The People & Planet Green League

The People & Planet Green League is a ranking of United Kingdom universities based on their sustainable practice. It is compiled by the student campaign group People & Planet.
The Green League 2007 was published in the Times Higher Education Supplement [cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=209217|title=Leeds Met tops first UK green rankings|publisher=Times Higher Education Supplement|date=2007-06-08|accessdate=] on the 8th June 2007, to coincide with World Environment Day, and won a WWF British Environment and Media Award for "Best Campaign" [cite web|url=http://www.bemas.org.uk/|title=2007 British Environment and Media Award Winners: Best Campaign|accessdate=2008-04-01]
The Green League 2008, with a partially revised methodology, was published on the 3rd July 2008, again in the Times Higher Education Supplement,cite web|url=http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreen/greenleague2008|title=The Green League 2008|publisher=People & Planet|date=|accessdate=2008-04-01] and revealed significant improvements in sustainability, "galvanised by last year's inaugural league table". [ ["Green shoots" http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=402566] Times Higher Education Supplement, 3rd July 2008]

Green League 2007

Methodology

The ranking was primarily based around the four demands of People and Planet's "Go Green" campaign [cite web|url=http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreen/report.4factors.php|title=Going Green Report: The Four Key Factors|publisher=People & Planet|accessdate=2008-04-01] , which attempts to make universities more environmentally friendly, but included in addition data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from EMStats (Estates Management Statistics, submitted by each institution to the government) on recycling, percentage renewable energy, and carbon emissions per student. Whether the university had Fairtrade status was also included on a low weighting, as another indicator of a progressive institution.

Results

Universities were given a First, 2.1, 2.2, Third or Fail rating. The league showed a large range of standards across the higher education sector [cite web|url=http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreen/greenleague2007/table|title=The Green League 2007] . Leeds Metropolitan University, the University of Plymouth, and the University of Hertfordshire were the top three, whilst the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (part of the University of London), the Royal College of Art, Royal Veterinary College (part of the University of London) came lowest out of the 105 universities ranked. Fifteen universities did not provide enough information to be ranked, and so were classed in the section "Did not sit exam".

Criticisms

The methodology has been criticised for not fully incorporating all factors that can contribute to an institution's sustainability; for instance schemes soon to be implemented. The ranking also did not incorporate the amount of Environmental Research and Teaching, which while not directly contributing to any reduction in the university's carbon footprint, does serve to educate the next generation, and may reveal a new way to increase sustainability. However, a high level of environment research does not seem to correlate with a sustainable university (for instance, Aberystwyth University, which runs a number of courses on Environmental Management [cite web|url=http://www.aber.ac.uk/biology/prospective/manenvi05a.html#Environmental_Impact_Assessment|title=Biology Degrees at Aberystwyth University] , but gained only 97th position in the Green League).

Another criticism is that much of the information is reliant on the institutions faithfulness; People and Planet did not have the resources to mount an independent audit.

Green League 2008

To further gauge a university's environmental management and performance, the new Green League included the following when calculating rankings:
*the possession of an Ethical Investment policy
*Water consumption per head
*The improvement in renewable energy, recycling, and carbon emissions from the previous year's Green League

The Green League 2008 placed the University of Gloucestershire as the greenest University in the UK and the University of Huddersfield as the university making the biggest leap in the table from 71st in 2007 to a current position of 8th.

References

External links

*EMStats (Estates Management Statistics) [http://www.opdems.ac.uk/]
*The top ranking university in 2007; Leeds Metropolitan [http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk]
*The top ranking university in 2008; the University of Gloucestershire [http://www.glos.ac.uk/pressreleases/Pages/green.aspx]
*List of universities with Fairtrade status [http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/campaigns/fairtrade_universities/the_5_goals.aspx]