The UI GreenMetric World University Rankings, organized annually by Universitas Indonesia (UI), assesses universities on themes such as energy, climate, waste, transport, water, biodiversity and infrastructure. The extent to which sustainability is integrated into education and research also counts. This year a Governance & Digitalization category is also included. The results were announced on Thursday 24 September during the award ceremony at Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University (ASOIU) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Achievement of all of us

Rector Carolien Kroeze received the award digitally. "We have been named number one, and not for the first time. This is even the tenth time in a row. I am incredibly proud of that. This is an achievement of all of us. Sustainability is very important to us in Wageningen. We want to train our students to become responsible changemakers. We want our students to become the generation that will make a difference by contributing to the major transitions of our time. Together we work on sustainability, based on our mission: 'To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life'. Sustainability is not a separate theme, but an essential part of everything we do. This first place is therefore a recognition of the commitment and ambition of our entire WUR community.”

Ambitious goals

According to Erna Maters, sustainability coordinator at WUR and contact person for the GreenMetric ranking, the tenth consecutive victory is special. "Ten years ago, I would not have dared to predict that we would hold on to first place for so long. We can be proud of that. At the same time, this is also a time to reflect and look ahead. WUR has ambitious goals in the field of climate neutrality, circularity and biodiversity. To achieve these goals, both technical innovations and behavioural changes are needed. So the award is mainly an incentive to do even better."

A combination of factors works together to create a sustainable and green campus and organisation. We are a Life Sciences university and, as such, are already heavily focused on sustainability: it is a core value in our teaching and research. This is also reflected in our day-to-day operations, where we strive to minimise our environmental footprint by being selective in our procurement, through sustainable buildings and grounds, and by using renewable energy and circular materials. This ensures that WUR scores highly across the board in this ranking."

Strong international competition

WUR achieved 9,650 out of 10,000 points this year, finishing above the numbers two, Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld (Germany), and three, Universidade de Sao Paulo USP (Brazil). The University of Groningen also performed strongly and retained its sixth place in the ranking. View complete ranking.

International network for knowledge exchange

The strength of the UI GreenMetric ranking lies not only in comparing performance, but especially in the international cooperation that results from it. Through global, national and regional workshops, universities share ideas, innovations and best practices to make their campus activities, education and research more sustainable. GreenMetric thus offers a global platform for universities that are committed to sustainability. The GreenMetric network now consists of 2,016 universities from 110 countries, making it a global platform for institutions that want to actively accelerate sustainability.