We are committed to making our campuses as sustainable as possible
Professor Paul Lickiss, the Academic Leader in Sustainability
Imperial does a huge amount of valuable research in the area of sustainability and many of our staff and students are involved in businesses which promote sustainability.
On our own campuses progress has already been made by colleagues in Estates, Catering, and Greening Imperial to try and make our campuses more environmentally friendly. We have already stopped using plastic glasses and cutlery, and made the switch to a sustainable energy supplier on all our campuses. Greening Imperial were also instrumental in my own post being created as this was something recommended in their report on sustainability across College.
Sustainability should run through the whole of College thinking and activity at all levels and across all campuses.
Over the next few months I plan to find areas where we can make a difference quickly, such as forming a network of sustainability champions – as well as tackling the longer-term issues.
Sustainability should run through the whole of College thinking and activity at all levels and across all campuses."
Professor Paul Lickiss
The Academic Leader in Sustainability
In the meantime I’d urge labs to sign up to the LEAF project which features a checklist of actions they can take to improve their sustainability and the excellent Student Switch Off where our students are vying to see which halls can save the most energy.
We all have a role to play so I hope you will all join me in finding ways for the College to be more sustainable.
What we are doing
Sustainable laboratories
Four of our labs have already taken part in a pilot of Laboratory Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) which helps improve the sustainability of laboratories and features a checklist of actions that labs can undertake. The next phase of the project will commence in January 2020 – if you would like your lab to take part, please register your interest here.
Carbon emissions
From October 2019 100 per cent of bought-in electricity on all campuses comes from renewable sources and in 2017/18 our overall carbon emissions fell 27% below 2009 levels - the first year for which we recorded them.
Read the Carbon Management and Sustainability Activities Report 2017-2018 (PDF).
Sustainability themes
Research
Read our new Academic Strategy on how we are helping societies to become more sustainable.
You can also find out more about the work of the:
Investment
A Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy Working Group has been set up to look at how the Endowment funds are invested to achieve that goal while remaining true to the College mission.
Find out more about the SRI Policy Working Group and how to get involved.
Teaching
Study sustainability at Imperial:
- MSc Sustainable Energy Futures
- MSc Climate Change Management and Finance
- MSc in Environmental Technology
- MRes in Green Chemistry: Energy and the Environment
News
All News
31 December 2019
2020: the year the climate changed?