Cardiff Met ranks as the most sustainable university in the UK in new league table

People and Planet, a network student campaign group in the UK focused on ending poverty, defending human rights and preserving the environment, has released its university league table for the most sustainable universities in Great Britain, with Cardiff Metropolitan University topping the league.

The league table ranks the university by environmental and ethical performance, put together annually by the campaign group.

Cardiff Met’s scoring in each category remained much higher than the rest, with the university having 100 per cent in five out of 13 categories.

Last year, Cardiff Met was labelled as University of the Year 2021 by Times Higher Education, due to its “progressive values driven university”, so it comes as no surprise that the Welsh university is the most sustainable.

Regarding Welsh unis, only Swansea Uni followed closely behind, coming 13th place, whilst further down the league University of Wales Trinity Saint David came 31st, Glyndwr University came 36th and Cardiff University trailed behind at 50th.

People and the Planet scores the universities on 14 criteria including workers’ rights, waste and recycling, carbon management and sustainable careers. Cardiff Met scored over 90 per cent in eight categories, but failed to achieve scores higher than 50 per cent in three categories, its worst being 10 per cent for sustainable careers.

In comparison, Cardiff Uni scored much lower with only three categories reaching over 90 per cent whilst eight were scored 50 per cent or lower. It even scored 0 per cent in the carbon management category. Furthermore, according to the table, Cardiff Uni did not meet its emissions reduction target for the year.

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