Sustainability awards

UWE Bristol and The Students' Union at UWE have gained external recognition for their efforts to improve their sustainability performance across the board – for their teaching and research, for their professional services and for the dynamism and creativity of individual students and staff.

Recent awards

  • November 2023: the university won the prestigious ‘Institution of the year’ Green Gown award.
  • December 2023: the university was ranked as a ‘first-class’ university and 11th of all UK universities for its environmental and ethical performance according to the 2023/24 People & Planet University League.
  • May 2023: the results of the Times Higher Impact ratings announced referencing progress in relation to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UWE Bristol ranked in the top 200 universities globally and in the top 100 for seven SDGs.
  • May 2023: Our partnership with The Students' Union at UWE has been accredited to Responsible Futures (an ESD initiative of SOS-UK) since 2016 and most recently for the fourth time in May 2023. In 2022-23 we were one of two national Responsible Futures Host Partnerships.
  • July 2022: UWE Bristol working in partnership with The Students’ Union at UWE and accredited as a Fairtrade University by SOS UK, having held this award since 2006.
  • 2022: UWE Bristol won the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award at the Green UK and Ireland Gown Awards for its Green Skills for Jobs and Entrepreneurship Programme and was highly commended in three other award categories: Staff Sustainability Champion category, the Research With Impact Student category, Tomorrow's Employee category.
  • 2022: The Students’ Union at UWE received an ‘Excellent’ Award at the NUS Green Impact Awards and were the highest scoring for the sixth year in a row.
  • 2022: Our Hospitality team once again received a silver Food for Life award for food at four sites on campus.
  • 2022: UWE Bristol was awarded a Gold level Hedgehog Friendly Campus accreditation, upgraded from the Silver award in 2021.
  • July 2021: UWE Bristol and The Students’ Union at UWE having been shortlisted for 11 Green Gown awards by the EAUC (Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges), were overall winner of the Tomorrow's Employees award for how we prepare graduates to be responsible for a sustainable future, and highly commended in the Research with impact, Next Generation Learning and Skills and Sustainability Champion categories.
  • Green Gown Winner 2023 logo
  • People and Planet University League logo.
  • The impact rankings 2023 logo.
  • Logo with white background and red text saying 'Food for life silver served here'
  • Be Bold Awards 2023 winner text in black and pink on logo with a bee illustration.
  • Logo in dark blue with white text 'Fairtrade University and College award'
  • NUS green impact 2021 award logo
  • NUS Responsible Futures accreditation logo
  • Gold hedgehog award logo

Previous years

Details of past awards and recognition UWE Bristol has received for our contribution to sustainability.

2021

  • July 2021: The Students’ Union at UWE were awarded ‘Excellent’ (for the fifth year in a row) in the NUS Green Impact awards for their work in the 2020/21 academic year.

2020

  • The Students' Union at UWE and UWE Bristol were jointly reaccredited for NUS Responsible Futures.

2019

  • The Students’ Union at UWE were outright winners for their ‘Bring Your Own Bowl’ food waste events and were shortlisted for the International Green Gown awards, held in 2019.

2018

  • The Students’ Union at UWE won two awards at the EAUC Green Gown Awards - the Student Sustainability Champion went to former Sustainability Officer Amy Staff, and in the ‘Student Engagement Category for large institutions’. 
  • The Knowledge Exchange for Sustainability Education (KESE) Team picked up an Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence.
  • The Students' Union at UWE retained their Excellent Green Impact Accreditation and were awarded for the second year running the ‘Overall Highest Scoring Students’ Union’ award.
  • The University and The Students' Union at UWE received several awards in the South West Fairtrade Business Awards. 
  • We retained our ISO 14000.1 Environmental Management system certification.

2017

  • We were awarded two International Green Gown Awards.
  • We received an ‘Excellent’ accreditation in the NUS Green Impact awards and were overall winner.
  • In November, we were finalists in nine categories and highly commended in three of the 2017 Green Gown awards.

2016

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