Newcastle University is ranked in the Premier League of green universities, a new study reveals.

The University has scooped a First Class Award and is ranked joint 12th out of 151 universities in the People & Planet University League 2015. 

The League, an annual ranking by the national student campaign group, assesses the environmental and ethical performance of all universities, awarding First Class 'degrees' to the greenest and Fail to those doing the least to address their environmental and social impacts. 

The ranking reveals consistently high performance across multiple categories, including environmental policy (100% score), auditing and environmental management systems (100%), carbon management (90%) and environmental staff (85%). 

Newcastle University has achieved a ‘First’ 3 years in a row, and is one of only 30 Higher Education institutions across the UK to achieve a ‘First’ in the 2015 league.  

Professor Tony Stevenson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Resources at Newcastle University, said: “Newcastle University’s performance in the latest People & Planet Green League ranking highlights our commitment to continue investing in our campus to offer the best possible facilities, while providing an environmentally friendly and welcoming place for our students, staff and visitors.

“Our Environmental Management System provides our dedicated sustainability team with a solid improvement framework. This approach has helped the University maintain a recycling rate above 90%, reduce the number of single occupancy car drivers to work from 40% in 2004 to 16.5% in 2014, and expand its fleet of electric vehicles and campus charging points.

“Sustainability and finding innovative ways to manage the use of the earth’s finite resources is also a key focus of our academic research at Newcastle University. This includes including  the launch of our Smart Grid project – a test bed for the future of energy storage and low carbon electricity generation, and Smartfusion -  a new freight consolidation project employing electric vehicles for campus-wide deliveries.“ 

Hannah Smith, People & Planet University League Manager, said: "Newcastle University is proving to be one of the UK's leading universities for environmental standards. People & Planet celebrate their achievements and commitment to reducing waste and carbon emissions, as well as working on sustainability across the board to bring about a culture of change in social and environmental practice.

“It's the progressive universities, those ranking top 30 in the league, that are setting an example of what can be achieved in higher education, responding with speed to the oncoming challenges of climate change and global inequality”.

published on: 20 January 2015