Baroness Baran, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education, confirmed her team’s intention to draw up the roadmap in a letter to the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) of MPs on Tuesday (16 January).
Such a roadmap will build on guidance already provided to schools and colleges which, at present, is voluntary rather than mandatory to follow.
The EAC wrote to the DfE late last year following meetings with sector experts on whether the UK’s education estate was likely to be decarbonised in line with the nation’s legally binding climate commitments including net-zero by 2050.
Experts told MPs that only one-fifth of the UK’s school estate would likely be net-zero compliant by 2050, due to a lack of comprehensive planning for retrofitting focused on energy efficiency, low-carbon energy use and on-site renewable energy generation.
EAC members were told that a retrofit programme backed with around £2bn annually would be necessary.
Baroness Baran has acknowledged the need to “work through” the DfE’s current approach to retrofitting.
Concerns were also…
