Scottish universities share £20m carbon reduction fund

Three Scottish universities will receive a total of £20m from the Scottish government as part of an investment programme to accelerate carbon reduction projects.


Strathclyde, Stirling and St Andrews universities will share the funding, offered through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), to help Scotland meet its carbon emissions reduction targets through a number of “new cutting edge” projects.

St Andrews University will receive £10m for a wood-fuelled biomass project at Guardbridge in Fife, while £8m will go to Strathclyde University to construct a combined heat, power and district energy network, linking Strathclyde’s campus with major energy users in the area.

The remaining £2m will go to Stirling University for the installation of a Combined Heat and Power plant to serve its main campus.

Education Secretary Michael Russell said: “Today’s announcement further underlines both the value of our universities in leading research and innovation and Scotland’s ambitions for low carbon energy.

“Investment for these three universities will not only contribute to reducing our carbon emissions, their work will offer other bodies the opportunity to learn from their work, develop their own projects and further enhance Scotland’s global reputation in this area.

Minister for Environment Paul Wheelhouse added: “Climate change is a serious issue both here in Scotland and further afield and all work to limit the impact of this global issue is to be welcomed.

“Scotland’s Higher Education sector is very well placed to make a significant contribution, both in research and in action, to carbon reduction, and the projects being funded today have the potential to make a real difference to reducing our carbon emissions.

Leigh Stringer

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