In November, the University of Edinburgh ranked 4th globally in the QS World University Rankings for Sustainability 2026, and 2nd within the UK.
This is a significant leap from 2025, when the university was ranked 7th globally, reflecting steps taken to achieve sustainability targets.
The first two targets set by the sustainability team were to “reduce our carbon emissions per £ million turnover by 50 per cent from a 2007/08 baseline year by 2025” and to “return our carbon emissions to 2007/08 baseline year levels by 2025.” Both goals have already been achieved.
The university’s carbon emissions for 2021-22 were 70,363 tonnes of CO2, already below the 2025 target of 86,707 tonnes, which was set against the 2007/08 baseline.
The University of Edinburgh’s climate strategy for 2016-26 is focused on its third target, creating “a net zero carbon university by 2040.”
Its mechanisms to reach this goal include responsible investment, conducting research, learning and teaching, and investigating renewables.
The Student spoke to Dave Gorman, Director of Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University, who said:
“Through the commitment of its staff and students, the university works hard to embed sustainability and social responsibility across everything that it does — from what we teach and research to our commercialisation activities, from adopting sustainable travel practices to reducing the carbon impact of our laboratories.”
“We take our commitment to be a net-zero university by 2040 very seriously.”
Gorman also highlighted the university’s Forests and Peatlands programme, launched in October 2021, which aims to “restore peatland and expand forests in Scotland.”
According to Gorman, “by the summer of 2026 we will have planted over a million trees” and “the programme will sequester one million tonnes of CO2 by 2070.”
The Forest and Peatland programme exemplifies the sustainability team’s central commitment to becoming a net-zero university by 2040.
This recent triumph in the QS World University Rankings for Sustainability is a result of a commitment to this net-zero goal, having now exceeded the 2025 target for reducing carbon emissions.
Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash