Nottingham Business School students conduct holistic assessments of greenhouse gas emissions of four Northamptonshire Primary schools

Nottingham Business School students worked in collaboration with Northamptonshire County Council’s (NCC) Energy and Carbon Management Team on a greenhouse gas management project.

The project intended to provide students with practical experience of resource efficiency improvements in a real-world situation. Four Northamptonshire schools were put forward by NCC which would benefit from participating in a project of this type. The students were set a target of achieving 10% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and resource expenditure.

The students were tasked withidentifying opportunities for the four Primary Schools to reduce their carbon footprint, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and energy generation.

The student teams produced detailed reports for each school detailing opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing running costs. Some of the recommendations included improved waste management, solar panel installations and behaviour change for children and staff.

Due to the success of the collaboration, Nottingham Business School and NCC’s Energy and Carbon Management Team are already in discussion regarding projects for next year’s final year students.

As a result of the students exceptional contribution to this project, Nottingham Business School have been presented with a Green Apple Award as an Associate partner with the Northamptonshire County Council for environmental best practice.

Dr Muhammad Mazhar at NBS, comments: “At Nottingham Business School, we are delighted to be running the Greenhouse Gas Management project and grateful for the opportunity to work with Northamptonshire County Council. The project involves students meeting with business clients, gathering information and data to be able to produce a carbon footprint. This helps us prepare future leaders with understanding of sustainability and role of businesses”. 

Furthermore, Dr Muhammad Mazhar added: “Focusing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG13), Climate Action, emphasis is placed on experience of leadership, teamwork and problem solving, learning about sustainability and carbon management. These skills and competencies are among those that 21st century employers are looking for from graduates, giving them an edge above the rest when they start looking for employment.”