People & Planet Green League 2011
The People & Planet Green League 2011 table, ranking the environmental performance of 142 universities, has been published in the Guardian.
Nottingham Trent University has topped the table for the second time, followed by Gloucestershire, Worcester and Plymouth. Leeds is in 101st place, a drop in position with two main causes:
- our new Carbon Management Plan had not been published at the time the league table was compiled
- due to an error in the 2005/06 figures used in the league table, our carbon emissions appear to have increased since 2005: in fact they have decreased by around 300 tonnes, despite large-scale campus development and investment in energy-intensive research.
The table also reflects the difficulty in comparing research-intensive universities - particularly those carrying out science and engineering research which involve a high level of energy consumption - and teaching-led universities.
The University has made considerable progress in the last 12 months in a number of areas:
- our non-residential waste recycling rates have gone up to 92%, including 90% of all construction waste
- our Re-use project has managed to find a use for approximately £300,000 worth of University furniture and equipment
- we have invested over £80,000 in cycling infrastructure.
The Green League scores universities according to their environmental policies, management, and performance in areas including carbon reduction, waste recycling, energy efficiency, transport emissions, sustainable food and ethical procurement policies, and water consumption.
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