Albeit on-going climate change, extinction scale biodiversity loss and plentiful outstanding scientific research and engineering in house, The University of Sheffield is still failing on its path to deliver its 2020 carbon emissions reduction targets and has no strategy to deal with these on-going crisis on a local level. Hence, the University of Sheffield scores low in relevant carbon and sustainability league tables and rather than walking the talk, the organisation contributes to the crisis.
 
Time to develop a strategy that makes a real difference.

Finally, in December last year (2017), this strategy may actually start to form. After many years of campaigning and the inefficiency of existing sustainability structures in delivering change, the UEB finally agreed to develop a sustainability strategy.
 
Who is currently in charge of the process?
Joshua Barnes, communications assistant in corporate communications kindly explained that following the work of last years sustainability Task and Finish Group and UEB discussion, there would now be a steering group and operational sustainability committee, with Andy Dodman being the sponsor at UEB level. Tracy Wray and Duncan Cameron have taken on the roles of professional services lead and academic lead on sustainability respectively.

Likely, you have not heard about this decision and hence, we at CNU wanted to let you know. It is important that you know and that you tell others about it.
Since democracy does not work without transparency, and important decisions about the environmental sustainability are made often before making an effort of communicating the process, this is our attempt to fill in the gaps.
 
More importantly, if we know in time when and how structural decisions are made, we can have a bigger impact when it counts.

• The students’ union already started to consult students in a recent consultation meeting and you can have your say in a fabulous online questionnaire. If you are a student, you can fill in the survey (please do): http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4166174/Sustainability-Consultation
  

 

• As far as it goes for staff and other University stakeholders, no official consultation with all stakeholders has been made at this stage of development. However, we will keep you in the loop if that changes.
  

 

• We have arranged a meeting with Duncan Cameron to better understand what is happening, talk to him about his framework proposal and most importantly learn about how we can contribute best.
  

We have only seen a September draft proposal by the Task and Finish Group, which we know was further modified. This proposal was developed taking into account previous reports and proposals, including our Climate and Sustainability Strategy proposal with a Carbon Neutral Vision.
 
The September draft proposal we have seen suggests the development of a new governance structure and sustainability strategy. On governance, it proposes to create a small team of dedicated sustainability staff with their own budget. A ‘virtual’ team of academics, researchers, professional services staff and student representatives, with an interest and expertise in sustainability, should support their work from across the University. On strategy, the proposal suggests to publish a sustainability strategy that informs the work of the newly formed sustainability team. This strategy will be built around 5 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals to focus the strategy on environmental issues.

1. Quality Education
2. Affordable and Clean Energy
3. Sustainable Cities and Communities
4. Responsible Consumption and Production
5. Climate Action

 
Unfortunately, we have heard rumours that the proposal to create a small team focussing only on sustainability was likely value engineered out in the version that the UEB approved. This could mean that the strategy has no teeth, as previous attempts to deliver on sustainability have shown. However, we are glad that the development of a strategy was indeed approved for a start and will try to make sure that improvement will be an integral part of it. 

Our last update about the ongoing changes was done in August 2017 and you can read it here: https://www.carbonneutraluniversity.org/cnu-news/university-sustainability-governance-undergoing-changes
 
On 19 December 2017, the meeting minutes reveal that the proposal report from the Task and Finish group established that summer, suggested a strategic approach to sustainability. The UEB endorsed the development of a strategy and representation from faculties, professional services and the students’ union.
The full meeting minutes can be accessed here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.764184!/file/17-12-19_Minutes.pdf
 
The strategy will be developed over the coming months.
They are still formulating how this will be done, but Duncan Cameron has developed a possible framework, which he will present to the steering group later this month.

Your CNU coordinator team

To all students in our network,

For our non-student member, there is more to come soon. We will send a summary of the sustainability strategy deveopment, as we know it, in the next few days. Stay tuned.  


So here are the full details for today's student consultation meeting:

Date: 15 Feb 2017
Time: 5-6.30pm
Location: Octagon Meeting Room 1


There is also a Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/196272610957260/

Summary:
The University will be writing their sustainability strategy which will mould the university for many years to come. We want to be sure it is as ambitious in its aims as we as students want it to be.

This consultation hosted by the Sustainability Committee is an opportunity for members of the university to come and construct what our vision is for the five themes which the strategy shall be based around:
- Quality Education
- Affordable and Clean Energy
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible Consumption and Production
- Climate Action

You can also give your views online here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4166174/Sustainability-Consultation

Both the results of the online consultation and this event will be presented to the people writing the strategy by Meg, the SU Development Officer.

We at CNU hope to make sure that carbon emissions reductions are an important performance indicator for this strategy, as climate change impacts us now and more so in the future. Let's build a carbon neutral future that brings exiting new opportunities.

Your lovely CNU coordinators

Dear friends, supporters and followers of CNU,

the CNU coordinator team wish you a Happy New Year 2018 and hope you all had a fabulous start so far.

I apologise for not taking up the communication earlier, but as you can imagine there are many things to do when the year starts and our network coordinator team still lacks replacements for a few vital roles (i.e. secretary/ communicator) to keep things on track.

It does take a bit of time each month, but if you would like to join our CNU network coordinator team, please get in touch with me. Do email me on C.Unger@sheffield.ac.uk if you are interested and please include a few details about why and who you are.
 I am also really interested to talk to anyone who has ideas or questions about what we do and how you can help. I love coffee and am happy to meet with any of you for a coffee for a chat. :-) Please say hello!

We are a volunteering network and we want to work on individual ideas that we are passionate about. We can enable you to do that, though you probably understand, the management, administration and funding of running the network is really important. Indeed, as a coordinator, it is fun, to see progress, meet so many people and watch projects flower and deliver even more than we thought. 
 
Now, before I go on too much (which I am well known for), here are a few important updates for you:

1) Our first general CNU meeting this year:
Date: 1 February 2018
Time: 5-6.30pm 
Venue: I still need somebody to book a room. Look out for the venue update on our events page.
Agenda items: 
- Welcome & Introductions for 2018, 
- updates from the university and our working groups
- Starting the discussion for our 2018 priority areas and funding
- ideas and next steps

2) Ongoing projects and groups

a) our Student Society is preparing for the refreshers fair in February and has a number of fabulous projects, including the development of a new CNU T-Shirt design - they are also very busy with exam preparations, so are very busy
Note: They have their own student specific projects, but are fully integrated in our general network, so students, staff and external members can benefit from all the CNU community.

b) our ‘What works’ guide writing group, who are in the final editing stages to compile the learning outcomes from our systems change workshop last year entitled ‘Changing Systems: No just lightbulbs’
Note: The video resources from this event are already available on our website (Link: https://www.carbonneutraluniversity.org/system-change-guide.html), but the discussions and writing has taken a number of us until now. Especially Adam, our project lead, has been putting an enormous effort into putting this together as a team. Thank you Adam!! 

c) A climate change communication group has formed under the lead of Nick Nuttgens. communication has been and always will be a vital component for our network, and thanks to our member Kathryn, we took the opportunity to invite well know climate change communicator George Marshall to tell us more about this vital aspects in our George Marshall event on 21 November. Our video team, Yahya and Max, have recorded this 2h workshop and people are still working this up to go online. Interviews with George Marshall, Nick Nuttgens and the event organiser Kathy Aston are already online in a fabulous blog post by Alistair Dempster: https://www.carbonneutraluniversity.org/cnu-news/sounzboutright-blog-george-marshall-communications-workshop 
The next meeting of the climate change communications group is booked for the 29th of January. Please get in touch with Nick, if you want to get involved with role plays, pub interviews and more to better communicate climate change. 

d) we are also setting up a press group to enable great communication with the SU Forge Press team, that helps communicate sustainability issues and projects through this vital students’ newspaper.

To join any of these groups, please just email me and/or our general email address: carbonneutraluniversity@gmail.com 
For a general introduction and questions please just join us at our next general meeting on 1 February.

I hope to see you soon at our meetings and events. 
Until then, please stay tuned and use the resources put together on our website, Facebook page, Twitter and YouTube channel. 

Thank you. 

All the best to you,
Christian 

Co-Chair 
Carbon Neutral University Network 
Website: www.carbonneutraluniversity.org 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carbonneutralunishef
Twitter: @CNUniShef

Here is a summary blog and associated interviews from our Climate Change Communication Workshop with George Marshall held on 21 November 2017.

Blog author:  Alistair Dempster from Soundzaboutright.

Interview and follow on event details below. Please check them out. :-)

***

Why is it that some people don’t realise how important the issue of Climate Change is?
Most of us recognize that climate change is real yet we do nothing to stop it. What is the psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? 
 
Georges’ workshop explored many issues about Climate Change communication – here are few examples;
Your average environmental campaigner is typically on the left in politics who find their own sense of belonging in joint participation with like minded people and activists. As such perhaps they are operating in a bubble when it comes to communicating the nature and scale of the challenge that Climate Change presents us with.
Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and imagine how they may feel about climate change and what might inhibit them in engaging with climate change issues.
 
“What makes you think that I am not affected by Climate Change?  Is it the way I look, or my social or economic indicators? Is it because I’m on the right in politics and maybe don’t vote the way most climate activists do? But, I’ll tell you this if climate change is as real as you say it is then it does not matter who or what you think I am because it will affect me anyway. It will affect All of us – no exceptions. Even pulling out of Climate Change agreements will not exempt you from the effects of it.”
We’re all in it together and if ever we needed to work together on something then this is it. It’s our biggest global challenge and yet we also need to make Climate Change a local challenge in order to make it relevant and immediate. Polar bears, melting ice caps, drought and crops failures are all part of it but somewhat removed and distant from the reality of everyday Sheffield life.
 
We may all be aware of Climate Change but not necessarily about the complexity of its challenges. We don’t have to see Climate Change as a number of negative images or too huge to deal with it as an individual. Instead we need to tackle the discussion about Climate Change in a way that feels like a positive process that people are more likely to engage with. Above all the message needs to be local, relevant and crucially, authentic. We need to change the way we communicate the Climate Change narrative in order to be inclusive and get those people on board whose voices are not heard enough or at all. There needs to exist a feeling of belonging to the Climate Change debate that currently tends to feel distant, irrelevant and meaningless for many people. With belonging comes energy and enthusiasm and a greater willingness to engage with the issues – and maybe even go on a demo! With belonging can come a realisation that your not on your own and that you are part of a greater movement that can play a vital part in the planet’s future as well as your home town.

Have a read of his book  Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
Check out his website; www.climateoutreach.org  for more details of George’s activities
 
Alistair Dempster - Sounz@boutright Blog.
Facebook; Sounzaboutright

Follow on event to get involved:

Please join us for a practice session and discussion of climate change communication.

When?
28 November 2017, 6-7.30pm
Where?
Seminar Room DB 13.

Please book your free eventbrite ticket so we know how many people to expect:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-communication-workshop-practice-session-and-discussion-tickets-40095454584

A special thank you to CNU member Richard Bradford for the great photos taken during the event.

Dear CNU friends and supporters,

I am sure you are all glued in your seat watching the news from the ongoing COP23 climate conference in Bonn and want to get involved in doing more. Check out the COP23 website if you have a bit of spare time: https://cop23.com.fj/about-cop-23/

Lucky for you, you are a CNU member, and part of a network of people who can help stop global warming through local action at your University of Sheffield.

So, why not come around to our November open meeting tomorrow and help make things happen or start your own project with support from other members. If you are a student, you should also consider to attend the weekly CNUSoc meeting from 4-5pm in the neighboring Lecture Theatre 11 (Hicks) and then perhaps join us at the general meeting for all members at 5.

CNU open meeting - November
When?     5-6.30pm, Wednesday, 8 Nov
Where?    Hicks Building, Lecture theatre 10

Rough Agenda

• Say hello (welcome to new members)
• Sharing climate news (from home or far, we just like it mostly positive...)
• Project summaries and getting stuck in
• Attending project coordinators give a summary of what is happening in their project
• Followed by more detailed discussion in one or several project groups
• Conclusions: Summary and to do next

Ongoing projects we will likely discuss:

• Final George Marshall event organisation (book your ticket if you haven't done so already: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-communication-workshop-with-george-marshall-tickets-38413713451 
• Progress on our 'Changing systems' guide writing
• Sustainability introduction videos for the University
• Student society campaigns and progress
• Christmas do! :-)

We hope this sounds interesting and that we see you tomorrow.

Your lovely CNU coordinators

P.S.: Sorry for the late notice, but we have been so busy. We could really use another hand or two... probably more like a few thousands actually... ;-)

Dear CNU members, friends and supporters,


we all hope you had a great start in the new term and are eager to get involved.
Lucky for you there is just an amazing amount of stuff happening at the moment.

For example last weeks 'Big Conversation on the Environment' with our MP Paul Blomfield was just such a fantastic event, which overlapped  with our normal open meeting schedule and made us decide to move it to this Thursday.

1. Yes you heard right, our CNU open meeting (originally the September meeting) will take place tomorrow. ;)

Details
Date: 5 October, Thursday
Time: 5-6.30pm
Place: Room SR C12c, Dainton Building (opposite Uni Arms)
Link to Facebook event page.
Agenda points at the end of the email.

2. Equally import and more urgent if you are a student, I would also like to remind you that our CNU student society meets now weekly every Wednesday at 4pm in Lecture Theatre 11, Hicks Building.

So there is a CNUSoc meeting TODAY, 4pm!
Please join the student society on their quest to campaign for a carbon neutral university and get involved in making our campus a greener affair.
Link to Facebook event page

3. Also we would like to point you to a number of events that we think are environmentally and locally relevant and and should be really fun to attend in the next two weeks (starting today!).

• Today (4 Oct): Free Film Screening 'A Plastic Ocean' & Panel talk, Time: 18.30-20.50, Sheffield Student Union Auditorium, Link to Facebook event
  
• Next week (9-13 Oct): SU Environmental Film Festival (you need to book tickets) showing three great films. Sheffield Student Union Auditorium 1) Chasing Ice (Monday, 9 Oct, 7.30pm), 2) Merchants of Doubt (Wednesday 11 Oct, 7.30pm), 3) Demain (Friday, 13 Oct, 7.30pm), Link to Facebook event
• Saturday next week (14 Oct): The big RALLY against fracking in Sheffield!! 'Keep fossil fuels in the ground', 10.30am-12, Sheffield City Hall, Link to Facebook event

In order to not extend the email much further, I will now just finish with a short list of agenda items for tomorrow's CNU open meeting.

• Welcome and introductions
• Good news and event sharing
• George Marshall communications event organisation need to be finalised (event on 21 November) - flyers, finances etc (project lead: Kathy)
• Our 'What works' guide writing group update (Adam)
• CNUSoc project update and support (Yahya)
• Update on University sustainability governance (Christian)
• Recruitment follow up (yes we need you!)

Please email Christian if you want to add anything to the agenda list or just raise it at the meeting.
We hope to see you tomorrow and at the various fabulous events around.

Your lovely CNU coordinators

Dear CNU supporters and members,

our next meeting is coming up this Thursday and while we know several people will still be away, we really ask you to come if you are about. Please have a look at the agenda items below and see if you can help contribute.

But first...

Meeting details

• Thursday, 31 August
• 5-7pm
• The Diamond, Workroom 3 (room behind card barrier, we will wait for you at the barrier shortly before 5 to get you through)

Thank you
I wanted to thank Adam, Dan, Yahya and Max for their constant work on our 'Changing systems' guide and the associated editing of interviews and lectures. You have been doing great!
Just to remind all our members, we had a 2-day workshop on 'Changing systems' in May and we are still compiling, reviewing and distilling the material to make it accessible in a 'What works' guide. So thank you again for driving this through the summer holidays guys! I know there is more work...

Finally, here are our agenda items for the meeting

1. Welcome - meet new people
2. News and ideas to get inspired
3. Project presentations and discussions (see below points 1-6)
   
4. Summary of discussions
5. Next steps
6. Pub time from 7pm - Uni Arms :)

****Project summaries below

1. 'Making meetings more attractive'
We would like to improve the quality and organisation of meetings, to improve engagement and outcome. Our engagement specialist Nick Nuttgens, will give a brief overview, followed by team work aimed to improve future meetings and thereby also improve our ability to act on climate change through our various projects.

2. University sustainability governance
Importantly, I would like to discuss and have your input on the ongoing University governance review and how we can support it. This is very important to the network, and arguably one of the main reason we have been founded. > Creating a visionary, meaningful and functional sustainability structure to decarbonise university operations as we think it isn't just the right thing to do for our planet, but it is what we scientists know has to be done and brings plentiful opportunities to for improve our estate, teaching and research.

• Our vision
• Background on university governance changes - Task & Finish group

Discussion, will be initiated by a brief presentation of the research we already got and what we perhaps still need to support the Task & Finish group on sustainability governance. Their next meeting will be in early September, hence this meeting is important to decide on the materials to compile initially.

3. Recruitment: CNU coordinator positions - opportunity to get involved directly
We just recruited a great group of coordinators for our student society for a September start of term and now seek to replenish our main coordinator team. Several positions, from co-chair, co-secretary,  communications and treasury (new) are to be recruited for over the next few month and we are looking for interested candidates. During the meeting we will discuss the roles and plan recruitment.

• current roles

Related call-out: seeking staff member for CNU co-secretary role (staff)
In particular, I would like to put the word out for a staff member that would like to take on a network co-secretary role. It is not much work, but you would be essential for us to allow to book rooms and access our cost centre. This can not be done by a student, so it is vital to us to have academic staff members to help us out. Currently, two postdoc members and friends around the university have been helping us depending on availability and we really would like to have a dedicated person that is able to help us do this for the next 6 month or so. Please let me know if you would be up for that - The essentials are room bookings raising PO numbers (we have our own cost centre).

4. Organising a community film screening of 'Demain - Tomorrow' at the university directly following the Freshers fair in September.
Several people indicated that they would be interested in watching 'Tomorrow', a positive documentary on local climate change solutions.

• trailer: https://youtu.be/NUN0QxRB7e0
• https://transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/tomorrow-demain-available-last-uk/

The Freshers fair will be taking place on 27 September, and we thought it would be great to have a social event where new and old members come together in a positive way.

We basically, just need to decide a date and book a room...

5. Updates from our systems change guide working group (Adam)
The systems change guide work is relevant for the university and our network strategy, so we need to push this forward and always want people to get involved.

6. Upcoming events - Freshers Fair (lead: student society), Sustainability forum (lead: Nick), Communications evening with George Marshall in November (lead: Kathryn)

****Project summary end

We hope this sounds a bit interesting and will motivate you to join us on Thursday. Please tell friends and colleagues you think might be interested to come and say hello.

Before I leave you alone, here are just a few things that you can do with us;
>>Opportunities for you to get involved as CNU coordinator, project lead or a project team member - it makes a difference to the planet!

• New exciting possibility for collaborative projects - green houses (I say no more ;),
• video editing training (coming up to support our video student team),
• designing event flyers
• project coordination and management
• network communication
• writing blog posts (as communications coordinator)
• updating our Facebook page (as communications coordinator)
• Freshers Fair stall engagement team (students - be ready for 27 September)
• project researcher
• event communication
• get things done in a team
• project and network administration (to add to your CV)
• organise socials, such as pub and movie evenings (really essential)
• more

We are looking forward to see you.

Green greetings
Christian

Co-Chair
Carbon Neutral University Network


Website: http://www.carbonneutraluniversity.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carbonneutralunishef
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CNUniShef
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgwZ6u9z4Fnf_2N82_X-Dxw

Currently, important changes are happening at university governance level and that includes a specific effort on the governance of sustainability around campus.

A new Task and Finish group has been established to review how environmental sustainability is managed and taken forward. This is what I would like to tell you about today, to provide much needed transparency and allow for people to interact and become change makers for our common good.

Previously, two committees, the Carbon Management Group and the Public Value Subgroup (PVSG), largely oversaw university sustainability. However, this is now changing, as it was recognised that the current structures are not able to achieve the key performance indicators outlined, with one of them being campus carbon emissions. Another (more official) reason given is a restructuring and the establishment of a new ‘Director for City and Regional Engagement’ role, which will possibly oversee sustainability. 


You may have heard many rumours, but I was thinking to inform you about the process that is taking place and provide some references that back it up.

Track record of relevant meetings - minutes from UEB

1. 10 January 2017: The UEB agreed to recommend the establishment of a Task and Finish group to review how environmental sustainability was managed and taken forward, including the development of an environmental sustainability strategy for the university. It was also stated that the Public Value Sub-Group (PVSG) would be dissolved and while not mentioned in the minutes, this includes dissolving the Carbon Management Group as a subgroup to the PVSG. (Source: Link to UEB meeting minutes)
   
2. 28 March 2017: The last Public Value Sub-Group report was received and approved by the UEB. To our information, it was a report that reviewed some of the sustainability actions around the university and offered some restructuring advice. (Source: Link to UEB meeting minutes)
3. 20 June 2017: It was noted that the first meeting of the newly established Task and Finish group will be held shortly and is chaired by Prof Nigel Clarke. It was noted that future activity on sustainability would be managed through the City and Regional Engagement team upon recommendation of the new Task and Finish Group. (Source: Link to UEB meeting minutes)
   
4. 22 June 2017: The first meeting of the Task and Finish group took place, chaired by Prof Nigel Clarke and recommended that two subgroups will be set up. The first, chaired by Steph Holmes will map the current sustainability activity across the University; the other will clearly define the objectives of the group and will be chaired by Professor Duncan Cameron. 
It was also noted that a new sustainability fund will be established to complement the current Salix funding available and this proposed fund will be further developed by the Task and Finish group. The next meeting of the Task and Finish group will take place in early September. (Source: meeting minutes of last Carbon Management Group meeting from 6 July)
   
5. 6 July 2017: Last meeting of the Carbon Management Group, of which our network was an official group member and where we were briefed on the developments of the Task and Finish group
   

Take away information  

The Task and Finish group is an essential stepping-stone to develop a new and improved environmental governance structure.

• Steph Holmes (Head of Procurement) and her team will head the effort to map sustainability activity across the university and Prof Duncan Cameron (Prof of Plant and Soil Biology, APS) and his team will define the objectives of the Task and Finish Group.
  
• The next meeting of the Task and Finish group will take place in early September, and it is vital to reach out to the chair Prof Nigel Clarke (Vice President and Head of Faculty of Science) and the above project leads to support them in their tasks and ensure a sustainability governance structure evolves that takes earlier learning into account.
  

The work of the university sustainability community, including our network, the Students’ Union and Estates based sustainability staff, have all been suggesting a need for more support and leadership from top management.  

We think this support and leadership can be provided by a sustainability governance structure and strategy, and provide a multitude of benefits for all university stakeholders if done well.

To do

• Let’s work together to enable this change and help the Task and Finish Group to deliver a truly transformative sustainability governance structure and strategy.
• Support Nigel Clarke, Steph Holmes and Duncan Cameron in their role
• Link up to the new Students' Union long-term vision (which includes carbon neutrality)
  

Below is a short outline of a few governance resources we found relevant to the work of the Task and Finish group and on which we can advice on. We also have an overview of governance structures from specific universities in the UK. Get in touch if required.

University of Sheffield

Together with support from the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, we wrote a Carbon and Sustainability Strategy (CASS) proposal for the University, laying out the reasons for why we need to go carbon neutral, along with benefits and the steps that could be taken initially. With the help of resources from universities on a carbon neutral journey, we concluded that along with a vision we will initially need a team and develop a strategy to get there. In February 2016, this was presented to the two relevant sustainability committees at the time, the Public Value Subgroup and the Carbon Management Group.

• The full CASS proposal for the University of Sheffield is available to download (link).
• It specifically suggests the option of a more centralised sustainability support structure that helps to connect the available sustainability competence and visionaries already existing in house (see figure). The sustainability office would provide support staff to enable the already existing university sustainability players to work together towards a common sustainability goal.

US based resources – ‘Second Nature’ leadership network on climate change

The CASS proposal above includes an analysis of universities aiming to decarbonise and their delivery structures, including references that describe how this can be done.
 
Most relevant were the resources of the ‘Second Nature’ Higher Education climate change leadership network, which includes more that 600 American universities and colleges. The network and participating universities have put together a number of freely available guide materials to help universities to become sustainability leaders. This includes a step-by-step guide as outlined in the figure below.

• The steps are based on the 2009 Cool Campus! Guide, a 118-page guide on ‘How-to guide for college and university climate action planning’ and the full report can be downloaded (below).
• Again it points to a need for the good governance structure based on a vision of climate leadership

UK resources and examples for governance

More recently (May 2017), the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC), has published their  ‘Next Generation Sustainability Strategy and Structure’ report reviewing how a variety of mostly British higher education institutes arranges their sustainability governance.

• Governance matters: The highest level at which authority of sustainability lies has a significant effect of the impact of the sustainability team. The lower of authority, the lower is the perceived priority of sustainability at an organisation.
  
• Download report here

If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch (Email: carbonneutraluniversity@gmail.com )
 
Christian
Co-chair,
 
The Carbon Neutral University (CNU) Network
www.carbonneutraluniversity.org
 
Our network has been working to introduce an ambitious carbon neutral vision to drive sustainability efforts at the University of Sheffield. Specifically, we would like to see our campus to become carbon neutral by around 2030.

Dear CNU friends, members and supporters,

the original release of 'Al Gore's climate change documentary 'An Inconvenient truth' was a really important climate milestone in 2006. 11 years later finally the sequel is here. An up to date story coming to Sheffield for a one-day-only early-showing at the 'Light' cinema this Friday. 

Day: Friday, 11 August
Time: 19.00
Place: Light cinema 

Book your ticket here:
https://sheffield.lightcinemas.co.uk/an-inconvenient-sequel

Me and a few more CNU members will go and we hope some more will join for a nice evening out. 

We don't know if it will be as good as the original, but hope it will be a good enough update, to engage and communicate the need for quick and decisive action on climate change.

We hope to see you on Friday and please come along for a drink after the showing. The 'Light' is on the Moor market and really central.

Cheers,
Christian

Co-Chair
Carbon Neutral University Network 
www.carbonneutraluniversity.org

Dear CNU friends and supporters,

we hope you have a great summer and would like to invite you to bring some sunshine/ positive energy to our July open meeting tomorrow and perhaps join us for a drink in the Uni Arms after the meeting.

Date: 27 July 2017
Time: 5-6.30pm
Place: The Diamond, Workroom 1

We got loads of project news and love to welcome new people and new ideas.
Please find quick news and agenda at the end of this email.

As it is summer, our excellent student society coordinators are mostly away, but we hope some students that are still around in Sheffield and can make it tomorrow.

For anybody who registered newly and haven't been at a meeting before, don't worry, we give you an introduction and really love to see new people.

Our Co-Chair Christian presented about CNU at the Energy2050 symposium on Monday and perhaps some of the students and staff got interested and will join us? It was really great to see all the research and innovation happening there and we would love to get it implemented around campus. Please come around with your proposals!

News and meeting agenda below.

We hope you have a great Wednesday and see you tomorrow!
Your lovely CNU coordinators


Quick and positive news :)

• In terms of our online presence, you might have noticed that we finally got a simpler website url - www.carbonneutraluniversity.org. However the old address is also still working.
• oh, and the combustion engine is going to dissappear from Britain... by 2040! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40723581
• more news at the meeting (bring a positive piece)

Quick Agenda for July meeting tomorrow

• introductions
• positive news and local updates
  • there will a very exciting news piece (actually 2) in terms of University developments and sustainability (come and find out ;)
• ongoing project work will be summarised to keep us up to date and get new people involved;
• current projects
  • 'What works' guide on systems change (follow up from our 'systems change' workshop in May - blog here, project lead: Adam)
  • Video editing and progress of 'systems change' workshop talks (project lead: student society and Max)
  • Climate and sustainability film project with Green Impact (project lead: Sarah)
  • Preparing a sustainability forum lunch event for University staff (lead by Nick , who is currently recovering from an operation - Get well!)
  • Communications evening event to tell us how to communicate climate action effectively - we hope to get George Marshall in November (project lead: Kathryn) - we need team members to organise the event, including room bookings, food, invitations and flyers
  • defining our coordinator positions and ensure a steady interest of people that would like to get involved running the network and make a difference (project lead: Christian, Rachael)
  • Our Handbook is coming along and should help any new coordinators to find their feet faster!! (Project lead: Lucy)
  • Potential website updates: we got a new mock up design for our website and we need to decide if we take this forward
• introduce new ideas to discuss shortly and set up next steps
• 20-30min time to work in teams on the projects
• Summary of team work and defining next steps
• End of July meeting
• >>> Head over to the Uni Arms and have a drink to continue any discussions

In order to keep up to date, please have a look at our online presence.
Website: www.carbonneutraluniversity.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/carbonneutralunishef
Twitter: @CNUniShef
Youtube: Carbon Neutral University Sheffield