Department of Energy and Climate Change Champions Eco-Schools
Eco-Schools received high recognition recently after Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) minister David Kidney cited the programme as key to making all schools sustainable by 2020.
The news came at the Eco-Schools annual conference, which this year focused on the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), and how local authorities and schools can plan to reduce their emissions before the scheme starts in April 2010.
The school sector is responsible for 15% of public sector carbon emissions and DECC used the conference as an opportunity to launch their new energy award for schools. It will reward those Eco-Schools that have done the most to both cut their own emissions and increase awareness of climate change issues among the pupils.
The award can be achieved separately or in conjunction with the other Eco-Schools awards and will be a worthy accreditation by the government to schools that are successfully reducing the amount of energy they use.
The news is a significant endorsement for Eco-Schools, which is operating in over 50% of schools in the country and has the programme’s most registrations worldwide.
David kidney MP said: “The government would like every school to be a sustainable school by 2020 and the excellent work Keep Britain Tidy are undertaking in administrating the Eco-Schools programme in England is helping to achieve this aim.
“To help schools save money and reduce carbon emissions through reducing their energy demand I am very pleased to announce that DECC is providing funding to make energy reduction a compulsory requirement of schools participating in Eco-Schools in conjunction with a new DECC Energy Award.”
