GLT Awarded Energy Conscious Organisation (EnCO) Status
8th November 2025
Great Learners Trust Achieves EnCO Status – A First for MATs and Primary Schools
Great Learners Trust (GLT) has become the first multi-academy trust in the UK to achieve Energy Conscious Organisation (EnCO) status for its collective efforts in reducing energy consumption through operational and behavioural change.
EnCO is a not-for-profit initiative run by the Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA) and supported by the Energy Institute, promoting energy efficiency through behaviour change. GLT now joins global engineering leaders in meeting this prestigious standard.
The Trust also received a coveted award for their ongoing work demonstrating energy management and savings from people-led interventions and solutions at the EnCO Annual Conference last month, and its EnCO Organisation status is valid for three years.
The overall energy project has been led by GLT operations and finance teams and supported by Trustees, Headteachers and other staff for the past four years. Local energy management consultancy REDUCE YOUR USE, led by accredited EnCO practitioner Wendy Cheeseman, has guided the Trust through the change programme which has generated significant energy cost savings, as well as carbon reduction across schools.
The GLT application and accompanying case study showed the Trust had followed the principles of behaviour change namely: engagement, alertness, skills, recognition and adaption as set out in the EnCO matrix. These were reviewed by expert Approved EnCo Practitioners, followed by an interview and panel discussion. The judges commented that “the Trust gave many examples of how these principles have been applied in practice and achieved energy efficiencies with impressive reductions”. John Mullholland, one of the EnCO Expert Panel Interviewers, added: “The application itself was to a very high standard in terms of the quality and quantity of supporting information.”
The submission highlighted how GLT leaders have written an extensive Sustainability Policy and aims to be net zero by 2050. Progress towards that trajectory is updated annually and the Trust is on track. Limited resources mean the Trust is exploring “no cost behaviour change initiatives” to bring down consumption. Through logging gas supplies and accessing 30-minute electricity data, investigation of out-of-hours consumption and full involvement of all stakeholders, the overall electricity at the Trust has remained static despite the move to electrical heating. Gas has reduced by 26% and carbon 21% from the base year. This is all attributed to using data to spot problems, investigate anomalies and dedicated monthly energy and carbon reporting to continuously measure and manage consumption. Water has also recently been included in line with the sustainability policy.
Amongst the school-based initiatives cited were moves to decarbonise heating at Elmhurst School which set the trajectory for reducing both energy and carbon, West Wycombe Primary School replacing oil heating with electrical heating from heat pumps, and Princes Risborough Primary School making substantial savings following the installation of gas loggers.
Sarah Baber, CEO of Great Learners Trust, commented: “This recognition from EnCo is so important to us. We are a trust of small primary schools but if we can do it then other schools can. This prestigious certification and now our award aligns with both our resource management and energy efficiency as well as the Trust’s sustainability policy. We are committed to educate all our pupils about the wider context of climate change and impacts of fossil fuel combustion and the role that behaviour change has to play in the fight to reduce climate change and our own pathway to net zero.”
At a time when action on climate change and carbon neutrality is gaining momentum, the EnCO initiative has a target to reduce energy consumption from behavioural changes of 10% by 2030. This will be achieved through both a programme to train energy professionals around the world to support organisations to embrace this aspiration and cut consumption and resources and knowledge sharing through the EnCO Academy.