What impact would you have seen today? What impact might that have had on how you live your life today? What decisions might you have made differently? 

For students at Tonbridge boarding school in Kent, this theoretical scenario is now becoming reality. We spoke with Will Biddle, the new Head of Sustainability (and long standing Teacher of Design and Technology) to understand how Tonbridge is engaging the next generation on issues of climate change and sustainable living.  

Will takes the mantle as someone who has dedicated much of his life to sustainable practices, from recycling and upcycling through carpentry and other fun projects to educating students about the importance of a circular economy in design and technology.  

Tonbridge: A prestigious, sustainability-conscious educator

MyCarbon: “Thanks for chatting with us Will. To get things rolling, could you tell us a bit about Tonbridge?”  

Will Biddle: “Sure. Tonbridge is based in the southeast of England, and the boarding school is home to centuries of educational history, dating back to its founding in 1553. The school spans 150 acres and is made up of 12 houses for both boarders and day-pupils, also welcoming children and teens from overseas. Privately funded, the school’s focus on innovative, out-of-the-box thinking echoes through its curriculum—many of its Alumni progress to top colleges and universities worldwide.” 

MyCarbon: “How did your conversations around sustainability begin at Tonbridge?” 

Will Biddle: “It was triggered by a meeting our Bursar had with the governing body in November 2022, who could see an opportunity—that the school could be more proactive with ESG, specifically the environmental aspects of that.  

“Firstly, we realised we would save money by segregating waste more efficiently, because it costs us less to have dry mixed recycling removed. Our big decision—and ‘hats off’ to the bursar for putting money behind this. He could see this would be a quick, almost immediate change for the school and send a signal that we’re taking things seriously and investing in climate action.”  

Today, Will leads the school’s impact reduction initiatives, focusing on more than just its waste bins. These efforts have evolved into emissions reduction efforts spanning Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3—with the support of MyCarbon—and it is already adept at taking matters into its own hands. 

Starting with the students: Bringing sustainability into education

The impacts of sustainability will be felt, largely, by future generations. As much as we’d like to say the world is reaching a turning point, the aftermath of so many of our decisions will be left in the hands of the students of today.  

Thankfully, we learnt a great lesson from Will and the team at Tonbridge about engaging and educating these generations as early as possible. Whilst environmental, social and governance (ESG) are critical considerations for the school’s staff, educating students to be climate conscious is only going to pay dividends in terms of idea generation, strategising, and even implementing changes they have witnessed at school, in their own lives.  

MyCarbon: “Climate change isn’t just an important aspect for you personally, but a major incentive for the boys to think about their impact. How did you show them what impact they have on the world and, more importantly, how it can change?” 

Will Biddle: “We have a group of boys who are interested in sustainability and environmental action, and they have a green committee. Through this, I took them off to Countrystyle, our waste management company, based just north of Sittingbourne. All of our waste streams go to them apart from waste electrical.  

“They’ve got an impressive facility up there, so I take the green committee to look at how all of the dry mixed recycling is processed to enter a circular economy. We looked at how the general waste is shredded and turned into bales, then incinerated to recover energy.  

“What they're not given a chance to do is sit down, have a look at the nuance behind all of that, look at what good is being done by certain organisations, governments, charities, and individuals—to look at where the damage is still being done, but also where the decision making can begin to change that. The challenge typically is that those conversations just haven't got much elbow room in schools at the moment.”  

Acting as the Head of Sustainability puts Will in a unique position to provide space for students to really get to grips with the climate crisis, and provide high-level insights that are normally only reserved for adults. With all of the challenges that schools face on a daily basis, creating time to tackle these far reaching and impactful topics is incredible and we hope will yield powerful results. 

Scoping out emission hotspots

It is perhaps little wonder that Tonbridge does prioritise its students' awareness of climate impact, when they themselves have already achieved some incredible feats both in terms of emissions reduction and other activities. These include compiling Scope 1 and Scope 2 reports based on its spend data, as well as waste management through its waste paper recycling initiatives and simple, yet effective, changes like switching out internal lighting for more energy-efficient LEDs.  

MyCarbon: “Can you explain how you navigate tight budgets as a school and some of the things you’ve focused on to begin reducing your carbon footprint?” 

Will Biddle: “We’re well-resourced, I would say. We’re private. However, demands on the budget come up from all directions all the time. But, we’ve been very good over the years, moving towards LED lighting to save money. You save money and it’s often more sustainable.  

“Whenever we build new facilities or upgrade them, we’re looking to maximise insulation, making the buildings as heat efficient as possible. We’ve already been on that journey as I think a number of businesses have. It’s common sense.”  

For Tonbridge to reach the next level of emission management, they needed to focus on the more complex task of Scope 3 emissions measurement and reporting.  

Working with MyCarbon, catering suppliers and other external providers were identified as making up 29% of its overall emissions. However, thanks to our bespoke data quality profiling, we also noted that some Scope 1 emissions slipped through the cracks—namely natural gas usage, comprising 39% of its emissions. 

In the future, like many organisations whose emissions reside in the Scope 3 category, engaging with suppliers to collaborate on decarbonisation opportunities and synergies will be high on the agenda if Tonbridge is to be successful in achieving net zero.  

Tight budgets, tighter timelines

As Will explains, “the demands of the budget come from all directions, all the time”. While tight budgeting can be a pain for a sustainability leader in any school—and, in fact, in the corporate world—this is marked by Will as one of the key hurdles he faces as the school’s first ever Head of Sustainability.   

Naturally, sustainability must show feasible return on investment across many areas in order to gain the approval of the school’s governing body. As an institution, the primary consideration goes to the students, which can lead to, as Will alludes to, constraints on further actions to reduce emissions—allocating the budget to carbon reduction relies on a concrete understanding of data.   

This requires some clever thinking to ensure that activities on Tonbridge’s sustainability agenda also align with educational practices. In the past, Tonbridge has delivered some fantastic changes at the school, but on the basis of cost-reduction or minimal draw from the money pot. 

MyCarbon: “This brings us nicely onto our work with you and Tonbridge. Perhaps you could explain the process involved and the resulting emissions discovery?” 

Will Biddle: “So we dumped a whole load of data your way for you to look at our Scope 3. To measure Scope 1, 2, and 3, it took a few months of work, including a site visit from yourselves. 

“This involved a review of the estate to find the hotspots of energy usage and where efficiencies can be made. Now, our net zero strategy focuses on heat and water, and we’ll probably go electric in our kitchens. We've got 14 different kitchens to service all of the catering needs of the school.” 

Making sustainable choices, though, often holds greater benefits like cost reduction, which is how the school can deliver on both the needs of its Bursars and the environment. This very much ties into its current Scope 1 and Scope 2 efforts—these also require some level of buy-in from teachers and students in order to make them successful.  

Overcoming Internal Hurdles    

There are many changes that can be made now to reduce the environmental impact of an organisation. However, consider the effects these will have on the various interested parties, such as suppliers.  

In Tonbridge’s case, waste reduction experienced some resistance from staff, which required some considerate conversation to understand their wants and needs. 

In this case, Will stresses the implementation of changes, such as its internal waste recycling initiative, must be done in a compassionate way.  

MyCarbon: It seems you’ve already taken many actions to reduce your impact in terms of waste. Why don’t you outline those briefly? 

Will Biddle: Of course! So, we’re used to having a little bin in each room. The issue is that everything goes in there, even the recycling. Our waste partner Country Style told us we have a huge amount of contaminated waste.  

"As a result of this, the school segregated waste bins and removed the smaller little bins from its classrooms and offices, which, although a cost-effective move for the school, came under resistance from some staff."  

This is where compassion came into play. Will spoke with individuals to understand their attachment—both literal and psychological—to the bins they had in their rooms. This individualised approach from Will helped move this change along, by helping more of Tonbridge’s staff to invest their energy in sustainability. 

Scope 3 emissions: Factors beyond the school grounds 

Why is Tonbridge preoccupied with Scope 3 emissions, you ask? Or rather—the more important question to answer—why is this so important to the school?  

Aside from being a sustainability advocate, the school recognises the global reach of its operations. Scope 3 emissions reporting will show Will and the team at Tonbridge just how far this extends both in the UK and overseas.  

Tonbridge recognises the potential impact students could have on the world beyond the confines of the school campus. Their parents’ use of carbon-emitting vehicles for school drop-offs or even international students’ flights raise as flags for Tonbridge to act in order to achieve the coveted net zero status.  

Tonbridge recognises the impact of its students (through no fault of their own, we’d like to add) and is adamant that work can be done to ensure their unknown contributions are brought to light.  

MyCarbon: “What's the parents’ engagement like with what you've done—if any at all? 

Will Biddle: “This is what I’m looking to explore next. Having been in the role for over a year now, we’ve seen the path to net zero and made a couple of changes. When students go on study leave, that will open up a lot of time to do a bit more ‘blue-sky thinking’ and start reaching out to parents. I’m thinking about more outward-facing communications through our website, social media channels, and to our parent body. 

“I’ve already been approached by a couple of parents who are keen to support and help by giving their input.” 

While this is crucial to achieving its goal, though, activity-based carbon accounting puts some initial actions high on its list of priorities. With real-world insight into its emissions hotspots, we learned that its supply chain holds significantly greater impacts for the school. 

MyCarbon's work with Tonbridge - and more...

It's safe to say that, at MyCarbon, we all wish there had been a bigger focus on climate change beyond our Geography lessons. It is fantastic to know that young people at Tonbridge are heavily invested in the school’s sustainable achievements.  

If more of our education was devoted to lateral thinking, perhaps students would be more inclined to take action against climate change. It’s encouraging to know that young people at Tonbridge are highly motivated to reduce the school’s impact on the planet and its people, and the governing body recognised this with Will’s influence. 

We support Will and the team at Tonbridge on their carbon reduction journey as the school’s emissions reporting partner and provide industry-specific advice for sustainability strategy creation and implementation. 

MyCarbon works with the school to deliver on its goals through various means, including: 

• Setting Tonbridge on the right path, by highlighting its objective emissions hotspots
• Implementing a more sophisticated data modelling system that allows greater visibility of all Scope emissions 
• Providing support in sourcing reputable suppliers that aid the school’s carbon reduction goals 
• Continually advising Will and the team on the best course of action based on real data

Having set the groundwork for the school, Tonbridge came to MyCarbon to develop its strategy and seek out providers to support its ongoing work. 

As a critical partner for business in the UK, we pride ourselves on a number of engagements to help companies and non-profit institutions like Tonbridge take their next steps towards net zero emissions, providing carbon consultancy to the likes of BrewDog, The Hut Group (THG), and Tainline.

To find out more about our work with Tonbridge, click the link to read the full case study. 

For more insight into our work, read more success stories and achievements, and check out our Knowledge Hub.

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