Targets and performance

Our sustainability targets are ambitious and wide-ranging. Read about them in our Climate Strategy, or find out about our performance in our annual reports.

Climate strategy

The University of Edinburgh is working to become net zero carbon by 2040.

  1. We will reduce our emissions of carbon per £ million turnover by 50% from a 2007/8 baseline year by 2025 (achieved)
  2. We will return our carbon emissions to 2007/08 baseline year levels by 2025 (achieved)
  3. We will become a net zero carbon university by 2040

A refreshed version of the strategy is currently under development.

Read the climate strategy

3rd in the UK for Sustainability (QS Rankings 2024)

UK leader for sustainability

We are 3rd in the UK, 6th in Europe and 15th globally out of a total 1,397 institutions in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability.

1st in the world for innovation (Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024)

Global leader for innovation

We have again been ranked among the world’s top universities by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024 for our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, achieving joint 1st place globally for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

2021 year we fully divestedfrom fossil fuels

Fossil free investments

We have actively removed all direct and pooled investments in companies that extract and produce fossil fuels such as coal, tar sands, oil and gas from our portfolio.

New carbon graphs 2024

Our dashboard shows our progress towards key targets. For a full breakdown for previous years, visit 'our performance' pages.

QS World University Rankings sustainability 2024

We were proud to be recognised as the most sustainable university in Europe in the 2023 QS rankings.

We are transparent about decision-making and oversight. See who sits on our committees and read meeting notes.

Sustainability guidance, frameworks, policies, plans and strategies. These include our Sustainable Travel Policy, Good Food Policy and Responsible Investment Policy.

Oversight on ethical matters across the institution is shared across several University departments covering academic research, learning and teaching, operations and investments.

A strong student voice in decision making is important to progress climate, sustainability and social responsibility here at the University of Edinburgh.