Working together to protect our world
To protect our world, to defend what we value and to help others, we need to make change happen together.
The University of Essex was among the first institutions to declare a climate and ecological emergency because it realised sustainability had to be at the heart of everything we do in the years ahead.
This led on to our most ambitious sustainability plan ever and our commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2035. Our staff, students and partners are all helping us towards this vital goal.
The United Nations has called for urgent action on making the world more sustainable. It set out a blueprint for working towards peace and prosperity for people and the planet. Essex is rising to this challenge and setting an ambitious agenda for the future.
At the heart of our work are the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which offer a framework for positive action in all countries - developed and developing – while fostering a global partnership.
The Goals recognise that ending poverty and overcoming other social challenges must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
The University is incredibly proud that as we mark our 60th year our community is playing its part in spurring on positive action. As part of this we’ve mapped each of our priority areas against the UN Goals so we can monitor how we are contributing to our wider social responsibilities and being more sustainable.
The amazing thing is that every single part of the University is playing its part, from the researchers at the forefront of key issues including peace, human rights, equality and many other areas through to the staff working to increase our use of renewables. From the teams developing courses engaging with core sustainability issues to the staff working out how our campuses can reduce their environmental footprint through our buildings, our transport and our individual actions.
We know we have a long way to go, but the fact we were 56th in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023, the only global performance tables that assess universities against the UN Goals, shows the progress we are making across research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. This is out of more than 1,700 other universities across 115 countries.
Rob Davey, Director of Sustainability, is proud of the progress so far. “Sustainability has evolved hugely at Essex in recent years, and it sits firmly on the agenda as part of our values,” he said. “We really recognise that our impact reaches well beyond our campuses and we’re looking well into the future to help shape the decisions we are making today. It’s a long and complex journey but we have so many talented people from across the University who are contributing.”
Making an impact
The challenge is big so we are being ambitious and taking positive action. Sustainable development is classified as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” and we’re working hard to integrate this into all aspects of university life.
We’ve always been determined to make a difference, but in 2020 we realised we had to channel our efforts into taking urgent action on climate change and the ecological challenges the world is facing.
This has included a commitment to reaching net zero by 2035, and our teams have been working tirelessly to put in place what is needed to meet this goal.
Look on our rooves and you’ll see the level of our ambition. We’ve already installed more than 4,000 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on top of our buildings and work is underway on installing close to 2,000 more this year.
This means we will soon be generating close to 10% of our electricity from renewables.
We are also in the early stages of exploring the potential for a large-scale solar farm that could eventually provide us with all of our electricity at our Colchester Campus.
Alongside renewables you have to look at your existing buildings and we are making sure that the fabric of our buildings is more efficient with insulation and window replacement projects.
Sustainability Manager Daisy Malt said: “Our 1960s Colchester Campus is iconic, but it was not built with energy efficiency in mind so we have many areas to tackle to get them to a standard that will support our net zero ambitions.
“There are also many smaller projects too that might not seem as obvious, but are important steps – such as better regulation of water flow, adjustments to the heating, cooling and ventilation systems, making best use of our spaces and upgrades to equipment. It all adds up!"
Nimish Shah, Head of Energy and Carbon Reduction, adds: “Our new Carbon Management Plan will set out our journey to net zero and is being informed by the development of a full decarbonization plan for each of our buildings.
“We know that building and energy efficiency are essential to safeguard our future, and we are leaving no stone unturned on the opportunities to explore.”
“The University’s carbon emissions have almost halved in just over a decade, so we have every reason to feel optimistic, but getting closer to net zero will be increasingly complex. The scale of the task is pretty big but we have to be ambitious.”
Nimish Shah
Head of Energy and Carbon Reduction
Setting the national and global agenda
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are providing a framework for our strategy so our recognition within the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings is symbolic of our progress. We are in the global top 100 for nine of the 17 UN Goals. We’re ranked 17th for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, 18th for Reduced Inequalities, 27th for Responsible Consumption and Production, 28th for Gender Equality, 31st for Life Below Water, and 45th for Climate Action.
The scope of our research agenda is vast and touches so many elements of the Sustainable Development Goals from protecting marine environments in the UK and around the world through to promoting and protecting individual rights, for example, Dr Matthew Gillett, from Essex Law School is now the Chair Rapporteur for the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. From identifying and combatting gender bias to protecting crop productivity in the face of rising global temperatures. From using psychology to encourage more sustainable behaviour to investigating public investment policies in India and Sri Lanka to see their impact on climate change action. The Centre for Environment and Society also brings together academics to support the transition to a greener future.
Work by our Sustainability team complements this focus on sustainability within our research community.
Among many projects, our Estates team has worked to ensure virtually none of our waste goes to landfill. We work with our waste contractors to make sure that all of our waste is processed appropriately. Everything that goes into the correct bin on our campuses is recycled, and the remaining general waste is incinerated – zero to landfill is in our contracts. There has been a big increase in reuse too, with a dedicated facility for furniture so that we can rehome items on our campuses instead of disposing of them.
Daisy said: “Recycling facilities are often taken for granted these days because they are so commonplace, but they make a huge difference to our carbon footprint, and help to ensure that materials including paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal are used where they are needed. Putting your recycling in the right bin is a quick and easy way to do your bit. We’re aiming for at least 50% of all our waste being recycled or reused by 2026, while also reducing the overall amounts of waste we produce – which everyone at the University can contribute towards.”
It’s not just the big stuff
We sometimes concentrate on the big things, but we're having to change our approach to so many things that it’s easy to miss all the imaginative ways we are rising to the challenge of being more sustainable.
From wildlife cameras out in Wivenhoe Park to bring people closer to the nature around us to outreach projects with local schools and carbon literacy training available to all, the Sustainability Team aims to create opportunities to make environmentally friendly choices easier.
There are lots of other initiatives in place too at Colchester Campus it’s cheaper to bring your own reusable takeaway cup to cafes, to avoid paying the ‘latte levy’; the SU have upgraded all the fridges in The Store to more energy efficient ones, and they now only provide paper carrier bags now, not plastic ones; all of our printer paper is made from 100% recycled materials; all big projects now have to demonstrate how sustainability has been considered; and our students can even roll up their sleeves and get involved through the campus allotment.
“The small stuff adds up,” said Daisy “And we’re building on this all the time.”
How you can help
We’re lucky to have an Environmental Sustainability Action Group at Essex bringing together professional services, academics and students to steer the direction for the University on sustainability through our Sustainability Sub-Strategy and Climate Action Plan.
But there are ways staff and students can help even more. Daisy said: “By being mindful of the choices you make you can make a difference. From small choices like avoiding single-use items and plastics, to switching off unused equipment you are part of the change that’s essential. Encourage others, use your spheres of influence and engage with the challenges."
"We are all a part of our environment, not separate from it, and we can all take responsibility for treading more lightly.”
Daisy Malt
Sustainability Manager
Find out more
Our sustainability plan
Find out how you can be part of the solution and become guardians of our environment.
Study Global Sustainability
Our BSc Global Sustainability is focused on addressing the big challenges facing Planet Earth and its living systems.
Sixty Stories
We’re celebrating 60 years of making change happen. 60 years of boldness and bravery from our students past and present. 60 years of creating change.
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