Policies and strategies relating to sustainability

View the University’s policies and strategies relating to sustainability
Drake's Place
We're leading by example and creating a sustainable campus that reduces our impact on the environment – building a live learning place for staff and students. A sustainable campus incorporates everything that you come into contact with – from the food in the cafes to the lighting in the buildings and the way you get to campus in the morning. 
Students and staff are welcome to provide comment or feedback on any of the documents found below by using the email in our contact us button. 
Governance
Our sustainability strategy is led by the Sustainable Advisory Group who meet on a quarterly basis and are a subcommittee of the University Executive Group and review all sustainability policies. The chair of this board is the Professor Kevin Jones, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering who is joined by other senior colleagues across our departments including, but not limited to, Estates and Facilities. 
Students can get involved with this group via their elected UPSU President or Part-time Environment and Sustainability Officer. 
In 2022 there was the addition of sub-groups to focus on specific topics, such as: academia, biodiversity, carbon, food, procurement and waste.
Sustainability Policies and Action Plans
The links below take you to the relevant policies and strategies for sustainability at the University.
Sustainability Reports
We release annual sustainable reports, with a biennial report meeting the GRI Framework standard. This covers our progress and achievements within sustainability.
ISO 14001:2015 and PAS 2060
In 2009, we successfully gained ISO 14001:2015 accreditation – one of very few higher education institutions to do so at the time. This accreditation is an international standard providing a framework – for organisations of any size – to control and improve environmental performance via an Environmental Management System (EMS). It provides practical tools for us to identify and control environmental impacts and it recognises that we have a systematic approach to environmental management – one that is externally audited. We are externally accredited to ISO 14001:2015 for our Environmental Management System, for the activities on our main campus site, including Cookworthy building, as well as Derriford Research Facility and John Bull building.
Carbon neutrality for all Scope 1, 2 and selected Scope 3 (Water, Waste, Business Travel) will be achieved by University of Plymouth in accordance with PAS 2060 on 24th February 2023, with commitment to maintain to 31st July 2025 for the period commencing 1st August 2021, NQA verified. Below is a link to our Qualifying Explanatory Statement explaining how. 
Other relevant awards, certificates and documents

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