now Initiative – Measure, Reduce and Contribute.
This confirms UCS as having taken the necessary steps to become carbon neutral by measuring, reducing and offsetting current unavoidable emissions arising from key aspects of life in the Senior School, Junior Branch and Pre-Prep.
The UCS Foundation has also obtained One Carbon World’s Carbon Neutral International Standard for a second successive year – achieving carbon neutrality by offsetting all the footprint that was measured. The Foundation’s triple gold recognition comes within a year of UCS signing the UN Climate Neutral Now Pledge. Meanwhile, securing the Carbon Neutral International Standard involved the significant undertaking of measuring the school’s carbon footprint – as verified and calculated by One Carbon World, a global resource partner of Climate Neutral Now.
Last November, UCS had already become one of the first schools to sign up to Camden Council’s Schools Climate Charter, establishing a framework for sustainable progress.
The latest measurements from the school’s carbon footprint showed that emissions fell by 13% to 1.16tCO2e per student in 2020/21 – from 1.33tCO2e in 2019. The Senior School’s pupil-led Green Impact Society together with the Foundation Sustainability Working Group are targeting further reductions, with the ultimate goal of carbon zero.
