Cambridge Drops 38 Places in Sustainability Rankings, Falling to Third-Class Status
University ranks 110th out of 149 in the People & Planet University League, scoring zero in Environmental Auditing & Management Systems.
The University of Cambridge has placed 110th out of 149 universities in the 2024/25 People & Planet University League, which ranks higher education institutions based on their environmental and ethical performance. This is a 38-place drop from last year, and places Cambridge amongst the third Class Universities.
Senate House, via Wikimedia Commons
Universities are ranked on fourteen criteria that assess commitment to climate and social justice, including Energy Sources, Ethical Investment and Banking, and Ethical Careers and Recruitment. They then receive award classes that follow the typical grading system in UK higher education: 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd and Fail. The investigation was based on information made public on university websites, as well as information published within the 2022/23 Higher Education Statistics (HESA) Estates Management Record.
Cambridge’s performance shows an extremely uneven commitment to climate and social justice. It did particularly poorly in Environmental Auditing & Management Systems, scoring no points because the University has not been externally audited. On the other hand, Student and Staff Engagement in sustainability policy was 90% of the maximum score.
“Cambridge’s performance shows an extremely uneven commitment to climate and social justice.”
People & Planet is a network of student campaign groups operating in UK universities. Alongside the University League project, the organisation runs two climate justice campaigns (Fossil Free and Fossil Free Careers) and one migrant justice campaign (Divest Borders). The University League has been carried out since 2007, originally as the Green League. Since then, People & Planet have expanded the criteria to assess more aspects of environmental and ethical performance. For the first time, this year’s League assesses universities on whether they have a fully plant-based or vegetarian outlet on campus; it was found 85% of institutions do not, including Cambridge.
The League was topped by the University of Bedfordshire, who achieved 80.7% of the maximum score. However, where Cambridge has done particularly well on Staff and Student Engagement, this was a significant shortcoming for Bedfordshire, as it failed to have a publicly available student and staff engagement policy. This reveals the different approaches to environmental and social policy taken by different universities.
People & Planet highlight that new universities, formed after the 1992 higher education reforms, continue to pioneer sustainability practices in higher education, and make up seven of the top ten ranked universities. These institutions have often been early adopters of actions like ending recruitment links with fossil fuel companies and divesting from the border industry.
However, the long history of the University of Cambridge does not explain its particularly poor performance. Although the University of Oxford also fell in the rankings (down 27 places) compared to last year, it places in the middle of Russell Group universities. In comparison, Cambridge is the second lowest Russell Group university, with only the University of Glasgow doing worse.
Image Credit: Alex Indigo
Jack Ruane, the University League Manager, says that ‘88% of students think their place of study should actively incorporate and promote sustainable development, universities need to meet this demand if they want to attract this generation of young people. In this way, investments in sustainability are crucial for the long-term health of universities.’