Northumbria ranked one of 10 most sustainable universities in the UK

9th January 2025

Northumbria has been ranked as 10th in the UK for environmental and ethical performance in the People & Planet’s University League for 2024/25.

Published annually, the People & Planet’s University League is the only comprehensive and independent league table of universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance. It is compiled by the UK’s largest student campaigning network, People & Planet – and for the fourth year running Northumbria has been rated as First-Class and the highest ranked university in the North East.

For 2024/25 Northumbria was ranked 10th out of more than 150 universities across the UK, up 14 places from last year. Within the categories measured, the University scored 100% in Environmental Policy and Strategy, and in Environmental Audits and Management Systems.

Dr Paul Steadman, Sustainability Manager, attributed the University’s rank increase to initiatives taking place across the University; “The Voluntary Living Wage accreditation helped push us to our rank as 10th in the UK this year, along with key carbon reduction projects on our North East campuses and our new Sustainable Travel Plan. The People & Planet University League is increasingly competitive as the drive to greater sustainability continues across the sector, so it’s rewarding to see Northumbria not only maintain our First-Class status, but also climb the rankings for 2024/25. Our work in this area is only going to continue to grow, with ongoing work in a range of key areas as well as the development of a new Biodiversity Action Plan. We look forward to seeing the effect of another year of hard work can have on our environmental impact in 2025.”

In June 2024, Northumbria University was also recently ranked among the top 50 institutions in the world for sustainability in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024. The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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