Among the best in world for sustainability

Northumbria University, Newcastle, has been ranked 27th globally and 6th in the UK in the Times Higher Education’s (THE) Impact rankings.

Announced on April 22, the result confirms Northumbria’s globally-leading position in sustainability and the strength of its support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The THE Impact rankings are a global league table looking at the contribution made by universities to the UN SDGs – a set of global commitments and targets which aim to tackle issues including gender inequality, achieving quality education for all, addressing climate change and achieving peaceful and just societies.   Scoring for the League is not only based on an institution’s operations, but also has a strong focus on how each university’s research and partnerships are delivering social, environmental and economic benefits regionally, nationally and around the world.

As well as being ranked 27th overall out of 766 universities, Northumbria performed particularly strongly in a number of individual UN SDGs – reaching 8th in the Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions goal, 15th in Partnership for Goals and 19th for Responsible Consumption.

Northumbria has a strong commitment to supporting the UN SDGs in all areas of its activity and has seen strong achievements, ranging from reducing carbon emissions by 48% in the past four years, to winning a national Green Gown Award for the work of its Student Law Office to support access to justice across the North East.  We work with partners across the UK and the world to tackle global challenges from Holiday Hunger in the UK, to addressing corruption in Nigeria or water security in South-East Asia.  Recognition of our impact resulted in £2.1 million of funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund.  Last year the University was named the UK’s 4th most sustainable university in the 2019 People & Planet University League, the highest ever ranking for Northumbria in this league table.

Commenting on the University’s latest success Professor George Marston, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, said: “The THE Impact League is an important League that focuses on the real impact that universities make to local, national and international communities. It has a particularly strong focus on partnerships and how our research makes a difference – strengths which are of key importance to Northumbria and which underpin and inform our activities.   We are strongly committed to sustainability and are taking great efforts to ensure support of the UN SDGs.   This is therefore an outstanding achievement that reflects Northumbria’s strong global standing.”

For more information please visit Northumbria’s sustainability pages: www.northumbria.ac.uk/sustainability