First class award in Green League for University

The University of Exeter has been ranked 22nd ‘greenest’ university in the UK and features in the top 16 percent of all the organisations assessed. This achievement is particularly notable given that the assessment criteria are more challenging each year to promote continual improvement.

The key factors behind Exeter’s ongoing success are:

• Development of  a clear strategy for Education for Sustainability and appointment of a Sustainability Curriculum Development Manager to promote and coordinate integration of sustainability across our curriculum
• Implementation of an Environmental Management System (Phase 3 BS8555) for Campus Services
• Participation  in the national Green Impact project which helps staff  to green their departments
• The reduction of the University’s carbon emissions by over 15% since 2005/06
• The Student Guild achieving its Silver Green Impact Award from the National Union of Students, recognising the Guild’s strong environmental performance.

University of Exeter Sustainability Manager Karen Gallagher said: “This achievement is the result of enthusiasm and hard work from staff and students across the University and reflects our ongoing commitment to integrating sustainability into both the management of our estate and our curriculum.”

The University of Exeter is committed to understanding further and managing better its impact on the environment and has published an Environmental Sustainability Strategy which is available on the Sustainability website. This document provides a summary of the organisation’s sustainability objectives, targets and plans for the next five years.