© Manchester Met
Manchester Met named the UK’s most sustainable university for record fourth time
Manchester Metropolitan University has established its status as the UK’s most sustainable university, achieving 1st place in the 2025/26 People & Planet University League. This marks a record fourth time the University has topped the national ranking, reaffirming its position as a sector leader in environmental and ethical performance.
The People & Planet University League is the UK’s only independent ranking assessing universities entirely on publicly available data. Widely recognised as a leading benchmark for institutional sustainability, it evaluates governance, carbon reduction, education and wider environmental practices across the sector.
This year, Manchester Met rose four places to claim the top spot, with an overall score of 82.6%, up from 73.6% in 2024. The nine-point increase reflects strong progress across key areas, including perfect scores in Environmental Policy and Strategy, Carbon Reduction, Staff and HR, and Environmental Auditing and Management.
Professor Steve Rothberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Sustainability Strategy Group, said: “To be recognised as the most sustainable university in the UK is a tremendous achievement. It reflects the commitment of our entire community to sustainability, from decarbonising our estate to embedding climate change education. We are incredibly proud to lead the sector once again.”
A major contributor to the result was the University’s full marks for carbon reduction, driven by a 16.2% decrease in carbon intensity compared to last year – well above the threshold for the highest score. Absolute emissions have also fallen by 65.2% since the 2005 baseline, demonstrating sustained long-term progress in decarbonising the estate.
© Jason Lock
Key initiatives driving this improvement include a suite of energy-focused projects. Highlights include the near campus-wide transition to LED lighting, the integration of advanced weather forecasting into building management systems, and the installation of additional solar panel arrays across rooftop spaces.
Jack Ruane, University League Manager at People & Planet University League, said: “Congratulations to Manchester Metropolitan who have finished top of the People & Planet University League for a record 4th time. Their outstanding performance has largely been down to their fantastic carbon reduction work in recent years. This is the kind of urgency and action we hope to see throughout the sector and provides an example of how investing in sustainability pays dividends.”
Alongside carbon reduction, Manchester Met’s ranking reflects strong performance in Education for Sustainable Development, which is now embedded in 87% of programmes with over 80% of returning students reporting developing sustainability related knowledge and skills as part of their course. Carbon Literacy also features across the curriculum, with 705 certifications awarded in the last year and almost 4,000 colleagues and students now certified as Carbon Literate.
The University has strengthened its commitment to sustainable research by signing a new national concordat on environmentally sustainable research, while expanding campus biodiversity through projects such as relocating an award-winning RHS Tatton Park show garden to the Brooks building.
The University also supports the city region’s climate ambitions, working with Manchester Climate Ready and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority toward the goal of net zero by 2038. This commitment was reinforced in April 2025 with the launch of the Hydrogen Technology Electrolysis and Cell Hub, a new national centre uniting leading academics, advanced laboratories and partners across Greater Manchester to accelerate the UK’s transition to clean energy.
Find out more about Manchester Metropolitan’s sustainability work.