We have cut our air travel emissions by 46% compared to pre-pandemic levels, decreasing them from 18,641 tonnes of CO2e (CO2equivalent) in 2018/19 to just over 10,000 tonnes of CO2e in 2022/23. The reduction in our emissions is equivalent to the carbon produced from driving over 32.5 million miles in an average petrol car. Our new  travel policy, which was put into effect last year, supports our ambition to be a leader in developing sustainable research and teaching practices. It includes several changes such as encouraging staff to have meetings online rather than in-person and to consider travelling by rail rather than air.

Manchester University Press (MUP) regularly works with audiobook producer ‘Sound Understanding’ on many titles to make the daily lives of readers more sustainable. MUP’s audiobook programme focuses on releasing books aimed at a general readership interested in society and the world around us. MUP is committed to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as part of its social responsibility strategy.

Leading the way in achieving the University’s pledge to eliminate avoidable single-use plastic usage, staff in our School of Biological Sciences are reducing single-use plastics in the lab through adoption of a 6R approach.

This has included:

• refining protocol and optimising waste management;
• reducing single-use items;
• re-using materials, plastic containers and gloves;
• using recycled material;
• replacing plastics where possible with glass, paper or wood.