The Royal Veterinary College recognises the unprecedented global challenges posed by the climate and wider issues of sustainability and we need to strengthen our commitment and action across the RVC. Our Environmental Sustainability Vision is that the RVC makes a positive impact through continually improving our environmental sustainability performance and embedding sustainability considerations into decision making throughout the organisation this is reflected in our Environmental Sustainability Policy.

We have commiteed to become Net Zero by 2040 and are undertaking work to develop our plans to bring this date forward.  This work includes:

• Heating decarbonisation student to replace gas boilers with air source heat pumps and solar panels. 
• Review of all of our buildings for energy saving opportunities and increasing renewable energy generation.
• Participating in Farming for Carbon and Nature to determine how much carbon is being captured in our soil.
• Biodiversity Action Plan. 
• Developing a full carbon footprint including Scope 3 emissions. 
• Investigating opportunities for rainwater capture.

Our new Environmental Sustainability Strategy was published in 2023. It focuses on 7 key areas:

Energy and Carbon

The RVC have a decarbonisation plan in place. We have started to decarbonise heating in 8 of our buidlings thanks to a grant of nealy £3,000,000 awarded to us through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund.

Biodiversty

The RVC have a Biodiversity plan  in place which was published in 2022.  A quarterly Land Management Group meeting monitors the progress.  We take part in the Farming for Carbon and Nature programme. 

Partnership and Engagement

The RVC runs environmental engagement programmes for both staff and students.  The RVC have been running Green Impact since 2023 for staff and Student Switch Off since 2022 for students. 

Sutainable Procurement

The RVC are affiliated to Electronics Watch through our membership of LUPC. 

Audits

The RVC completed a travel survey in 2024. 

Energy and waste are monitored monthly through our dashboard.

Contact

To find out more, please contact Rachel Ward, Environmental Sustainability Manager rjward@rvc.ac.uk