Manchester Met named a top 3 sustainable university for the last 10 years

We have been named again as one of the UK’s leading sustainable universities in the People & Planet University League. 

The third-placed finish in this year’s League means the University has now spent an incredible ten years as a top-three ranked university, being named a “First class” institution for 2022/2023.  

All 154 UK universities are ranked across 13 categories, with People & Planet University League awarding First-class, 2:1, 2:2, Third or Fail degrees. 

The announcement comes shortly after we released our Leadership in Sustainability Strategy, further committing to be a beacon of sustainable development practice, working towards a zero-carbon future and putting sustainability at the heart of the University. 

The People and Planet University League table is the only independent ranking that assesses all UK universities’ environmental and ethical performance. 

This year, we achieved 100% across several key areas, including: policy and strategy, environmental auditing and management, governance and staff, and staff and student engagement.  

Education for sustainable development, sustainable food and carbon management also scored highly, between 90-95%.  

This year, we extended its commitment to student engagement with the ongoing delivery of the University’s Carbon Literacy training programme. 

To date, over 1,600 university students and staff have been trained, receiving Carbon Literacy Certification at Manchester Met. 

With the University committing to embed climate change education across all courses by 2026, a new ‘Teach Carbon Literacy’ programme has recently been delivered to over 80 academic colleagues. This means that in the 2022/23 academic year, up to 7,000 students could have Carbon Literacy training available as part of their studies, with around 66 courses currently offering this feature embedded in their course to students. 

The top-three ranking comes on the back of the University’s sustainability leaders featuring at both the Greater Manchester Green Summit and the COP27 global summit in Egypt.  

We have also made a firm commitment to supporting Manchester’s city-region on its journey to net zero carbon before 2038. 

In November, Uswitch’s Green Universities Report 2022 rated our University as one of the top UK universities for its commitment to sustainability for the third year running. 

Read more about our Sustainability work. 

See the full breakdown of results and league table from People & Planet University League.