Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the (a) cost to universities to reach net zero targets and (b) potential Government support that may be needed to meet those costs.

I would like to recognise the excellent work already happening across the higher education sector to reach net zero. Ahead of COP26 in November, 125 universities had signed up to the Race to Zero.

The costs to reach net zero will vary across institutions. The government has committed to work with the sector to explore the mandatory reporting for carbon emissions by universities, which will help to gather a fuller picture of the challenge ahead.

Universities are eligible to receive funding through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. Some universities have already received millions of pounds through this scheme.