The Department for Education (DfE) is “not moving at pace” to deliver its sustainability commitments, undermining its own targets, MPs have warned.
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said on Thursday that only 20% of the UK’s school estate will have been retrofitted and therefore made net zero compliant by 2050 under the Government’s current progress.
In a three-page letter to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, EAC chairman Philip Dunne said the committee has been examining the DfE’s future sustainability, based on the findings of the recent National Audit Office report.
Mr Dunne wrote: “We are concerned that the potential impact of climate change on schools, particularly in respect of risks from flooding, overheating and water scarcity, is not adequately understood across those who have stewardship of the education estate in England.”
He added that the EAC welcomed schemes such as the DfE’s Climate Action Plans, but is concerned that the availability of sufficient funding could hamper efforts to truly address the effects of warming on the education estate.
