Frensham Schools – embracing sustainability as a key strategic pillar
Overview
Frensham Schools, a leading educational institution, sought to integrate sustainability deeply into its core values, curriculum, and daily operations. Partnering with Sustain 2050, the school aimed to align with community expectations, legislative requirements, and emerging climate standards while addressing practical challenges like inefficient old buildings. This initiative transformed scattered green efforts into a cohesive strategy, enhancing students'lived experiences and positioning the school as a forward-thinking educator and community leader.
The Challenge
Frensham Schools faced multifaceted hurdles in elevating sustainability:
Alignment with Expectations: Whilst not yet captured by legislation, the School saw value in aligning incoming climate disclosure standards under AASB S2 for corporate Australia.
Infrastructure Issues: Older buildings were energy-intensive and costly to heat, contributing to higher emissions and operational inefficiencies.
Integration Across Operations: Unifying disparate green initiatives school-wide, from facilities to curriculum.
Community Dynamics: Navigating a diverse school community with mixed views on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) topics, while treating the school as both an educator and a business.
Key focus areas included assessing the current state (carbon emissions, climate risks, waste production, energy consumption, and facility opportunities), strategic planning for decarbonisation, and fostering engagement among students, staff, and the broader community.
Considerations
Our work considered:
Values alignment, embedding sustainability into students' lived experiences.
Viewing the school holistically as an educator, community hub, and business entity.
Compliance with evolving climate disclosure standards.
Engaging a school community with varied perspectives on ESG.
Our Approach
Sustain 2050 delivered a comprehensive, tailored strategy leveraging expertise in sustainability and data-driven insights:
Carbon Emissions Calculation: Utilised AI and data analytics to compute emissions, aligned with the incoming AASB S2 standard. This included developing a dashboard for carbon metrics, visualising kg CO2-e by scope (Scope 1, 2, and 3) and subcategories via bar and pie charts for clear, actionable insights.
Government Grant Scan: Identified opportunities from Federal, NSW State, and Local Government grants to fund sustainability projects.
Strategy & Business Case: Embedded sustainability and decarbonisation into the School's Master Plan, creating a costed business case that was approved by the Board.
Sustainability Working Group: Formed a group of senior students and staff, focusing on streams for education, facilities, communications, and governance.
Community Engagement: Developed strategic communications to involve stakeholders, supporting school growth and fundraising goals.
This approach ensured sustainability was not just a policy but a lived value, fostering buy-in and long-term commitment.
Outcomes and Impact
The project successfully unified Frensham Schools' sustainability efforts, resulting in Board-approved plans for decarbonisation and enhanced facilities. The carbon metrics dashboard provided ongoing visibility into emissions, enabling data-informed decisions. By embedding sustainability into the curriculum and values, the school empowered students as active participants in environmental stewardship. This initiative also positioned Frensham as a model for educational institutions, aligning with broader ESG trends and unlocking potential grant funding for future upgrades.
