The University of Bradford has been praised for its green credentials at an education awards ceremony.

The pioneering 50@50 carbon reduction programme, which saw the university reduce carbon emissions on campus by 50 per cent, recently picked up the Environmental Industry Award at the Educate North awards.

Clive Wilson, Director of Estates and Facilities at the University of Bradford said: “The award marks a special point in our efforts to cut our carbon emissions target of 75 per cent by 2021. We are proud to have reached the 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions and the Estates team are working hard to make sure we achieve our 75 per cent goal.”

The university reduced their target of cutting emissions by half in August. As well as making the campus more environmentally friendly, it has reduced utility costs by £9 million.

The campaign started as part of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations, and was accelerated when the team realised they could reduce carbon emission by 50 per cent four years earlier than the original target.

The starting point was the previous year’s emission of 38 per cent, which had been achieved through low level work such as improving double-glazing and cladding.

Savings the university has made in utility costs have enabled new and improved green areas around campus and other initiatives such as creating an accessible veg-out patch and planting over 60 varieties of edible vegetation which the student and local community are able to harvest.

In 2017 the University won its sixth consecutive Yorkshire in Bloom Gold Award and second consecutive Green Flag Award.

Russell Smith, Head of Estates said: “Bradford is extremely proud of its world-leading eco-campus. Bradford is the only location in the world where a single estate has been given a three BREEAM outstanding rating and a Passivhaus building within less than a 100m of each other. These ratings promote the University and the area.”

As part of the University’s bid to save energy a micro-smart grid was completed in 2017 which manages the supply and demand of electricity between buildings through measures such as solar panels and double-glazing. It was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) through a grant of £1.8 million.