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UCL proudly retains First-Class status in the People and Planet University League
12 February 2025
UCL is proud to announce that it has once again earned a First-Class status in the People and Planet University League, maintaining its position as one of the top Higher Education institutions for sustainability in the UK.
UCL is proud to announce that it has retained its First-Class status in the People and Planet University League for another year, marking a significant achievement in our ongoing commitment to sustainability.
UCL was placed 15th out of 149 universities in the UK and remains one of only four Russell Group universities to secure First-Class honours.
Key achievements
This year, UCL achieved 100% scores in several categories, including Sustainability Engagement, Staffing, Environmental Management Systems (ESMS), and for the first time, Workers’ Rights. Our ESMS score reflects that we recertified to our Management System in 2024, and our Workers’ Rights score reflects UCL’s efforts to retain its University Fairtrade Award and pledge to pay above the London Living Wage.
UCL also achieved high scores in other key categories such as Sustainable Education, Food, Environmental Policy, Carbon Management, and Waste and Recycling, demonstrating the breadth of our sustainability initiatives across the institution.
Since launching our Sustainability Strategy in 2019, we have made significant progress, including reducing carbon emissions by 56%, opening our first net-zero carbon building at PEARL, and cutting waste by 60% per person. In 2024, UCL signed the Environmental Concordat to support sustainable research, and our LEAF tool for sustainable labs has become one of the world’s largest sustainable labs accreditation schemes.
Our dedication to advancing sustainable research is also evident through the establishment of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education, the UCL Centre for Net Zero Market Design, and the launch of the Climate Crisis Grand Challenge, which fosters cross-disciplinary efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
Areas for improvement
While UCL continues to lead in many areas, our performance highlighted two key challenges: Carbon Reduction and Ethical Careers and Recruitment.
In terms of Carbon Reduction, UCL scored well for Carbon Management, which indicates that we are committing to the right strategic actions to reduce emissions. However, it reflects that there is a significant amount of work to do on our old estate, with over 200 buildings and a campus that operates 24/7. Nevertheless, we are putting in place a significant amount of investment and planning, and the new UCL Sustainability Plan and the Net Zero Plan, set to launch in 2025, will set out our steps to transforming UCL into a net-zero carbon institution.
As for Ethical Careers and Recruitment, Sustainable UCL is actively working with UCL Careers to ensure that our approach aligns with UCL’s core values. While the People and Planet criteria suggest excluding recruitment links with sectors such as fossil fuels, UCL believes that a transparent approach aligns more closely with our values of academic freedom, and we continue to provide students with the knowledge and tools to make informed decisions about their future careers. This decision was made, following a vote by students at the SU Policy Zone.
Jason Clarke, UCL’s Assistant Director of Sustainability, commented on the result: “We’re proud to have retained our First-Class status, which reflects UCL’s ongoing dedication to sustainability across every aspect of university life. The score shows the evolving standards we must meet and pushes us to continuously improve and innovate in our sustainability practices, and we look forward to a new year working with our fantastic community of sustainability change makers to make further progress against our sustainability goals.’’
What’s next?
Our new Sustainability Plan (2024-2034) will build on our past successes, focusing on achieving net-zero carbon emissions and improving sustainability in every aspect of university life.
This dedication to continuous improvement is further reinforced by UCL’s recent recognition in the 2025 QS Sustainability Rankings, where we secured 1st place in the UK, 3rd in Europe, and 5th globally. This ranking highlights UCL’s leadership in tackling global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.
We invite our community to get involved, and follow along on our journey at UCL.
> Find out how you can take action at UCL
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