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WUR focuses on increasing sustainability after becoming “The most sustainable university” for the third time

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December 10, 2019

Wageningen University & Research is once again the greenest and most sustainable university in the world, according to the latest GreenMetric ranking of Universitas Indonesia (UI).

The 2019 ranking of Universitas Indonesia included 780 universities in 85 countries. Each year, they fill in an extensive questionnaire on what their university does in the areas of energy, climate, waste, transport, water, and sustainability in education. The campus setting and infrastructure is also looked at.

WUR continues the sustainability programme

This year WUR has again scored particularly high on the indicators for sustainability in education and research. WUR also achieved the maximum number of points for waste and water. With just over 90% (9075 points) of the total number of points, it seems as if there is little that can be made more sustainable. Nothing could be further from the truth: WUR continues to work on sustainability in all areas. This includes measures to reduce gas consumption to zero, increasing circular purchasing, and making transport greener. These and other actions are part of WUR's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda.

"WUR is committed to generating sustainable energy", says Peter Booman, WUR's Director of Facilities & Services. "As far as is technically possible, we will cover our roofs with solar panels. WUR also participates in projects for solar panel fields, which are combined with research into landscape values and biodiversity.

Dutch universities

In addition to Wageningen University & Research, Leiden University and the University of Groningen are in the top 10; both in seventh place with 8475 points. Sustainability is apparently an important policy theme for Dutch universities.

Everyone can contribute

"Being number one three times in a row is fantastic”, says Erna Maters, who, as a WUR Corporate Social Responsibility staff member, completes the GreenMetric questionnaire. “This year we were invited as the reigning number 1 to share our experiences at the GreenMetric conference. For this occasion, we wrote the article ‘Strategic Action to Develop a Sustainable University’, in which we explain what we have achieved in recent years in making our operational management greener. However, everyone can contribute to sustainability at WUR. You can use the Green Impact programme to get started in your own building.”

The UI GreenMetric World University Ranking is an initiative of Universitas Indonesia that was launched in 2010.