UAL fails its green degree

by Laura Brooks

University of the Arts London has failed to become a greener university, according to a Green League table compiled by the student campaign group People and Planet.

UAL was awarded the score of just 9.5 in the 2009 Green League table, published in The Times Higher Education section.

Nottingham Trent University gained an impressive score of 58.5, pushing the university up from its 2008 rank of 19th greenest university to this years first place. UAL, however, dropped twenty-nine places on last year’s ranking of 96.

The league table provides UK universities with the most comprehensive benchmark on sustainability. People and Planet is the largest student network in Britain dedicated to protection of the environment, an end to world poverty and the human rights defence.

NTU invested £1million in carbon management this year for sustainability projects, such as an automatic shutdown system for 6,000 computers, and the virtualisation of university servers.

However, Grant Anderson, the environmental officer for NTU, said he was “surprised” at the rise to the top spot.:“I had anticipated a jump next year when the policy started taking effect, so hopefully we can stay up in 2010,” he added. "The university recycles 46 per cent of its waste, and waste from regeneration work on campus buildings has been used as fuel."

Urban location, no excuse

The London School of Economics came second in the report, proving that UAL cannot use its urban location as an excuse for not being greener. “Our vision for the future is a zero-carbon, zero-waste university campus,” said Victoria Hands, environmental and sustainability manager at LSE. Oxford Brookes University came third.

“We have  put more resources into sustainability and we have gone from one full-time individual working on sustainability to four full-time equivalents,” said Harriet Waters, sustainability manager at OBU.

The Green Festival took place at UAL this month, which showcased sustainability-related activities such as the Sustainable Shopping Bag Project and the Ecohome exhibition.

The festival also raised awareness about green issues that affect the university, and has promoted practical initiatives seeking to reduce UAL’s impact on the environment. These include a computer shutdown policy similar to the one implemented at NTU, as well as the ‘Water Amnesty’ project, which aims to cut water consumption by 30 per cent by 2010.

A pilot cycle scheme has been employed, which has seen 32 employees taking up the scheme within the last year. The SU are also running a ‘Go Green’ campaign.
Oliver Bothwell, a third year Graphic and Media Design student at LCC, who is part of the UAL branch of the People and Planet society said: “It’s important to put pressure on the university over green issues, especially with a new building opening soon."

“We have the opportunity to practically have a fresh start. One area of improvement would be to switch to a green energy supplier, which would only cost about £200 extra a year.” The UAL People and Planet society was founded in September this year and has been set up to raise awareness of sustainability among students, to reduce levels of carbon emmissions produced by the university.

For more information on what UAL is doing, go to www.suarts.org/green