The University of Salford ranked 15th most sustainable University in the UK

The independent ranking, published by The Guardian, places Salford 15th out of 151 UK institutions.

Compiled by the UK’s largest student campaigning network, People & Planet’s University League is the only comprehensive and independent league table of UK universities, ranking UK institutions by their environmental and ethical performance. The assessment system takes into account a wide range of criteria, including carbon management, engagement, waste and education.

This year, we scored especially highly in Policy and Strategy (100%), Environmental Management Systems (100%), Education for Sustainable Development (99%) and Carbon Management (95%). We have also increased our score in Ethical Investment as a result of our public commitment to exclude investments in fossil fuels. Our overall score of 70.9% (a slight increase from 70.6% in 2022, keeps us in the 1st class category.

Professor Will Swan, the Director for Sustainability at the University, said: “We aspire to be a sustainable university and make sure it is a central part of our story, so I’m delighted our progress has once again been recognised through the First-Class status in the People & Planet University League.”

“We recognise there are further areas for improvement so are currently reviewing our Sustainability Strategy and have published a Sustainability Position Paper that outlines our current thinking.  As this represents a shift in thinking for many staff, both academic and professional services, we ask all colleagues to read the Sustainability Position Paper and share your feedback via the Feedback form.

For more information about the 2023 People & Planet University League, please visit their website.

How was the score decided?

Since 2007, People & Planet has been scoring universities using a set of criteria that investigates their environmental and ethical commitments and actions. Each criteria section adds up to 100%. You can find more information about the scoring system in the Methodology section of the People & Planet website.

Half the criteria is scored using data collected and made public by the Higher Education Statistics Agency or other public verified data sources. The rest is scored based on information available on the university website. Universities that do not make their environmental information public online are not likely to score very highly – if People & Planet can’t find the information, the institution will score zero.

The University of Salford's Environmental Sustainability Policy Statement can be found online on the University’s Sustainable Strategy webpage.