Forums

Sustainability

Terms of Reference
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – Photo by Greg Milner

 Purpose

The Sustainability Forum monitors government and non-government sustainability policies and advises the CUK members on the practicalities of following their recommendations or adopting their policy benchmarks. It will monitor new initiatives within the sector and make recommendations to all members regarding best practice. 

The Forum: 

  1. advises the CUK Board on issues of strategic importance to CUK members through the committee Chair; 
  2. develops and recommends joint projects and initiatives for the CUK Board’s approval;  
  3. acts as an advocate for the sector and responds on behalf of CUK to consultation exercises;  
  4. is a medium for sharing best practice. 

Scope

The Sustainability Forum considers and investigates matters relating to sustainability for CUK members in the following areas: 

  • Strategic alignment with national and international sector frameworks 
  • Setting of tangible outputs for CUK member institutions 
  • Ameliorating the impact and emissions of our activities: 
  • Energy usage 
  • Water reduction 
  • Institutional travel policies 
  • Audience travel 
  • Recycling in daily operating models 
  • Procurement 
  • Environmental literacy training for staff & students 
  • Carbon offsets 
  • Theatre productions – upcycling and recycling 
  • Hazardous substance disposal  
  • Influencing supply chain issues regarding inbuilt obsolescence  
  • Advising members of funding opportunities 

The Forum considers both governmental and non-governmental environmental policies and recommendations (such as Net Zero targets for Scope 1 & 2, Theatre Green Book, Julie’s Bicycle, People & Planet, European Concert Halls Sustainability Group, Eco Campus & Acorn, Green Tourism Mark, NUS Green Impact). It provides a forum for the sharing of good practice and assists in developing relevant initiatives, including training and conference opportunities. 
 
Membership & Meetings

The Principals’ group has agreed that the membership of the Sustainability Forum should not be static but should rotate in order to bring in representatives from different areas of expertise from each institution subject to the content of each meeting’s agenda; i.e. a senior estates person would be required for a meeting on buildings sustainability; an IT specialist for digital sustainability; a programme leader for student training in “environmental literacy” etc.  

The areas covered will be: 

  1. Buildings, infrastructure, and procurement 
  2. Curriculum, learning, and academic content 
  3. Wider industry, and production recycling 
  4. Investments and fundraising 
  5. Staff and student training 
  6. Staff, student, and audience travel 

 Members of the CUK Sustainability Forum agree to: 

  • Share best practice protocols, programmes, funding, and training 
  • Share access to policies and documents 
  • Share goals with local and organisational benchmarking 
     

Meetings will consist of: 

  1. One member of the CUK Board (Chair) 
  2. One representative from a rotating group of staff (defined by speciality), nominated by each CUK institution 

 Frequency of Meetings: 

Option A: The Forum meets six times a year (twice per term); one meeting for each of the six focus areas. The suggested length of these meetings is 1 hour. 

 Option B: The Forum meets three times per year (once per term) for a longer meeting (2-3 hours); converging areas where there is an overlap in expertise; for example: 

  1.  Infrastructure & Finance Meeting (to include buildings, infrastructure, procurement, investments, and fundraising) 
  2.  Industry & Learning Meeting (to include curriculum, learning, academic content, wider industry practice, and production recycling)
  3. People & Culture Meeting (to include staff and student training, engagement, best practice, and travel) 
      

Structure of Meetings:  

  1. All meetings will be held online and hosted by the Chair’s institution. Each member will nominate a representative with expertise in the area(s) covered in that meeting. 
     
  2. The Forum may invite any other person to attend its meetings for specific agenda items. 
     
  3. At each meeting the Forum will use the secretarial services of an additional member of staff from the host institution.  

 March 2024