The 2009 green university league table, compiled annually since 2007 by People and Planet as part of their ‘Go Green’ campaign to celebrate universities’ environmental performance, has been unveiled this week. The league table pits 127 UK universities against each other, ranking them on a number of environmental criteria and awarding them in degree style with differing classifications according to their performance; first, 2:1, 2:2, third, and fail. Universities that did not provide any information were listed under the ‘did not sit exam’ category.
This year’s top scoring institution was Nottingham Trent University who took the crown from last year’s winner, University of Gloucester, scoring 58.5 points. Second and third place went to the London School of Economics and Political Science and Oxford Brookes University respectively. Universities were ranked on issues such as carbon management policies, whether they have environmental staff, ethical investment and Fairtrade status.
Nottingham Trent has received it’s place at the top of the leader board through a number of environmental initiatives which are helping put it at the forefront of environmental management within the Higher Education sector, including the EcoCampus project, on campus sustainable transportation, commitment to sourcing all energy from renewable sources and excellent waste management including introducing composting of food waste generated on site.
People and Planet director Ian Leggett said the UK’s institutions could still do better however, saying that there is a clear pattern emerging with Universities that consistently perform well, and others that are not recognising the importance of taking action to become an environmental role model.
“People & Planet congratulates all those universities which have been awarded a first class degree. Their success is a tribute to sustained and comprehensive efforts to improve the quality of environmental management in the higher education sector. But we can’t leave it to a small number of leading institutions: all universities must take comprehensive and ambitious environmental action now to meet – or ideally surpass – the targets set out in the Climate Change Act.”
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Tags: corporate responsibility, green award, green league table, green university, nottingham trent university, people and planet