University of Salford ranked in top ten of UK University ‘green’ league

The independent ranking, published by The Guardian, places Salford 8th out of 149 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 Environmental Management (100%), Sustainability Engagement (100%), Carbon Management (95%) and Education for Sustainable Development (94%). We have also increased our score in waste and recycling due to increases in reduction and reuse of waste.

Professor Will Swan, the Director for Sustainability at the University, said: “We are delighted to have retained our first-class status and moved back into the top 10 of the league, our highest position to date.  This improvement reflects the ongoing efforts to place sustainability as a key element of our operational, research and teaching and learning activity.”

Mark Wantling, Chief Information Officer and University Sustainability Lead said: “Securing a place in the top 10 of the People and Planet University League is brilliant recognition of our ambition to embed sustainability in all aspects of University life. Scoring highly across a range of metrics highlights our strengths as well as our key areas for improvement which we are committed to addressing."

For more information about the 2024 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 Sustainability Information can be found online on the University’s Sustainable Strategy webpage.