Queen Mary University of London has risen 47 places, from number 83 to 36 in the 2021 People & Planet University League.
The table ranks 154 UK universities against sustainability and ethics criteria and is the only comprehensive and independent assessment of the environmental and ethical performances of all UK universities and colleges.
Queen Mary’s significant improvement comes after several initiatives over the last two years to ingrain sustainable development into the University’s operations and respond to current and emerging environmental challenges. This included the recently held ‘Sustainability Week’ – which highlighted the risks associated with climate change and other major environmental challenges.
The ranking recognised Queen Mary’s excellent environmental auditing and management systems, education for sustainable development, and policy and strategy. These received scores of 100%, 99% and 90% respectively.
In recognition of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sustainable development courses that Queen Mary offers to all students and staff and the University integrating sustainability across all its academic offerings, Queen Mary ranked joint 10th on education for sustainable development.
Dr Philippa Lloyd, Vice-Principal Policy and Strategic Partnerships and Chair Sustainability Committee, said: “We are really pleased to see that all our hard work in improving our environmental performance over the last few years has massively improved our standing among UK universities.
“Recently, there has been a huge shift in public attitude and thankfully more people are now starting to recognise that we must all reduce our impact on the planet.
“We know that there is still much to do to become one of the most environmentally friendly universities, but our jump in position is testament to how seriously we take our commitment to environmental sustainability.”
Queen Mary’s Environmental Sustainability Action Plan (2020-23) sets out its environmental sustainability priorities and immediate response to current and emerging environmental challenges.
To become involved in our environmental sustainability journey or for further information about sustainability initiatives across Queen Mary email sustainability@qmul.ac.uk
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