Sustainability governance

Governance

To provide direction and governance for the delivery of sustainability within the University, we have established a steering group called the Napier Group.

The Napier Group

The aim of the Napier Group is to act as the strategic group that oversees, monitors and guides the delivery of sustainability ‘strategy’ across the University. The group reports to the Executive Board as necessary.

The Napier group is made up of:

The group's Chair - Professor Bob Nichol, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences and member of the University’s Executive Board with board-level responsibility for sustainability at ��ý.
Martin Wiles, Head of Sustainability (Estates).

The Napier Group will also play a strategic role in delivering the net zero carbon (NZC) plan for scopes 1 & 2 and the scope 3 delivery plan. The group sits along side a University strategic programme board for NZC, which has a sub-board made up of both ��ý staff and staff from SSE. Under that will come workstream boards comprising of 8 boards for each of the 8 points of the NZC plan, plus specific project boards for projects like the solar farm.

Details of the structure below, including membership of the strategic board:

Programme Board Structure

Role	Name	Key Responsibilities
COO	Will Davies	Chair Programme Board & Programme Sponsor
Pro-VC, Executive Dean (FEPS)	Prof Bob Nichol	EB Sponsor
Head of Sustainability	Martin Wiles	NZC lead
Director of Estates	Marco Holness	To help mobilise estates functions to deliver NZC
Head of Built Environment	Adrian Richardson-Smith	To help project management of NZC. Provide admin. Support for board.
Senior Procurement Officer	Nick Jones	To help manage procurement of NZC with energy partner.
Senior Financial Officer	Ian Prebble	To review and challenge financial costs of projects.
Senior Legal Officer	TBC	To help advise on legal issues within contracts and projects.
Energy Manager	Andrew Harman	To support Head of Sustainability.

Responsible Investment and Banking

The University has a 'Responsible Investment Procedure' that sets out how it will invest any monies it has in stock and shares, as well as cash holdings in banks.

It aligns with the University’s sustainability ambitions, with any investments aligning with the following goals:

Environmental	The quality of environmental management, policies and reporting. Efficient use of natural resources. Pollution, waste and deforestation. Resilience to climate change in line with the Paris Climate Accord. Impact on the global environment, its climate and biodiversity. Focus on recycling and impact of single-use plastics. Commitment to a transition to sustainable energy production and utilisation, and / or a clear commitment to renewable energy transition and research.
Social	Approach to equal opportunities, training, health and safety, working conditions (including slavery and child labour), employee and board diversity, gender pay, senior executive remuneration and employee welfare. The effect of the manufacture and sale of products, services and materials on society and on public health and safety. Involvement and impact on local communities both in the UK and overseas. The extent and nature of charitable donations. The significance of any complaints regarding advertising or other public messages.
Governance	Policies towards human rights, the nature of any operations in the third world, impact on indigenous communities and observance of labour standards. Consideration of fraud, bribery and corruption risks. Marketing techniques, supply chain management and the quality of internal controls. Tax strategies and specifically the use of any aggressive tax avoidance schemes. Transparency. Compliance with the highest standards of corporate governance.

This procedure applies to all investments the University holds, is signed off by the Vice-President, Global and the Partnerships and Reputation Committee and is delivered by the Chief Financial Officer, last being revised May 2022 and will be reviewed over the coming 12 months.

Transparency around university investments

Management of the ��ý’s investments is undertaken by the Chief Financial Officer and the finance office team, with the primary overview undertaken by the University’s Finance Committee, which is a sub- committee of University Council, the governing body for the University:

University Council details and membership information
University Council minutes
University Finance Committee as a sub committee information
- Minutes of the Finance Committee meetings are not made publicly available, but decisions affecting investment are noted within the University's annual financial report.

Finance Committee members

The Finance Committee is made up of:

Treasurer (Chair)	(position subject to periodic rotation and appointment by the Council)
President & Vice-Chancellor	Professor Stephen Jarvis
Chair of Council	Charlie Geffen
Provost & Senior Vice-President	Professor Emma Flynn
Chief Operating Officer	Will Davies

The Committee also includes three appointed individuals drawn from the University Council and up to 2 independent members selected for specialized financial or operational expertise.

Staff, student and stakeholder access to financial investment decisions

The Responsible Investment Procedure notes in section 4.7:

‘Staff, students and other stakeholders may address any questions, suggestions or concerns regarding this procedure to the Chief Financial Officer at any time. Students may, additionally, channel any comments through the President of the Students’ Union, who is a member of the University Council.’

This is where staff, students and stakeholders can ask questions regarding investments.

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