Bournemouth University have risen in the People and Planet University League 2017. The league table recognises universities for their environmental friendliness and sustainability.
BU’s ranking of 11th in the table, up from 20th last year, out of 154 institutions. This gives BU the distinction of a ‘1st class degree’. This is the 10th year that the People and Planet league table has been published.
As well as looking at a university’s sustainability, the league table also measures universities on factors such as their environmental policies, waste and recycling, carbon reduction and ethical investment.
Hannah Smith, Co-Director Research and Campaigns at People & Planet said, “Bournemouth University have continued to impress us across the 10 years we've published the league table. Bournemouth were one of 40 universities to sign the People & Planet 'Green Education Declaration' in 2012 - 5 years on, they have proved their commitment to this pledge, as we congratulate them on climbing 9 places up the rankings for 2017. Bournemouth's scorecard is exemplary - each section shows robust and consistent progress across every aspect of sustainability”
BU’s Professor John Vinney initially signed the People and Planet Green Education Declaration in 2012.
Jim Andrews, Chief Operating Officer at Bournemouth University, said, “We are proud of our continuing excellent League position. BU has a long track record of excellence in the area of sustainability and this is a welcome bench mark of how well we are actually doing. We continue to be ambitious for our environmental and ethical stance and this will continue to be reflected in our updated strategic plan. I would like to thank all of my colleagues and our students who have worked together to make this excellent achievement possible.”
Among BU’s sustainability initiatives are the electric vans used by members of the Estates team, to lower the carbon footprint of road usage. BU has also partnered with morebus on a new environmentally-friendly bus fleet, which operates the university bus services across Dorset, these buses carried over £1million passengers in 2016/17.
Other BU sustainability highlights include:
- Achieving ISO14001 certification for its environmental management system in 2015;
- BU’s two new buildings, Student Centre and Fusion, both achieved BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ‘A’ ratings and include a number of low and zero carbon technologies, such as PVs and ground source heat pumps;
- Installing energy and water saving measures, such as a biomass boiler to provide heat for its Talbot campus, to cut carbon emissions;
- Building a bus hub and link road to accommodate the growing Unibus service and alleviate congestion and pollution on the busy Wallisdown commuter route;
- Implementing a comprehensive mixed and food recycling scheme where no waste goes to landfill;
- Retaining Fairtrade status for over 10 years;
- Engaging staff and students in innovative and fun sustainability activities for the health and wellbeing of themselves and the environment.
For more information about BU’s environmental commitment, visit https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/sustainability
