Matt Taylor. Project Officer. Adapt Commercial. UEA
LFHE Green Champions in HEI’s and carbon reduction strategy
Trev Shields. Sustainability & Environmental Advisor. University of Birmingham
Case study
Dawn White. Environmental Officer City University London
Case study
John Bailey. Environmental Manager. University of London
Leading Green Champions at Greenwich and the University of London.
Workshop
Positive recipes for Green Champion success
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Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
http://www.adaptcommercial.co.uk/AdaptC/case-study-greenteams.xhtml
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Background
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Project aims and objectives: Determine individual levels of ‘Green
Champion’ activity and influence on pro-environmental behaviour
change, as an effective means of reducing carbon within their
university.
•Define the role of ‘Green Champion’
•Determine levels of influence and involvement?
•Determine limits or organisational barriers to their activity?
•Monitoring, measuring and evaluating green champion activity
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Literature review
‘despite a general rise in the use of Green Champion schemes to
promote a ‘bottom-up’ approach to carbon reduction, there remains
a very limited amount of research on the role of these designated
‘Champions’, and particularly outside the private sector.
Encouraging behaviour change in businesses is closely linked to cost
savings, commercial reputation and gaining an edge over
competitors, therefore the current literature on Green Champions
may not be representative of Green Champions approaches in other
sectors, such as in HEI’s’
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Methodology
•Interview Campaign managers for HEI case studies (UoB, UEA and CUL)
•Questionnaires sent to participating Green Champions
•Focus groups undertaken
•Analysis
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Green Champion roles
Four common themes emerged that we consider represent the main
roles played by the Green Champions
•Role Model
•Educator
•Facilitator
•Coordinator
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Green Champion roles
Role Model:
“I think it’s showing by example as well, as there is only so much you
can influence people to do things by telling them to do it. But a lot of
things are done because I do them, because if I don’t no one else
will.”
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Green Champion roles
Educator:
“We need to reach the people who still don’t see how they impact on the
environment, how they can make a difference and why they should.”
“to go a step further than just reducing my own environmental footprint,
I want to promote sustainability
issues amongst staff and students through direction action and
communication.”
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Green Champion roles
Facilitator:
“I’m trying to make it easier for them.”
“I think in terms of bringing it together but not actually doing it
yourself.”
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Green Champion roles
Coordinator:
“Working as a coordinator and a point of contact, in our place its
having someone people feel they can feed ideas to and pass them up
the chain to see if something can be implemented.”
“I get the energy reports, I send them onto the other buildings and
ask for an explanation of why it might have gone up or down, I then
get feedback which I can then take back to the Sustainability Task
Group.”
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Value of monitoring as a facilitator:
Participants agreed there was a need for monitoring of their activities
because:
•gave structure to their activities
•provided evaluation of what works and what doesn’t
•set measurable targets,
•gives visibility to activities.
•access to data or evidence about impacts of activities increased
credibility
• increases confidence in promoting green practice
•increases leverage in putting greener cases to senior staff.
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Value of monitoring as a barrier:
Participants considered there was a lack of benchmarking to create
uniformity through HEI departments
Single measure/metric could distort achievements (a false sense of
failure) e.g. a metric in an IT department, may not be so useful for the
library.
Abstract nature of Green Champion activities in promoting
environmental awareness and the difficulties involved in attributing
specific carbon savings to their actions
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Factors assisting perceived success
•Management Support
•Incentives
•Formal Acknowledgement
•Formalisation of the Role and Scheme
•Involvement in Decision-making
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Factors absent or hindering perceived success
•Voluntarism
•Lack of Management Support
•Lack of Advice or Training
•Lack of Communication and conflicting messages within Green
Champion Networks
•University Culture
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Findings: Green Champion types.
Focus groups identified a number of key factors that were perceived
as critical in either facilitating or hindering success and experienced
in different combinations and to varying degrees by differing Green
Champions.
Reading across all of the variables, we found that we could
categorise our sample in four distinct groups
Importantly, we found that different types of Green Champion coexisted even within the same University.
Group
Formal / Informal
Work Alone/ Part of a Team
Level of Management Support
Access to Monitoring
Data/Feedback
Level of perceived influence in
the university decision making
process
Level of perceived Involvement
in the university decisionmaking process
Level of Influence on
Behaviour Change
Level of perceived impact on
carbon reduction within the
university
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
1
Informal
Alone
No Support
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
2
Informal
Team
Well Supported
Low
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium /
Medium /
High
High
High
High
3
4
Formal
Formal
Team
Team
Well Supported
Well Supported
Medium
Medium
Low
High
Medium /
Medium /
High
High
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Conclusions
The efficacy of a Green Champion campaign and its place in an HEI’s
carbon reduction strategy was dependent upon five key factors;
•Formality of the role
•Proximity to monitoring
•Coordination
•University culture
•Green Champion type
Green Champions: Do different types have different needs?
Green Champions place in an HEI carbon reduction strategy
Conclusions
Not everyone is Robin
Role model
Educator
Facilitator
Coordinator
UB ‘Champions’
Formal Level
Task Group, Facilities Managers, College carbon
plans, bespoke initiatives eg fridges or fume
cupboards
Behaviour change as part of CMIP
Grass roots level - Green Impacts Awards
Variety of champions & roles
Top 10 mistakes in behaviour change - solutions
Focus on action not avoidance
Seek tiny successes one after another
No behaviour happens without a trigger
Success? Contribution to 19.7% reduction?
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Eco Points Scheme
How to earn points
Ideas & suggestions
Volunteering
Green actions within department
Local communications
Meetings, committees, presentations
Green Impact
Recruiting new Champions
Leading on events or campaigns
Appraisals
Ideas that get rolled out across University
Personal ‘green’ achievements
Link it to University objectives
Leader board
Prizes & awards
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