Why Sustainability matters 

climate hub mural with colourful drawings of sustainable related images

Why Sustainability Matters 

Fife College has a played a significant role in providing skills training for the traditional fossil economy. Over 125 years, the college has been at the heart of careers development in forestry, coal mining and mine engineering, coal and oil intensive electricity generation, and carbon intensive construction and heavy engineering.

We have a historical responsibility to accept our role in the legacy of climate change, and to turn that responsibility into a positive commitment to leadership and change in our own practice and the wider regional economy and community which we serve.

We have an opportunity to embed climate change understanding and sustainability in all of the curriculum and career pathways we deliver to 20,000 students each year. Similarly, we can affect sustainable practice in the 200 businesses we work with each year – both training their staff, and in our procurement supply chain. By being ambitious and delivering on our aims we want to be an exemplar for other institutions to improve their own practice and make the collective impact of the tertiary education system and public sector as a mass contributor to the national drive to net zero carbon by 2035. 

Our leadership in sustainability will not only add value to our local and national engagement activities, but support Fife and Scotland on its journey to a resilient and just society with net zero carbon by 2045.