King’s College London Earns First-Class Sustainability Ranking
People & Planet have awarded King’s fifth place in their league table scoring UK universities across sustainability-related categories.
The People & Planet’s University League is the only comprehensive and independent league table of UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance.
King’s ranked fifth out of 181 universities – a increase of six places since last year, and once again maintaining a strong first-class classification.
King’s achieved 100% across six key areas:
Environmental policies
Auditing
Sustainable Food
Sustainability Staff
Engagement
Education
Other areas which scored highly included carbon management, carbon reduction, and workers’ rights.
King’s also improved its position in the QS World University Sustainability Rankings, rising 68 places to 44th in the world out of 1,500 institutions.
The QS rankings look at which universities are tackling the world’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges.
These strong results are a testament to the number of key initiatives aimed at boosting climate research, education, operations and impact across the university. King’s is rapidly scaling up its response to the climate emergency and continuing to embed sustainability practices across the institution.
Rosie Smith, Programme Director (King’s Climate & Sustainability), said:
This result reflects the acceleration of climate and sustainability action across the university and our community. We are delighted to have improved so significantly and are looking forward to continue achieving at the highest level over the coming years. Our Climate & Sustainability Action Plan sets out our ambitious targets for reaching net zero and centring action on climate across King’s. We hope that following this plan will help us rise even higher next year.
Rosie Smith, Programme Director (King’s Climate & Sustainability)
King’s Climate & Sustainability Action Plan was developed by staff and student across King’s, led by the Climate Action Network.