People and Planet University League

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Bath Spa is one of the greenest universities in the UK and third in the South West

Bath Spa University has been named as the 18th greenest university in the UK, and third in the South West, in the latest People and Planet University League Table.

The People and Planet University League provides the only comprehensive and independent ranking of UK universities by environmental and ethical performance, across 14 different categories, including sustainable policy and strategy, education for sustainable development, and staff and student engagement.

This year’s impressive ranking has earned Bath Spa a first-class degree-style classification in the league of a total 153 institutions, climbing 13 places since 2021. The University was also awarded a special rosette for meeting its carbon emission reduction targets, at a time when the majority of the UK higher education sector has failed to do so, according to the findings.

Among its highest results, Bath Spa scored 100 per cent for its environmental auditing and management systems, 85 per cent for carbon management, and 78 per cent for carbon reduction.

First place in the South West was awarded to University of Exeter, followed by University of Bristol. The full scorecard and league table can be found on the People and Planet website.

Julian Greaves, Sustainability Manager at Bath Spa University said:

“We are delighted with these results. Our purpose is to make the world a better place, one student and staff member at a time, and this ranking is testament to that. We have made significant strides in many areas of the University’s sustainability credentials in recent years and look forward to building on our already positive progress.”

The University recently achieved Silver Accreditation for being a Hedgehog Friendly Campus and is working towards gaining Gold status. It has also launched a competition for students to create a hedgehog-themed reusable Huskup design, with the winning entry due to be printed onto the eco-friendly cups in the New Year.

Owing to its green credentials, Bath Spa University was also ranked as a top Gold Tier University in this year’s Uswitch Green Universities Report.

As part of its commitment to protecting the planet, Bath Spa University’s Sustainability Policy sets out its aim to minimise its impacts and continually improve its environmental performance, and its Sustainability Strategy shows how it plans to deliver this based on seven key themes. Find out more on the University’s sustainability web pages.