A greener campus for you & us

We’re proud to be an actively eco-conscious University. Many of our courses offer modules focused on sustainability and the environment. You can also get involved with the Green Ambassador Programme through the Students’ Union.

We’ve planted more than 1,000 trees on our sites in the past few years.

Tansy plants have been introduced at our Sports Park as a habitat for the endangered tansy beetle.

Our main campus has habitats designed for hedgehogs, and we’re proud of our Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus accreditation.

We’ve installed 120 bird boxes across our sites, as well as wildlife ponds, beehives and bug hotels.

We’ve installed solar panels and heat pumps on our main campus and accommodation sites.

In an effort to manage our impact on the environment, by 2030 we aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80%.

We were the first university in the UK to purchase a major portion of our campus electricity direct from renewable energy generators.

Our catering outlets work with a variety of fair trade food suppliers, and we’re working to reduce the packaging we use in these outlets.

None of our waste has gone to landfill since 2016. The small amount that cannot be recycled is used to generate energy.

All of the green waste from our York sites is recycled by our Grounds team, and our food waste is used to generate biogas for energy, or to create low carbon fertiliser.