Green Impact
Recognising and awarding sustainability of staff at work, whatever the setting.
What's Green Impact?
Green Impact is an environmental accreditation programme which is run as part of the University's Carbon Management Plan. It's a national programme which rewards green habits in the workplace, and is run by the National Union of Students (NUS) on our behalf.
Contact us
Sustainability at York
sustainability@york.ac.uk
@UoYsustain
Find us on Facebook
Related links
This year Green Impact has involved
1,699 actions completed
1,172 as a direct result of Green Impact
470 tonnes CO2 potential saving
based on just 10 of the 200+ actions in the workbook
£155,562 potential savings
28 teams submitting
with 37 teams taking part over the year in some way
217 Green Impact team members
reaching 4,000 staff & students
60 students widening their University experience
Teams and awards
Use the dropdowns below to find a list of teams that won Green Impacts awards.
| Team name | Award level |
|---|---|
| Biology DMT Hub Team | Gold |
| Biology H&Q Block Labs |
Labs - Gold |
| Biology Project | Gold Project |
| BTL Technicians | Labs - Gold |
| Computer Science Green Impact team / #00FF00 | Gold |
| Constantine College | TBC |
| Denby Lab (CNAP) | Gold Project |
| Department of Education | Bronze |
| Environment Building | Most Improved Team Labs - Silver Gold Project |
| Green Careers | Gold |
| Green Chemistry | Labs - Gold |
| Green OPPAtunities | Silver |
| Information Services - Library and Archives | Silver |
| Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre | Bronze |
| International Pathway College | Silver |
| L1 | Labs - Bronze |
| Langwith College | Colleges - Bronze |
| Lichman Group (CNAP) | Labs - Bronze |
| Marketing | Gold |
| McQueen-Mason Lab (CNAP) | Labs - Gold |
| Natural Sciences Green Team | Silver Student Award |
| Providence Planet Pioneers! | Bronze |
| Sociology | Gold |
| The Stables | Silver |
| UYSEG Green Team | Silver |
| YCL Catering and Hospitality | Catering - Gold |
| York Plasma Institute | Bronze |
| York Science Park | Silver |
| Team | Award level |
|---|---|
| Alcuin EnvironmentAL | Colleges Bronze |
| Bancroft Lab (CNAP) | Labs Gold |
| Biology DMT Hub | Silver |
| BTL Technicians | Labs Gold |
| Centre for Immunology and Infection | Labs Silver |
| Chemistry Teaching Labs | Labs Gold |
| Chemistry.At.York | Working Towards Excellence |
| Computer Science Green Impact Team | Gold |
| Constantine College | Gold Colleges Bronze |
| Denby Lab (CNAP) | Labs Gold |
| Genever Lab | Labs Gold |
| GI Health Sciences | Working Towards Excellence |
| Green Careers | Gold |
| Green Chemistry |
Gold |
| Green OPPAtunities | Bronze |
| Information Services | Bronze |
| International Pathway College | Gold |
| Langwith College | Colleges Bronze |
| McQueen-Mason Lab (CNAP) | Labs Bronze |
| Providence Planet Pioneers! | Bronze |
| REcyclers | Bronze |
| Sociology | Silver |
| tHink gReen | Gold |
| UYSEG Green Team | Silver |
| WACL Waste Warriors | Gold |
| Wentworth College | Bronze |
| YCL Catering and Hospitality | Catring Gold |
| York Science Park | Bronze |
How does it work?
If you're a staff member or postgraduate you can take part by joining your departmental team. If you're a student, you can volunteer to be an auditor.
If you're a staff member or postgraduate
We'll provide you with a workbook of sustainability boosting actions and the resources to implement them. Depending on the number of actions your team achieves, you could win a Green Impact award.
- Register online and join an existing team, or create a new one.
- Log into the online workbook and navigate to the appropriate tab for your team.
- In each tab you'll find actions to complete. Follow the guidance in the workbook and click 'done' when complete.
Want to look at the action list before registering? Have a look at our handy action guides.
If you're an undergraduate student
You'll can gain valuable work experience with York Award and IEMA accredited training (which can help improve employability) by volunteering as a Green Impact Auditor.
- Register to become a Green Impact Project Assistant (GIPA) or audit a team's work after their workbook submission in April.
- Email greenimpact@york.ac.uk to find out about more.
The awards
Awards are presented in June, accompanied by a celebratory lunch where, hopefully, your team will achieve one of the award categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
There are also special awards for efforts above and beyond the workbook. You can also choose to do a project based award, which focuses on one action and its spread through the University and the community.
Getting started
Choose the list for you work type (office, labs, college, etc) and complete actions worth 100 points to get a Bronze award or 150 points to get a Silver award. Tackle 200 points worth of actions and you can win Gold, or 250 points for the ultimate - a Platinum award. Your team has until early April to complete the actions and you can request a student Green Impact Project Assistant to help you achieve them.
Sustainable at work and home
It doesn't matter if some of your team are working remotely as we have a range of new and fun actions, which can also save you money at home.
Bespoke projects
Instead of completing the workbook a team can choose to undertake their own sustainability project, which depending on its scope and reach could win either Bronze, Silver or Gold. In 2020 our first three teams to undertake a project all won Gold Awards:
- Increasing the temperature of freezers across the Biology Department to reduce energy use without compromising storage.
- An assessment of sustainable travel choices and options for staff and students in the Environment Building.
- A trial to cut peat and single use-plastic pots and growth cabinet energy use in horticultural research in Biology Department.
Contact us
Sustainability at York
sustainability@york.ac.uk
@UoYsustain
Find us on Facebook