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People and Planet results 2022/23

Posted on 6 December 2022

We are pleased to announce that the University of York has ranked 69 in this year's league ranking.

People and Planet University League is a ranking of UK Universities which focuses on sustainability and transparency. We are pleased to announce that the University of York has ranked 69 in this year's league ranking. Published on 6 December 2022 our ranking has improved by 24 positions against our 2021 result.

People & Planet, an independent student campaigning network, reviews the environmental and ethical performance of higher education institutions across the UK in 14 topic areas, awarding degree-style classifications and performance based on rankings. A total of 153 institutions feature in this year's League.

In November 2022, one year on from the launch of our Sustainability Plan, we released the first University of York annual Sustainability Report. The report highlights some of our key achievements over the last 12 months, as well as the many great sustainability actions and improvements that have been implemented. This includes; the first York Living Lab, the launch of the Sustainability Clinic, a 14% reduction against baseline carbon figures of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 41% reduction of Scope 3 emissions, a further 105 members of the UoY community trained in carbon literacy courses, and The Festival of Ideas achieving 39,400 global and local audience members.

We are pleased to be making steady progress within the P&P League rankings; we have a hugely passionate community of staff and students who are engaged in sustainability activities. League tables like People and Planet help to highlight the topic of sustainability and the improvement in ranking is evidence of our continued positive actions, however prioritising impactful sustainable activities will remain at the top of our agenda. 

The Report and the Sustainability Plan are both freely available on the University website to read in detail.

There is still a lot more to do to enhance sustainability further at the University and the Sustainability Plan details just that. Equally there are many ways for individuals and teams to get involved in events and activities etc which all target goals within the Sustainability Plan and enhance sustainability generally.

Making impactful sustainable change requires actions at an institutional and a whole University community level, so every individual plays a vital part.