The Department for Children, Schools and Families is taking the first steps to making every new school building zero carbon from 2016, Children's Secretary Ed Balls announced yesterday. This will have a massive impact on the way schools plan their ICT. Mr Balls confirmed that the highly respected architect Robin Nicholson will chair an expert task force to advise ministers. He also announced the group's formal terms of reference. The Children's Plan, published last December, set out the Government's long-term ambition for all new school buildings in England to produce no carbon emissions at all from their day-to-day use within eight years. The Zero Carbon Task Force, which meets today, will launch a call for evidence later this summer and report to ministers by the end of year on overcoming the technological and cost barriers.

Ed Balls said:

"We have already made significant steps to cutting carbon use in schools - backed by our unprecedented capital investment in schools, as well as other initiatives giving local authorities a statutory responsibility to cut car use on the school run. "The Children's Plan goes a lot further and sets out our long-term goal that all new schools buildings should be zero-carbon from 2016. "This will be the most ambitious design and building initiative the school system has ever faced. This expert task force drawn from the construction, sustainability and education sectors will help us overcome the technical, design and construction challenges over the next eight years. "I don't have time for critics who will carp that this is impossible. I know that current technology makes zero-carbon schools expensive and challenging to install on many existing school sites. "The fact is that we have a clear moral responsibility to future generations to make it happen. We can no longer sit back and wait for the science to catch up with us - it would be a dereliction of duty if we did."

Robin Nicholson said:

"I'm delighted to chair the zero carbon task force. This is not going to be straightforward but if there is one sector that must show the way then it should be schools, at the heart of our communities, especially given the scale of the replacement programmes". Ministers have already taken significant steps to cutting energy use and low carbon generation in schools to be the norm:

* announced $110 million specifically to install cutting-edge carbon reduction and renewable energy technology in more than 200 secondary schools undergoing major refurbishment over the next three years - most as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF). This was on top of the $21.9 billion capital investment in schools between 2008 and 2011, including $9.3 billion earmarked for BSF;
* introduced stricter design regulations meaning that energy use in new school buildings has already been slashed by 60 per cent on 2002 levels, thanks to stricter statutory regulations - which the Government is supporting with high-quality design guidance and advice;
* required all new school building projects to reach the "very good" standard on the internationally recognised independent BREEAM design assessment - which assess energy and water conservation, sustainable transport, low impact construction material use and biodiversity on school sites;
* developing a wider Carbon Management Strategy for the school system. This work is at an early stage and the Government is working with the Sustainable Development Commission and others partners to test feasibility and develop a practical strategy to reduce carbon emissions across the sector; and
* published the Sustainable Development Action Plan - "Brighter Futures - Greener Lives" last month, with supporting delivery plans outlining energy and carbon reduction management.

The Zero Carbon target and taskforce were first announced in the Children's Plan published in December 2007.

The Zero Carbon Task Force's formal terms of reference are:

Aim of the Task Force is to:

develop a roadmap to zero carbon for all new schools by 2016; supported by research, including setting out clear targets and milestones along the way;

make recommendations for the best way of implementing the roadmap in projects delivered through BSF (including Academies) and non- BSF projects;

identify any limits for energy efficiency for agreed school types and locations, i.e where it is agreed that zero carbon cannot be achieved;

identify exemplary developments, either existing (eg where low carbon energy infrastructures are in place) or planned (eg eco towns) and explore their potential for roll out;

scope the potential for reducing carbon emissions in refurbishment projects;

This will require consideration of:

The cost, benefits and affordability of proposals, and potential impact on the capital programme;

A working definition of a zero carbon school which will include energy used to heat, cool and light the building, together with energy used to power equipment used within the school;

a mechanism to calculate the performance of a zero carbon school;

Available technologies and future potential for developing technologies to enable the target of 2016 to be met;

The opportunities provided by a zero carbon new building for teaching and learning.

The Task Force will NOT:
Consider carbon emissions beyond those attributable to the energy used within the building;

Address broader educational and sustainable schools issues which are not related to reducing carbon emissions from new building or refurbishment.

Consider carbon savings through offset or other measures to link with schools overseas

The Task Force will aim to ensure that carbon reductions are met in an efficient and socially responsible way - to discourage measures to achieve zero carbon school buildings which pass the burden elsewhere.