Royal College of Music

• Award-winning sustainability reporting: We provided support for the delivery of the College’s sustainability reports, which have won the “reporting with influence” award at the Green Gown awards.
• Carbon and energy management: We have helped the RCM to measure and report their carbon emissions and work on an ongoing basis to establish and deliver science-based carbon reduction targets and initiatives.
• Embedding sustainability strategy into teaching and operations: We provided guidance for the development of the College’s sustainability strategy and collaborated with academic and operational teams to implement improved sustainability practices.
• Maintained ISO 14001 certification: We provide ongoing support to maintain the College’s environmental management system, helping the RCM to maintain their continued certification to ISO 14001.

Support needed to deliver high-ambition sustainability approach

The Royal College of Music has set an ambitious vision for sustainability but as a small, specialist institution, the team are always looking for smart ways to use their resources efficiently. As a leading higher education institution, the College is under increasing scrutiny from students, staff and sector-wide organisations to manage sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities effectively.

As a result, the College were looking to establish a long-term partnership with an expert consultancy to help embed sustainability practice across the College by sharing best-practice advice and insights as well rolling their sleeves up to provide practical support.

Practical hands-on support and long-term strategic vision setting

We love working with the Royal College of Music. The passion, energy and exacting standards that they bring to music making and teaching is found in all aspects of college life.

Since 2017, we have developed an effective partnership, providing the College with the expertise and resource to deliver their sustainability vision.

An important part of this success is the College’s collaborative approach. We support the RCM’s two sustainability committees, joining their regular meetings, presenting papers and supporting the teams to act on the decisions made. We also support the senior management team, preparing papers and reports for the College’s Council and sub-committees, and answering any questions that arise.

We have also helped to bring the College’s social and environmental initiatives together into a clear sustainability strategy. Working with Heads of Departments and Directors, we conducted a materiality analysis to identify the most important environmental and social topics for the College. We then developed a clear, best-practice strategy that included both academic and operational themes and have worked with staff and students to implement the exciting programmes. This approach brought together excellent existing programmes, including initiatives to improve access to music making for young people and attracting students from a diverse range of backgrounds to study at the College, and new, bold approaches, such as a partnership with the Royal Gardens at Kew to explore the natural world through music.

The mainstay of the College’s environmental programme is delivered through their ISO 14001 certified environmental management system. We work with the RCM team across the year to deliver initiatives, undertake internal audits, conduct the management review and provide support before and during the external audits to ensure they run smoothly. Our team make the process simple and easy, working collaboratively to seek out opportunities to improve policy, practice and performance.

We also work closely with members of the estates team responsible for environmental management, providing coaching and mentoring support to help them develop in their role. This includes shadowing audits and working collaboratively on tasks.

Energy and carbon emissions have become increasingly important, with stakeholders expecting the College to achieve Net Zero carbon. Given the challenges of the College’s historic estate, we conducted detailed energy audits to identify the opportunities that would work in the RCM’s buildings.

We have also supported the College to establish science-based carbon reduction targets and publish carbon action plans that set out the programme that will deliver the reductions needed. We also helped the College comply with the ESOS regulations when they fell into scope, conducting the necessary audits and submissions.

Over our time working with the RCM, we have implemented robust carbon reporting processes across scopes 1, 2 and 3 and have improved how performance data is reported. With growing stakeholder scrutiny and interest in sustainability, it is vital for the RCM to communicate its management approach and performance effectively.

We work closely with the RCM to publish a comprehensive annual sustainability report. We start the process with heads of key departments to agree the key themes and messages for the report. We compile data from across a range of metrics from the GRI standard and meet with members of staff to develop and refine the narrative and case studies which showcase the work that’s been completed during the year. A draft version of the report is then prepared, which – following a feedback and review process – is then finessed by our design team. The report mirrors the College’s ambitious and wide-ranging sustainability strategy, and has been recognised at the Green Gown Awards, winning the “reporting with influence” category.