UCLan’s commitment to sustainability reflected in national People & Planet Green League table

UCLan has risen 13 places from 53rd to 40th in the 2022 table, which is the only independent league table of UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance. Its placing reflects improvements made by the university, including in carbon reduction, ethical investments and education around sustainability.

Helen Cutts, Head of Sustainability at UCLan, said: “We are delighted to see our hard work reflected in the People & Planet Green League table rankings.

“Over the last 15 years we’ve made a 42.5% reduction in our carbon emissions following changes to how the University operates, such as condensing activities into fewer buildings on campus during evenings and weekends to reduce energy consumption, divesting from fossil fuels and increasing our solar energy consumption. We are also committed to educating staff and students through initiatives to develop a more environmentally friendly and ethically aware culture. This includes working with the Students’ Union on a Green Week campaign, and regular incentives and competitions such as Cycle September.

“In addition, we are working with the community on decarbonisation and our Making Carbon Work Project helps local companies reduce their carbon footprint, diversify into low carbon goods, and invest in low carbon technology. We also partner with the British Heart Foundation to encourage students and colleagues to donate unwanted items for re-use or re-sale. This has already generated more than £89,000 for the charity so far.”

UCLan’s efforts have also been recognised by the Carbon Literacy Project, which recently awarded the University with a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation status, reflecting its commitment to Carbon Literacy training amongst staff.

Helen added: “UCLan is one of only 13 Universities with Bronze Carbon Literacy Status worldwide. We have made great strides in recent years to progress our pledge to run an environmentally friendly and sustainable university and plan to continue on this trajectory to have a positive impact on our local and wider communities.”

Other sustainable achievements include UCLan winning the active workplace category in Preston Sports’ Awards and the Student Centre receiving an ‘excellent’ accreditation from BREAAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method.