Sustainable Campus
Students around Ireland and globally are leaders in demanding climate action so it’s important that their universities are also leading by example. Sustainability plays a central role in all TU Dublin activities, from education and research to campus development.
With global temperatures predicted to rise by 2.70C between now and 2100, the production, distribution and use of energy needs to adapt. At TU Dublin our research aims to find efficient, cleaner, and more sustainable sources of energy; the development of evidence-based policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and how to increase security of supply so as to enhance national competitiveness.
Under the National Climate Action Plan 2023, the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate sets out the targets for public bodies to:
- Reduce GHG emissions by 51% in 2030
- Increase the improvement in energy efficiency in the public sector from the 33% target in 2020 to 50% by 2030
- Put in place a Climate Action Roadmap by the end of Q1 2023
As part of TU Dublin's Climate Action Roadmap, GHG emissions are calculated to determine the University's footprint as a measure of environmental impact. GHG emissions are differentiated by scope, as defined under the GHG protocol:
Directly produced emissions used by owned buildings, vehicles, and equipment, e.g., through burning fossil fuels such as gas/oil to run heating systems and vehicles.
Indirectly produced emissions, e.g., from electricity produced by power stations burning fossil fuels, including electricity used for heating, cooling, lighting, and information and communication technologies (ICT).
TU Dublin is treating emissions from leased buildings and vehicles as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions within the TU Dublin Climate Action Roadmap to inform targets and actions.
All emissions not directly owned/controlled but that TU Dublin is indirectly responsible for creating through its supply chains (e.g., emissions generated through purchased products and services).
Buildings
TU Dublin's building stock currently includes 194,429 m² in 45 buildings across five campus locations in Dublin's City Centre, in Blanchardstown and in Tallaght. Our Campus & Estates teams work with a contrasting range of buildings - some very old and amongst the finest in the city, others modern and very sophisticated in their design and servicing. Maintaining the very highest level of energy efficiency and waste management is an important consideration in the delivery of all campus services.
Transport & Mobility
As a partner of the Smarter Travel Campus Programme, TU Dublin encourages students and staff to use sustainable and active travel modes to campus. The TU Dublin Transport for Ireland (TFI) Staff and Student Smarter Travel Survey 2022, showed that 81% of students and staff travel to campus sustainably.
TU Dublin is well connected by public transport links including Dublin Bus, LUAS, DART, and Iarnród Éireann train services with linkages to walk and cycle to campus. TU Dublin has over 2200 bike parking spaces and has shower and changing facilities within all campus locations. For more information on campus-specific transport and mobility services at TU Dublin, visit our Campus & Estates Travel page.
Climate Resiliency
Students and staff are enthusiastic supporters of sustainability-focused programmes and strategic projects. The TU Dublin Green-Campus Committee are one of many groups which run several environmental and biodiversity initiatives. These include re-wilding of parts of the campus landscape, volunteer clean-ups in local areas and riverbanks, reducing use of plastic in cafeterias, and supporting plastic re-use projects. National Green Week in March provides a particular focus for seminars, workshops, films, and talks exploring topics related to climate action, sustainability and protecting our environment.
Energy
TU Dublin will continue to promote demand reduction wherever possible through participation in the Reduce Your Use campaign, Green Labs certification procedures, reviewing building opening hours, assessing and reviewing ICT loads concerning auto-energy savings systems, and enhancing overall energy management systems at building level. In addition, demand response technologies will be investigated to incorporate measures across building stock.
To illustrate TU Dublin’s current and anticipated energy demand relative to an overall decarbonisation pathway to net zero, an overview by campus and buildings is refined to indicate key targets with milestones for reviewing our emissions profile across 2025, 2030, 2040, and 2050 time horizons. For more detail, review Section 3 of TU Dublin Climate Action Roadmap.