🌍 Sustainability in Schools: What’s Changing — and What To Do

What you need to know — clearly laid out, stress-free, and up to date for 2025

1. Status, Scope & Timeline

By September 2025, every school in England is expected to:

• Appoint a Sustainability Lead

• Have a live Climate Action Plan (CAP)

This applies to all settings: maintained schools, academies/MATs, independents, FE, and HE institutions. While the guidance is not statutory, it's a clear and firm DfE expectation that is already appearing in school development plans, audits, and trust strategy reviews.

The DfE’s official guidance page is the single source of truth for Climate Action Plan and Sustainability Lead requirements.

Key sources are listed at the end — bookmark this guide for future use, and if it’s been helpful, like or repost so others can benefit too.

2. Governance: The Lead, the Team & What Supports Them

This doesn't require appointing a new staff member. Many schools are nominating an existing colleague, ideally supported by a small working group. Best practice suggests involving:

• Senior leader or governor for authority and continuity

• Estates or operations lead for practical action

• Teacher to link with the curriculum and student voice

It's recommended to add this as a standing item to SLT and governor agendas and ensure there is succession planning in case the lead changes role.

The strategy also promises carbon literacy training for leads by the end of 2025, and a growing ecosystem of support is available.

External Support You Can Access

• 🛠️ Sustainability Support for Education – DfE-commissioned tools and templates

• 🌿 Climate Ambassadors – Volunteer experts to help shape and deliver your CAP

• 🦋 National Education Nature Park – Pupil projects, awards, and curriculum-linked activities

You aren't expected to do this alone, even if it sometimes feels that way.

3. Your Climate Action Plan (CAP): What to Include

A good CAP is practical, realistic, and shaped around the four DfE pillars:

• Decarbonisation – Energy efficiency, emissions tracking, heating strategy

• Adaptation & Resilience – Flood planning, overheating mitigation, water management

• Environment & Biodiversity – Grounds use, pollinators, rewilding, student-led projects

• Climate Education & Green Careers – Curriculum integration, student leadership, careers exposure

Each area should include a baseline, a target, actions, owners, and review dates. This can be done at a school or trust level. Many schools are now publishing their CAP after sign-off to boost transparency and engagement.

4. Adaptation & Resilience: What Good Looks Like

The DfE has highlighted three risks for schools: overheating, flooding, and water scarcity.

What this means in practice:

• Map hot rooms and trial different uses on warm days.

• Clear gutters and check gullies ahead of storms.

• Review ventilation, insulation, and shading (trees, blinds, window films).

• Consider water efficiency as part of your plan.

This isn't just about buildings; it also affects learning time, safeguarding, and wellbeing. The DfE’s June 2025 resilience briefings are worth reviewing.

5. Waste & Recycling: A Legal Requirement

New workplace waste laws came into force from 31 March 2025. Schools must:

• Collect food waste separately

• Separate core dry recyclables (paper/card, plastics, metals, glass)

• Ensure bin layouts, signage, and waste contracts are compliant

These rules are part of the Environment Act 2021 and are now live, with no exceptions for schools. Check local authority briefings and update your CAP accordingly.

6. SECR: Do You Need to Report Carbon?

If your academy trust meets certain thresholds, it must comply with Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) rules.

You're in scope if you meet two of:

• £36 million+ turnover

• £18 million+ balance sheet total

• 250+ employees

And if your trust uses more than 40,000 kWh of energy in the reporting year.

If this applies, you'll need to report: total UK energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, emissions per pupil, energy-efficiency actions, methodology, and prior-year comparisons.

The DfE suggests using UK Government conversion factors and standards such as the GHG Protocol. Thresholds changed in 2025, so check the current size tests with your auditors.

7. Where to Look for Guidance: GEMS & Estate Standards

• Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS) – Explains how to manage a safe, sustainable, and efficient estate, covering energy/water, governance, risk, and long-term planning.

• DfE’s School Estate Management Standards (2025) – Published in June 2025, gives examples of “what good looks like” for strategy, H&S, sustainability, and carbon reduction.

Use these tools to shape your CAP and bring clarity to governors and SLT.

8. Procurement & Supply Chain

Expectations for sustainable procurement include:

• Using DfE-approved environmental frameworks

• Reducing single-use plastics

• Considering supplier sustainability commitments

• Aligning with waste and recycling reforms

If this isn't yet in your procurement policy, start weaving it in.

9. A Realistic “Do This Now” Checklist

No big spend — just practical steps you can take this term:

• Appoint your Sustainability Lead (and deputy) and add to SLT/governor cycle.

• Form a small working group with reps from curriculum, estates, student voice, and finance.

• Collect baseline data on energy usage, waste setup, and key climate risks.

• Draft your first CAP — even one page is a start.

• Review waste compliance under the new law.

• Sense-check SECR thresholds with auditors.

• Publish your CAP and brief key staff.

• Review termly, refresh annually, and link to pupil projects.

Low-Cost Sustainability Ideas You Can Start With

These simple actions cost very little (or nothing beyond a bit of time) and are ideal for building momentum and showing impact.

🏫 Controls & Occupancy

• Conduct a night-walk audit to find what's left on.

• Adjust heating timers to match usage.

• Use fewer rooms in evenings to cut heating.

💧 Water & Leaks

• Take monthly meter readings to catch leaks.

• Check taps and toilets termly.

• Fit water butts (ask PTA or businesses).

♻️ Waste & Recycling

• Audit bins for labels/placement.

• Brief staff to avoid contamination.

• Compost leaves for mulch.

🌳 Grounds & Biodiversity

• Create no-mow areas to increase biodiversity and reduce mower use.

• Introduce eco-friendly activities (bug hotels) in clubs to involve pupils.

• Establish pupil-led planting beds for pollinators or produce.

🔌 Energy-Saving Upgrades

• Add draught excluders.

• Install PIR sensors for toilets/corridors.

• Use timer switches/power strips to cut overnight use.

• Fit tap/urinal shut-off valves.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Culture & Communication

• Create a Sustainability Council with short monthly check-ins.

• Add a five-minute slot to staff briefings.

• Set up student patrols for a switch-off competition.

Choose a few, add owners, give dates, and you have a working plan.

Final Word

If summer projects and day-to-day firefighting have delayed things, you're not alone. This guide is designed to make it manageable — no new hires, no new platform, just good people doing small things well, with a few nudges in the right direction.

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Key Sources

1. Sustainability Support for Education

2. Climate Ambassadors

3. National Education Nature Park

4. DfE Sustainability & Climate Change Strategy

5. DfE Guidance on SECR for Academy Trusts

6. Simpler Recycling — Workplace Recycling Rules

7. Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS)

8. DfE’s School Estate Management Standards (2025)

9. Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

10. Environment Act 2021 – Simpler Recycling in England