Sustainability

Enough for everyone, forever

We support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) – seeking peace and prosperity for all people and the planet, now and in the future.  

Social and environmental justice are core values of our Vision and Strategy. We work in depth and breadth across all the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Our continued high performance in global league rankings highlights our commitment and work towards sustainable development. It shows how the alignment of our work with the UNSDGs is driving education, research and innovation across the University. 

We are ranked 56th in the world out of over 1,750 institutions in the latest QS World University Rankings: Sustainability, with high scores across the categories of Environmental Impact, Social Impact, and Governance.  

We are also ranked top 25 in the UK, and top 200 in the world out of 2,318 institutions in the THE Impact rankings.  The breadth of our commitment to social and environmental justice is evident in our top 50 ranking for Responsible Consumption and Production and top 100 ranking across a further five of the UN SDGs: SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG10 Reduced Inequalities, SDG13 Climate Action, SDG 14 Life Below Water and SDG15 Life on Land 

We are working towards a net-zero goal on campus, with an aim of embedding sustainability in everything we do, from our operations, to our teaching and research.  

We have recently been awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for global research excellence in water.