The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are our world’s call to action on the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing humanity and the natural world and we’re playing a leading role in tackling them.
Leading the world on sustainable development
Our commitment to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is unmatched. We are first in the world in the 2026 Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings and the only university to feature in the top ten every year since they began in 2019.
We are also in the top ten in the 2026 QS World University Sustainability Rankings.
Download our 2025-2027 SDG report to see how we’re tackling the SDGs.
SDG Report 2025-2027
Our approach to the SDGs
As one of the world’s leading research institutions and the UK’s only university to have social responsibility as a core goal, The University of Manchester is playing a leading role in tackling the SDGs in four ways – through our research, learning and students, public engagement activities and responsible campus operations.
Through our research
- We’re delivering on the UN SDGs by creating a healthier, fairer and greener world, through our research, collaborations and partnerships.
- We’ve contributed 21,571 research publications across all 17 SDGs over the past five years – representing 4% of the UK’s research on the goals. Find out about our researchers, research outputs, research projects and activities connected to the SDGs through The University of Manchester Research Explorer.
Through our teaching
We’re committed to empowering students with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to understand and address all of the SDGs. We do this through:
- providing an accessible education for our local, national and international communities;
- encouraging them to engage with our Stellify initiative;
- building social responsibility opportunities into the curriculum.
Through our public engagement
- We hold a prestigious Platinum Watermark for public engagement and aim to involve and inspire local and global communities with the SDGs. A key way that we achieve this is through work at our pioneering cultural institutions – Manchester Museum, the Whitworth, Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.
Through our campus operations
- As one of our region’s largest anchor institutions we’re addressing the SDGs through our campus operations, policies and processes. We’re a living wage accredited employer, a top ranking institution for LGBT-inclusivity, hold quality marks for gender, disability and racial equality, enact responsible methods of procurement and investment and have made a commitment to zero carbon in-line with Manchester’s 2038 goal.
To see how we’re addressing the SDGs by each individual goal, click on its icon in the grid below.
Explore our SDGs
See how we’re addressing the SDGs by clicking on the icons in the grid below, or by searching our directory of activities.