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Brighton emerged in the top ten out of the UK’s 150 higher education institutions in the 2017 People & Planet’s University League, the independent league table of universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance.

Installing a record number of solar panels, reducing waste, introducing sustainable food initiatives, and embedding sustainability in the curriculum all contributed to the university’s high ranking.

Measures taken recently at the university include three solar PV projects, involving two ground-breaking roof lease schemes with Brighton Energy Cooperative, which resulted in a total of over 1,600 solar panels on the university’s roofs, placing Brighton among the top universities nationwide for solar generation.

The university's environment team

Solar panels at Hillbrow building on the Eastbourne campus

And a recycling competition in halls of residents resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in waste.

The university was awarded just under 70 per cent which earned Brighton a First Class honour from People & Planet, the UK’s largest student campaigning network. It received 100 per cent for Environment Policy, Sustainability Staff, and Energy Sources, and 90 per cent for Carbon Management.

Professor Debra Humphris, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, said: “Being placed in the top ten is tremendous news and one which reflects the hard work and commitment by the university’s staff and students to do as much as we can to combat climate change, protect our planet, and be a socially responsible organisation.”

Abigail Dombey, the university’s Environmental Manager and lead for carbon reduction, said: “We are delighted that we’ve once again ranked within the Top 10 most sustainable universities in the country. We’ve done a huge amount of work in this area over the past few years, thanks to the efforts of a huge number of staff and students from schools and departments across the university. It’s wonderful to see all our efforts being recognised in this way. We’ll keep striving for improvements year on year, to make our impact on society as positive as we can.”

Becca Melhuish, who runs the university’s sustainability engagement campaign, c-change, said: “It’s fantastic to see how the c-change campaign has helped place us among the top few university’s in the country for sustainability. The c-change campaign has helped bring staff and students together to reduce our environmental impact, through initiatives such as our successful staff champions scheme, halls recycling competition, switch-off campaigns, cycling challenges, and reusable mug initiative. It’s great to see the efforts of everyone who’s been involved with the c-change campaign paying off in this way.”

The university is a double-finalist in this year’s Green Gown Awards which recognise exceptional initiatives.

Community21, which embeds the university’s School of Architecture and Design into a local and international sustainable development network, is a finalist in the Community category, and Tom Parkes, a member of the university’s Environment Team, is shortlisted for the Sustainability Professional Award.