University of Exeter is leading the way in transforming its campuses and operations to meet the urgent challenges of the climate crisis. With a strong research heritage in environmental and climate science, the institution is committed to ensuring its own actions reflect the global leadership it provides through teaching and research.
In this interview, we speak with Tim Dennett, Sustainability Manager, and Melissa Summerfield, Sustainability Reporting Manager, who are central to driving Exeterโs net zero ambitions. Together, they oversee the universityโs carbon reduction strategies, reporting frameworks, ensuring robust data, transparent progress, and meaningful action across the universityโs activities.
Tim and Melissa share how Exeter is accelerating its sustainability journey, the innovations making a real impact, and how their evolving partnership with TEAM is enabling smarter reporting, better decision making and deeper engagement across staff, students, and stakeholders.
TEAM Energy: Why is achieving net zero a priority for University of Exeter and how does it align with your broader mission?
Tim Dennett: Net zero is one of the key sustainability strategies at the university, which is committed to addressing the climate and the ecological crisis. As a research university with a lot of climate scientists, we have to walk the walk. Many of our academics are at COP or are lead authors of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports. The University needed to step up and show that it can be a leader in this space, not just in the research it produces but in action. So, the University of Exeterโs strategy was all about bringing the action in line with what our academics are talking about. It aligns very clearly with the research the university is producing, the teaching weโre doing, and it’s a huge thing the students want to see as well. Some students are choosing universities based on sustainability and how sustainable change is being implemented.
It aligns with our broader mission to create knowledge, solutions and benefit society and the environment; ensuring our campus reflects what we promote globally.
TEAM: What specific strategies or initiatives have you implemented to reduce carbon across the estate?
Tim: Weโve got lots of things: the LED lighting programme, building management, weโve installed airโsource and groundโsource heat pumps. Weโve got large PV arrays that have been put up.
Weโre looking at putting a large wind turbine down on the Penrhyn campus which will cover most of the energy there.
Weโve got electric charging points for our campus vehicles; about half of them are electric now.
And then there are broader things, not quite carbon-related but behavioural change activities that reduce emissions in the student accommodation, giving information about their impacts in monetary terms so they understand more easily.
We also have biodiversity work, called the โgreen estate,โ that includes biodiversity tree planting and river restoration. One area of this type of work has been at the Lower Hoopern Valley, which is a publicly available green space at the bottom of the university.
TEAM: Have there been any positive outcomes from any initiatives that have been implemented?
Tim: Weโve seen some really positive outcomes from the initiatives weโve put in place. A good example is our โGift It Reuse Itโ programme. A few years ago, students leaving halls would abandon all sorts of perfectly good items, like pots and pans, even TVs, and theyโd end up in a skip. Now, instead of throwing everything away, we collect it, clean it, categorise it, and store it until September. When the new students arrive, they can take what they need for free.
Itโs been a win on several fronts: we donโt have to hire a skip, weโre cutting down on waste, and students love it because it saves them money. What really surprised us, though, was the reaction from parents on social media, people saying things like, โI was about to go to Tesco and buy a full kitchen set, and now I donโt need to.โ Thereโs been a huge amount of positive feedback, and our comms team tracks all of that to build the evidence base for the impact of our work.
Itโs a simple example, but it clearly shows how our initiatives are improving the student experience and reducing waste at the same time.
TEAM: What challenges have you faced on your net zero carbon reduction journey, and how have you overcome them?
Tim: The main challenges inevitably become financial constraints. Itโs about balancing investment with other priorities and the long payback for certain things; some renewables have 10โ15โyear payback which doesnโt sit well with executives who want quicker returns.
We like to build a broader case that is more than just financial returns: biodiverstiy impact, student experience, external rankings like Times Higher Education, all carry weight. Demonstrating impact on rankings links to student recruitment and therefore revenue.
A broad case thatโs not just net zero is an inclusive outlook.
TEAM: How important is it to engage staff, students and stakeholders with the insights you look after and how do you foster a culture of sustainability?
Tim: Itโs critical. Sustainability at its heart is a behavioural change piece. Without engagement weโd be fighting an uphill battle.
We canโt achieve it through infrastructure alone; we need people along with us. TEAMโs sustainability reporting platform helps with transparency, sharing progress and challenges openly.
We use this information in our teaching and students collaborate through initiatives like โGreen Consultants,โ where they solve problems using our data.
Melissa Summerfield: Engagement programmes have existed for years: student switchโoff campaigns, competitions, external engagement programmes. Over the last three years at University of Exeter the sustainability team has expanded, and it now includes a comms team which has really amplified our engagement across the university.
TEAM: What prompted you to seek a new sustainability reporting solution?
Melissa: When we published the White Paper declaring a climate emergency in 2018/19, we said weโd start incorporating Scope 3. Weโd always had an energy management system, and we spent years trying to make that work with Scope 3, we even trialled another system.
But nothing gave the flexibility needed for so many types of Scope 3 data. We needed something beyond energy management, something more bespoke and suited to our needs and that could monitor all emissions.
Tim: Previous approaches had some flexibility but needed lots of interventions by analysts, which led to increased chances of errors. Overall, senior management were keen on a robust system and process in place. TEAMโs sustainability reporting solution allowed that robustness, reduced analytical time, and kept flexibility.
TEAM: How has the partnership with TEAM evolved, and what value has it brought?
Melissa: Iโve worked with TEAM for many years, at Exeter and in a previous organisation. Originally, they were just the provider of their Sigma energy management software. Then TEAM visited customers to learn what they needed, and our relationship became more collaborative.
Based on our needs and feedback, TEAM made developments and supported us when we wanted to incorporate Scope 3.
They worked with us to discover exactly what it was we were looking for and developed a sustainability reporting system we could control and that can cope with the large volumes of data and many different users, rather than relying on a software provider for all changes and fixes.
The system has been built collaboratively with training along the way, which is really important to me since I spend so much time using it.
It really is a partnership, not just a service; especially because weโre no longer relying on a third-party software provider for every change and fix. The consistency of TEAMโs support staff has been really helpful.
Tim: Itโs collaborative: we get solutions by working together, not being dictated to. It builds flexible tools we can use longโterm, but we can still call TEAM if we need help.
TEAM: What were the key requirements for the sustainability reporting framework?
Tim: One key requirement was auditability. Scope 1 and 2 gets assured, we need to be able to track a single number throughout the process back to the start. The system allows us to track when things were uploaded, by whom, and from where, which is great in terms of our assurance process. In fact, the insurers liked the dashboards because they could find information themselves.
Melissa: Emission factors were also key, not just standard ones but supplierโspecific ones, and the ability to add our own.
Flexibility was huge. Scope 3 contains completely different data types, like waste, travel and procurement, and the system treats them separately with bespoke validation, but brings them into one place.
Another requirement of the reporting solution was to have flexibility around how data is presented, ensuring we are not restricted to a single set of predefined dashboards but can instead build tailored Power BI visualisations that meet the needs of diverse audiences across the university.
TEAM: How does the sustainability reporting solution enable reporting across levels and ensure data quality?
Melissa: We have many stakeholders with different needs. Unlimited dashboards and levels mean we can present data tailored to each stakeholder. Raw data goes in and can be grouped or drilled down however needed.
Tim: Automation of the data flows from multiple sources allows us to report on multiple levels. Validation rules help ensure accuracy, making us more confident in outputs.
It lets us produce data for leadership, operational teams, external stakeholders, and students, each needing different clarity and permissions.
TEAM: What methods or KPIs do you use to track progress?
Tim: We have five or six highโlevel KPIs in our annual report, and around 25โ30 others: carbon broken down by categories, intensity factors per student/per ยฃ1m spend, etc.
For success stories: โGift It, Reuse Itโ is a strong one. Students leave items behind; theyโre cleaned and given to new students. Great student and parent response; reduced waste; saved money; huge engagement.
Another example: commuting data. The university worked with Stagecoach to change bus routes, connecting campuses and stations. We saw a marked increase in bus travel (about 20%). That gave evidence for negotiating electric buses next. Now we need to figure out carbon factors for electric buses!
Melissa: External assurance has been hugely beneficial, six metrics assured so far. It ensures reliability and informs data improvement planning.
TEAM: Do you have any advice for other universities or organisations on a similar journey?
Tim: Identify your reasons for reporting and make it transparent, whatever the reasons. It could be about regulation, customer demand, or company ethos, they are all good reasons that shape what you build.
Then collect robust data with a strict methodology to ensure consistency; avoid โwinging itโ yearโtoโyear.
Sustainability at its heart is behavioural change, and you wonโt get anywhere without engagement from your staff and stakeholders.
Celebrate wins because 2050 is a long way off and you need milestones to keep momentum.
Melissa: Robust documentation and procedures and processes. These are the things that often get deprioritised, but consistent, transparent processes mean yearโonโyear data is meaningful. Assurance highlighted how important this is.
You want someone to step in and do things the same way, otherwise comparisons are meaningless.
