Strategy and Targets
Sustainability Strategy and Progress Reports
Our latest Sustainability Strategy was approved by Council in May 2022 and is aligned closely to the University’s overarching Strategic Plan - Strategy 2030: A Sustainable World for Future Generations.
Annual Reports on Sustainability progress against the UN SDGs are published publicly. Progress reports on the KPIs included within the Sustainability Strategy are reported annually to Council. In February 2023, Council was informed of the improved rankings in sustainable-focussed league tables, progress on nationally recognised sustainability targets, and the increase in engagement and visibility of sustainability from the staff and student 25 by 25 campaign.
Environmental Targets and Progress Reports
As part of the ISO14001:2015 accreditation an Annual Management Report is presented to the Sustainability Strategy Group. The last report on the 10th of May 2023 contained a review on documents such as the Environmental Policy, environmental incidents, and any changing circumstances.
As part of our environmental management system and Environment Policy commitments, we devise several targets to ensure continual improvement, topics range from energy, water, and carbon reductions, increasing waste recycling, enhancing biodiversity, greener travel and transport and construction and refurbishment targets. The latest targets and objectives can be found here.
We provide annual environmental reports to publish what we have achieved on our targets, in addition from the 2020/21 academic year we also now publish Sustainable Development Goal progress reports. All are available on this page.
Education for Sustainable Development Target
| Date | Target | Status |
| By 31st of July 2022 | Undertake and publish the UNSDG curriculum mapping for one College for the entirety of their modules | Achieved |
| By 31st of July 2023 | Undertake and publish the UNSDG curriculum mapping for a second College for the entirety of their modules | Achieved |
Student and Staff Engagement in Sustainable Development Targets
Targets and key performance indicators are available through the Strategy 2030: Sustainability Strategy.
Community Involvement Target
| Date | Target | Status |
| By 31st of July 2022 | Publish University Civic Engagement strategy | Not Achieved |
| By 31st of July 2023 | Publish University Civic Engagement strategy | Achieved |
The University Civic Engagement strategy sits alongside our broader University Strategy 2030 and our other strategic approaches. Civic Engagement is the way in which this University contributes to the educational, cultural, and economic prosperity and wellbeing of our communities. The strategy will set out how we aim to:
- Celebrate and raise the status of the University’s civic engagement work
- Develop our understanding of our internal and external networks
- Support staff and partners to foster sustainable collaborations
Sustainable Procurement Target
| Date | Target | Status |
| By 31st of July 2022 | Produce draft Procurement Strategy | Achieved |
| By 31st of July 2023 | Publish Procurement Strategy | Achieved |
Budgeting for Sustainability
The University supports sustainability through a number of budgets. Please visit this page for further details.