The University of Bath has been rated among the world’s top 100 universities for its sustainability efforts, in a major global ranking published today.
Ranked 92nd in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024, Bath has climbed more than 220 places since last year’s inaugural study.
In the comparison of 1,403 universities around the world, Bath scored highly in each of the three performance categories of Environmental Impact, Social Impact and Governance.
A particular highlight is the University’s rating as joint 7th best globally for Governance, a new category for 2024. This measure assesses whether an institution has strong governance in place, including open decision-making, a holistic ethical organisational culture, student representation on the university’s governing bodies and financial transparency.
Bath also ranked joint 29th in the world for Social Impact, a category which compiles ratings of efforts in health & wellbeing, impact of education, and in sharing and exchanging knowledge with partners.
The quality of environmental research at Bath, which assesses the impact of the research environment at the institution in topics aligned to specific UN Sustainable Development Goals, was also rated joint 92nd internationally.
Professor Ian White, Vice-Chancellor and President, said: “I am very pleased that our rankings position now reflects the significant work on sustainability undertaken at Bath, from our quality research and teaching through to the governance of the university and how we operate. My thanks to all those who ensured the full breadth of our activity was included in the framework. As we welcome our new Director of Sustainability, we know there is more to do, and I look forward to the next steps we take as a community.”
The overall Sustainability ranking places Bath 27th in the UK and 43rd in Europe. The high placing is particularly noteworthy given the number of institutions ranked in the study has more than doubled since the 2023 edition.
Other elements of the ranking measure each university’s environmental sustainability – including a public commitment to reaching Net Zero, on-campus emissions efficiency and renewable energy generation, overall commitment to facing climate change as perceived by staff, and the impact of innovations made by alumni.
The University of Bath started to include Carbon Literacy in induction for all new students in 2021, is developing new programmes such as the MSc Zero Carbon Futures and has excellent and growing research capability in sustainability, as one of our three priority research areas.