Protecting our planet: Combating climate change

Alongside its own funding, the University will decarbonise the King’s Buildings campus heat supply by reusing heat from a University data centre. Work to plant woodland and restore peatlands in Scotland has begun as part of a project to capture the University of Edinburgh’s unavoidable emissions from flying. The project will involve planting over 2 million trees, restoring peatlands and ecologically regenerating approximately 5,600 hectares of land across various sites in Scotland, over 4,500 of which is owned by partners Ð a combined area of more than 8,000 football pitches. A 431-hectare site overlooking the Ochil Hills in Stirlingshire and 26 hectares at Rullion Green in the Pentland Hills Regional Park near Edinburgh are the first of several sites that will be regenerated. Emissions generated from flying, which cannot currently be reduced to zero, will instead be offset using the restored sites. 

Carbon emissions from University business travel have decreased by a third compared with pre-pandemic data from 2018/19 to 2022/23. The University was ranked as a ‘top performer’ in an independent review of climate-conscious business travel across 50 public sector organisations in Scotland. The recognition, based on a report by Transform Scotland, the alliance for sustainable travel, acknowledges efforts to reduce flying, and the strength of climate-friendly policies aimed at reducing emissions.   

Note: More staff and students have returned to campus over the last academic year, resulting in a higher volume of waste being produced. There has been an increase in the percentage of waste being composted or recycled compared to last year. Note: Figures awaiting external verification at time of writing

A newly created UK concordat aims to ensure that the design and practice of research and innovation become environmentally sustainable. The agreement, the UK Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, was co-developed by more than 25 organisations including universities, research institutes and funders in the UK research and innovation sector. The University has committed to fully adopting the Concordat, and is an early signatory. The Concordat coincides with another major sustainability initiative founded this year by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow — Scotland Beyond Net Zero. This scheme is aimed at maximising the contribution academic research makes to Scotland’s ambitious climate goals. 

The University has again been ranked among the world’s top universities by The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for its contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It achieved joint 1st in the world for its contribution to SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, reflecting the University’s flourishing culture of innovation, harnessing its research power to drive innovation and directly benefit society. The University was also recognised as one of the leading universities in the UK for sustainability, being ranked 3rd in the UK in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024.