The University has won a prestigious International Green Gown Award in recognition of its ambitious decarbonisation plans. The ‘Zero Carbon Without a Net’ initiative is part of our Environmental Sustainability strategy and subsequently won the 2023 UK and Ireland Green Gown Award. Now, we are being honoured for our dedication to sustainability on an international scale. Recognising the innovative and pioneering initiatives in sustainability, the Green Gown Awards celebrate the projects undertaken by further and higher education institutions who are striving for a sustainable future. 

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. 

We have partnered with leading UK clean energy firm, Environmena, to purchase electricity generated from its solar farm based in Medebridge, Essex.  

The Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (cPPA) commits the University to purchase 80% of Medebridge’s total annual generation capacity for the next decade. This commitment significantly reduces our carbon emissions and helps us towards achieving our zero-carbon ambitions by 2038. 

The University of Manchester was named the UK’s most sustainable University at the QS EduData Summit 2024. We were awarded the title of ‘Sustainability Champion’ in celebration of our standout achievements within the area of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

We have won the ‘2030 Climate Action’ prize at the prestigious UK & Ireland Green Gown Awards in recognition of its “forward looking and innovative” work to decarbonise the University’s operations. The Green Gown Awards celebrate the innovative and transformative initiatives and projects in sustainability across the further and higher education sectors, and the University of Manchester claimed the top prize for work supporting its new Environmental Sustainability strategy. Further details of our award can be found here.  

In an effort to make our University more sustainable, food waste caddies have been installed in all staff kitchens on the main campus. The goal is simple: to cut down on the greenhouse gases linked to food waste. Instead of going to landfill and generating more greenhouse gases, the food waste collected is taken to a specialised processing plant where it is used to generate electricity and produce a fertiliser which can be used in farming.

Our new travel policy, supports our ambition to be a leader in developing sustainable research and teaching practices. This is part of a wider project to reduce our total carbon footprint in line with our Environmental Sustainability Strategy. As part of this, there is guidance and funding in place to support staff with greener travel. In 2022/23 we nearly halved our air travel emissions, compared to pre-pandemic levels, as a result of the new policy.

Every September, our University takes part in a fun and friendly biking competition called Cycle September. The initiative encourages staff and students to ditch their cars and hop on their bicycles for their daily commute. In 2023, we placed 1^st in Greater Manchester and 3^rd overall in the UK, but there’s more to it than just the competition, choosing to cycle improves physical and mental wellbeing, reduces our carbon footprint and helps decrease traffic congestion around campus.

Our environmental sustainability strategy, Our Sustainable Future, describes how we will reduce our carbon footprint, promote sustainability in our teaching and learning and research and innovation, and engage and support our community in the transition to a more sustainable society. Our strategy sets out the practical steps we are committing to, where it is already clear how best to protect and enhance our environment. We commit to transparency in reporting our progress towards our sustainability goals. We also outline our commitment to collaboration and deep enquiry where the solutions are less obvious, the challenges more complex or we need to be part of a broader shift to make the necessary changes possible.

Each year, we host the Making a Difference Awards to celebrate the incredible and inspiring work of our University community. The awards highlight the extensive range of social responsibility initiatives of our staff, students, alumni and external partners, and covers categories such as benefit to research; widening participation; environmental sustainability and equality, diversity and inclusion.

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.

Our Manchester University Press (MUP) are focused on sustainable publishing practices and enabling readers to be responsible consumers when it comes to books. 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.

100% of our electricity consumption is backed with REGO (‘Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin’) certification. This means that for every megawatt (or 1,000kWh) of electricity the University consumes, the equivalent volume of electricity is generated from renewable sources.

We encourage our staff, students and our local community to make a similar move to renewable energy suppliers!

We’re ending investments in fossil fuel reserve and extraction companies by 2022, and ‘decarbonising’ all other investments by 2038.

This policy was developed in consultation with the University’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and our Students’ Union.

The University has pledged to support Manchester’s climate change target for zero carbon by 2038.

This involves reducing carbon emissions from a 2018 baseline of 54,000 tCO2 to at least 21,000 tCO2 by 2025 and placing carbon impact at the heart of strategic decision making in the University’s new strategic plan.

We received platinum accreditation from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), recognising the University’s contribution to sustainable low-carbon travel.

In 2016 we launched 10,000 Actions, the biggest environmental sustainability initiative in the UK higher education sector, with 50% of our 10,000+ staff accessing the platform.

In autumn 2021, we’re launching a revamped 50,000 Actions that expands the platform to the whole of our student body.

We have a University policy (PDF) on divesting from carbon- intensive energy industries.

Our entire investment portfolio is going through a staged disinvestment based on carbon intensity as well as fossil fuel reserves and extraction.

We support the Kindling Trust, a local organisation aiming to combat climate change, biodiversity loss, and economic inequity, by challenging and subverting the industrial food system. We buy vegetables through Kindling’s operatives and have taken shares in Kindling Farm – a new blueprint for fair, organic and ecological farming.