Sustainability

The One that stands

FOR CHANGE

Sustainability is as important to us as it is to you.

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 Environmental Society and the Green Ambassador programme through the Students’ Union (see pages 28-29).

We’re continually seeking opportunities to invest in sustainable energy systems on our sites. This includes solar panels and heat pumps on our campus and accommodation sites. Solar car ports have been installed at our sports campus, alongside battery storage to power the floodlights on sports pitches at night.

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’ve planted more than 1,000

trees on our sites in the past few years.

Biodiversity

We’re proud to have a biodiverse campus. We’ve introduced tansy plants to support the endangered tansy beetle. These are only found around the River Ouse, which flows through York. Our campus also includes:

• Habitats for hedgehogs • Bird boxes for kestrels and peregrine falcons • A wildlife pond • Beehives and bug hotels • Student and community allotments

Fairtrade food

What we do as a University impacts you, which is why we choose our suppliers carefully. Throughout our campus we have made changes to our catering. For example:

• All of our coffee at the University is

Rainforest Alliance approved. • The hot chocolate we serve and the sugar in our main outlets are both

Fairtrade. • 80% of our cakes are made in house, reducing the need for packaging. • We only use free range eggs.

Energy

We were the first university in the UK to purchase the majority of our electricity from renewable energy generators.

Other steps we have taken to improve energy efficiency include:

• The majority of our vehicles are now electric. • We’ve made our buildings more energy efficient by introducing triple glazing into new and refurbished buildings. • We’ve introduced LED lighting across campus to save energy. • We’ve changed our heating systems to reduce energy consumption.

Waste management

• 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 campus is recycled by our Grounds team through composting and used on our sites. • Our food waste is used to generate biogas for energy and low carbon fertiliser.