A leading environmentalist has said it is the fault of vice-chancellors for universities failing to hit sustainability and carbon emission targets.

Jonathon Porritt, former director of Friends of the Earth and chancellor of Keele University, spoke to ߣߣÊÓƵ after leading a debate at London South Bank University on whether the sector needed to protect the environment.

He said although he is ¡°very critical of government¡±, it was up to the leaders of universities to maintain their sustainability effort.

¡°Now that the government has chosen [a] particular model for progressing HE in this country ¨C and they have delegated a lot of power and influence to each university ¨C this blame has to lie at the feet of every vice-chancellor in this country," he said.

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¡°It¡¯s no good them saying: ¡®oh but we¡¯re not getting any support to do this, that and the other.' That¡¯s not the deal any longer. I can be very critical of government because I think they¡¯re failing in their leadership duties as well, but the idea that v-cs, as a group of key influencers in the UK, can shuffle the responsibility back up to a bunch of ministers, is patently ridiculous.

¡°The responsibility for their own carbon targets lies with that group of decision makers. And they need to be held to account on that.¡±

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His comments follow the recent report by sustainability consultancy Brite Green, which revealed universities would achieve only a 12 per cent reduction in absolute carbon emissions by 2020, well short of the 43 per cent sector target. Mr Porritt called the results ¡°damning¡± and universities were in a ¡°dangerous position where things could go backwards¡±.

However, he conceded that universities were not helped by government.

¡°[In terms of] real leadership from BIS or any bit of the government that ought to have an interest in this country¡¯s sustainability performance and young people¡¯s role in a more sustainable world? You¡¯d have to say that¡¯s just evaporated completely,¡± he said.

He added it ¡°should be part of the accountability¡± of vice-chancellors to demonstrate leadership in sustainability besides other ¡°critical aspects¡± such as research and contribution to the economy.

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¡°I¡¯m in no way diminishing the importance of those but you¡¯ve got to put performance on sustainability in the mix of performance measures for v-cs,¡± he said.

john.elmes@tesglobal.com