Each year we launch a report which highlights how we are addressing key issues facing humanity as set-out by the United Nations.  As the UK’s first university to have social responsibility as a core goal, we’ve developed a strategy to tackle the SDGs in four inter-related ways: through our research, learning and students, public engagement and operations.   

Our latest SDG report shows that the University published over 22,000 pieces of research on the SDGs in the past five years, which is 4% of the UK’s entire share of publications. It details teaching and learning programmes that address the SDGs, such as our ‘Creating a Sustainable World’ interdisciplinary unit. 

One Bin to Rule Them All is a project funded by a UK Research and Innovation Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Grant on Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging. Bringing together material scientists with social science and business models, the project uses an interdisciplinary approach to tackle the issue of plastic recycling. The project aims to improve plastic recycling by developing ‘One Bin’ to hold all plastic-like items. 

The Green Wellbeing Project is a project where volunteering is ‘prescribed’ to students rather than medication if appropriate. Jointly managed by the University’s Volunteering and Awards and the Social Prescribing teams along with the team at the University’s Firs Botanical Gardens, the project sees regular volunteers attending weekly. 

All staff involved ensure participating students feel emotionally and mentally supported, with all the volunteering activities benefiting the environment and the wider community. Activities include repotting bulbs, weeding, planting up hanging baskets and prepping beds for an evolution garden. 

Our University is one of two pilot institutions for ‘The Staying Safe Programme’ (TSSP), a new drug education initiative designed to educate students about drug use and minimise associated harms. This program marks a shift from a zero-tolerance approach to student drug use, favouring harm reduction policies and procedures instead. The harm reduction approach acknowledges that young people may use controlled drugs and aims to help them reduce the associated risks. In contrast, the zero-tolerance approach can create stigma and hinder access to support. Our approach is grounded in harm reduction principles, ensuring that students who engage in drug use are informed about the risks, equipped to make informed choices, and confident in seeking support without facing penalties. The University’s adoption of harm reduction policies aligns with the recent call by Universities UK (UUK) for universities to implement such practices.

Bee Circular UoM is a student-led initiative focused on reducing food waste and fostering sustainability within the University of Manchester and its surrounding community through strategic partnerships and volunteer engagement.

Sustainability Action Month is our biggest sustainability event of the year involves four weeks of interactive activities and events to enhance understanding of the climate crisis and showcase easy ways to embed sustainable practices at work, on campus, and at home. We share practical hints, tips, and solutions that we encourage you to embed in your everyday lives at work, on campus, and at home.  

The University has opened its first zero-emissions building. After a refurbishment, Booth Street East now has the infrastructure to support zero emissions, and a new Teaching and Learning Innovation Space has been introduced. It is our first non-residential campus building to be solely heated by air-source heat pumps.

The University launched a reusable and sustainable cup scheme in collaboration with Manchester City Council and InOurNature. The reusable Bee Cup can be found in several hot drink locations across campus and on Oxford Road, encouraging our students and staff to sip sustainably wherever they go. The scheme aims to significantly reduce the number of single-use paper cups used at our campus café locations every year.