Have you ever wondered what that massive tower next to the conference auditorium was? Well, it’s a gas power station. And gas is responsible for a whopping 68% of the University of Leeds’ carbon emissions*.

We're in a climate emergency. Students, staff and alumni all recognise this. Yet the University’s carbon emissions are at an all-time high. We call on the University to urgently stop burning dirty gas in their power station, and to invest in off-site renewables to clean up their electricity supply.

In 2019-20, the University of Leeds emitted 35,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from burning gas, primarily from this power station on campus.

Worse still, the University's total emissions have been going up for the last three academic years, even rising by 4% during the pandemic! Throughout the lockdowns, whilst the majority of staff and students were at home, the University continued to heat and power almost all of its buildings.

So, this gas-fired heat and power station, which the University jointly owns with Leeds Teaching Hospitals, continues to fuel the climate emergency, which threatens our entire existence and is killing people right now in the Global South.

Back in July 2019, Leeds University committed to going net zero by 2030. After two and a half years of delay (whilst emissions rose higher and higher) they finally signed off a Climate Plan, in November 2021. 

This plan commits to electrifying the University - which is likely to include converting the power station from gas to an electrode boiler. But, according to their own plans (see below), this conversion won’t go ahead for years so we will be waiting until 2025/26 to see any significant reduction in the University's emissions. 

Even more concerningly, their plans to invest in off-site renewable energy are not set to happen until after the electrification process has been completed. This means all the electricity we are currently using is coming from a mixture of sources (from the grid), and is not as clean as it could be.

We welcome the arrival of the Climate Plan, but we cannot afford to lose any more time. Emissions have to be drastically reduced as soon as possible if we are to have any chance of getting to net zero and, more importantly, real zero carbon while it still counts. The University must act as a role model for the city of Leeds and beyond, innovating and championing the changes that we so desperately need.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including academics from the University of Leeds, made it clear in their latest report in February 2022 that the speed at which we reduce emissions is of absolute paramount importance. “Any further delay… will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”

We therefore demand that the University acts with the urgency this situation requires by getting rid of the single most polluting carbon source on campus.

We call on the University of Leeds to urgently:

1. convert the power station from gas to electric; and
2. invest in off-site renewables.

Please join our call by signing and sharing this petition!

Petition started by: Hannah Crowther, Simon Moore, Gabriella Alberti, Alex Sobel MP, Jo Cutter, Nick Allen, Viktoria Spaiser, Fi Quekett, Chloe Wallace and Aysha Burton. 

* Specifically Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources and Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy.

Leeds Uni Climate Coalition

We’re a coalition of staff and students calling for the University to get into emergency mode through a range of different actions! To get more involved message us on our socials or drop us an email.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoalitionUOL

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leedsuniclimatecoalition/?hl=en 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UoLeedsClimate 

Email: lssclimatecoalition@outlook.com 

The University’s Pathway to Net Zero Emissions:

https://www.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/874/the_university_of_leeds_pathway_to_net_zero_emissions_by_2030