We have been recognised as one of the top universities globally for sustainability. The 2024 QS World University Rankings for Sustainability have placed us 19th out of 1,403 global universities and fifth in the UK.
In addition, we recently celebrated a win in the national Green Gown Awards, where we were honoured in the Nature Positive category for our Biodiversity Strategy. We take our duties as a centre of learning, neighbour and employer seriously, and strive to make a positive impact in our community. If you'd like to explore the work we do around Biodiversity, or even get involved with some of our projects, explore our Enhancing Biodiversity page.
We placed 26 out of 151 UK universities ranked in the People and Planet University League. People and Planet is a national university league table based on institutional sustainability and ethics criteria. With this placing we’ve received a first class accolade from People and Planet, which is our highest ranking to date.
Watch our Sustainability Timeline to see how our work has evolved over the years.
Decarbonisation progress
Teams in the Estates and Facilities Directorate have made a big step towards a lower carbon future by installing over 500kW of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels during the first three months of 2024. Installations at Maiden Castle, as well as Josephine Butler, Stephenson and Hatfield Colleges build on the arrays already installed around the University to generate low emissions electricity and power University activities.
These systems will generate over 425,000 kWh of electricity each year and reduce emissions by around 80 tonnes CO2e.
This work is part of our decarbonisation strategy that will look to achieve ‘Net Zero’ for University activities by 2035, as set out in our Sustainability Ambition statement adopted in summer 2023. We'll be working to install more solar PV in 2024 while we develop our strategy to reduce emissions linked to heating our buildings.
Sustainability Varsity Competition 2024
Open to all students, the Sustainability Varsity Competition which ran for three weeks between 12 February and 3 March 2024, encouraged all students to get involved with different environmental initiatives and activities - from volunteering and engaging in energy saving, to waste reduction actions.
Congratulations goes to St Chad’s College who won this year’s Sustainability Varsity Competition. Well done!
Students were able to log their actions on the My Greenspace App and be rewarded for their activities.
Colleges could earn points for:
- a percentage increase in their population who signed up to the My Greenspace App
- the hours of environmental volunteering completed and logged
- the highest average My Greenspace points per student under the waste and energy categories.
Each month three £20 prizes are available for the individual winners to spend in local shops, and each term there’s a £200 donation to a local charity for the top team.
Have a look at the Greenspace Movement SharePoint site or join the App.
Greenspace training modules
What targets does the University have to reduce carbon emissions? Does my waste get recycled? How can I reduce my impact? What wildlife is there on campus? For answers to these questions and more information, head to Oracle Learn and take the Greenspace Online Training modules.
The training course is split into five different sections:
- Welcome to the Greenspace Movement
- Greenspace Movement: Biodiversity and Energy
- Greenspace Movement: Travel and Procurement
- Greenspace Movement: Waste and Water
- Greenspace Movement: Get Involved
It covers all areas of sustainability that we are actively working on. So, if you only have 10 minutes, you can still complete a section. To complete all sections, it should take around 1-hour.
Get involved
If you're interested in being involved, you can follow the steps below – there's something for everyone!
- Sign up to the Greenspace Movement.
- If you’re a student, you can join a society or college group. Explore the groups or email greenspace.students@durham.ac.uk for more information about your college community.
- If you’re a member of staff, you can join the Environment Champions network. Email greenspace.staff@durham.ac.uk to learn more.
- Follow us on social media
- Find your travel buddy, share a journey and be rewarded. You can get points for sharing a cycling, walking, bus or car journey!
Find out what’s on this month by exploring the MyGreenspace calendar.