A First Class Sustainable University

Bangor University has been awarded a 'First Class Honours' for its sustainability credentials. by People & Planet, the largest student network in the UK campaigning for social and environmental justice. Only 29 of the 154 universities in the UK are placed in this category.

This comes after Bangor University was ranked eighth in the world for its commitment to sustainability according to an international league table of environmentally friendly institutions, earlier this year.

The University is one of four UK universities appearing in the Top 10 of the UI Green Metric, a league table of the world’s greenest universities.

This latest table sees the University rising nine places in the table, and achieving its highest ever score, and is assessed on a wide range of environmental, social and financial sustainability criteria.

Sustainability is vitally important to Bangor University, and is embedded in the University’s strategic plan.  The University has a long-standing commitment to improving the environmental, social, ethical, cultural and financial aspects of all its operations. 

Dr Einir Young, Bangor’s Director of Sustainability said:

“This is further evidence that we are making progress and underlines our commitment to sustainability as a university. We are listening to our students. In this year’s survey 92% of them wanted us to incorporate Sustainability into what we do and to promote it.  We will continue to work together to ensure that the principles and practical application of sustainability principles informs our teaching, learning, research, innovation and public engagement contributing to the Welsh Wellbeing Goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Our campus calendar for the coming year is full of student led and student focused activities on campus and reaching out to the community.”   

Bangor University’s Interim Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Upton said:

“We are committed to protecting and enhancing our environment, and our commitment to sustainability means thinking also about the wider impacts of our activities on society, the economy and culture of everything we do, and looking to constantly improve.

“Not only have we made good progress in the way we manage our environmental impact through our ISO4001:2015 accredited environmental management system, but our teaching and research helps inform a much wider audience, particularly in terms of climate change which, as we have declared is in a state of emergency.”

Publication date: 24 July 2019