General queries

In the new Imperial Strategy, Science for Humanity, sustainability features as university-wide commitment, to play a leading role in the global fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. We will lead by example in our activities and on our campuses, to achieve our net zero carbon goal of 2040 and further. We have an ambition to lead the sector in becoming one of the lowest carbon, zero polluting, low consumption and biodiverse ecosystems within the constraints of our urban environments, by applying our academic strength and our commitment to safeguarding the future.

The development of this programme builds on the ambition set out in our Sustainability Strategy, to become a sustainable and net zero carbon institution by 2040 and, as part of this, to make significant progress on sustainability across travel, procurement, estates, catering, waste and biodiversity.

We are building our campus sustainability programme to deliver this ambition, with a central Sustainability Hub led by our Academic Lead for Sustainability (Prof. Tim Green) and Sustainability Strategy Director (Harriet Wallace), working alongside sustainability leads in our Operational Teams and sustainability committees in our Academic Faculties.

The strategy also includes commitments to strong research and teaching on sustainability, including through the Transition to Zero Pollution research programme, and on engagement with our Imperial community.

Read about our latest milestones towards these goals.

Our annual sustainability report and carbon footprint annex sets out our carbon footprint and the work in train to reduce it.

• Our Scope 1 emissions from fuel we use are substantial because of our use of natural gas for building heating either directly in boilers or, more significantly, in our combined heat and power (CHP) plants. When the CHP were installed they represented both a financial and a carbon saving against separate gas for heating and bought in electricity. Since that time, grid electricity has substantially decarbonised and the carbon savings of CHP have been negated. We are working actively on plans to decarbonise and retrofit our estate to move to electrified heating, which will need to be a multi-2 year programme of investment. There are also some relatively small Scope 1 emissions from college operated vehicles.
• Our Scope 2 emissions arise mainly from bought-in electricity. This is relatively small because most of the electrical power for our South Kensington campus, and some at White City North campus, comes from our CHPs and only the remainder is bought in for those and other campuses. CHPs generate electricity alongside heating the campus, and were put in some years ago as best low-carbon energy practice at the time.
• Our Scope 3 emissions from travel and purchases are large, as they are for many organisations. We have sustainable travel and procurement policies to address this, as well as working actively with EAUC and others in the sector given this is a shared challenge across higher education.

Imperial is currently focusing on the following:

• Develop plans to invest in retrofitting older estate and ensuring our new buildings are as sustainable as possible
• Implement our sustainable travel policy
• Implement our sustainable procurement policy and practices
• Continue to drive down energy and water usage
• Continue to implement our sustainable food policy
• Continue to drive up reuse and recycling
• Increase green infrastructure and biodiversity
• Develop an Imperial carbon budget model with the Centre for Environmental Policy to set evidence-based targets and lay out our pathway to net zero

Read about our latest milestones towards these goals.

The Sustainability Strategy committee, which is a formal sub-committee of the University Management Board, is overseeing our Sustainability Programme. This committee includes a representative from every Faculty, as well as from relevant Operational Teams. It is supported by working groups to drive progress on particular issues and an academic expert group to bring our academic expertise to bear in support of sustainability of our operations.

There are representatives from every Faculty on the Imperial Sustainability Strategy Committee. Alongside this, Faculties have their own sustainability committees composed of departmental representatives to drive sustainability locally. In turn, many academic departments are now establishing sustainability committees with staff and student representatives. 

Learn more here.

There are many ways that you can help:

• Take part in the Green Impact scheme, which is an office-based framework for teams to try and make the most sustainable impact possible.
• Adopt a climate-conscious approach to travel. Funders such as Wellcome and UKRI will fund the more environmentally-friendly travel options even if they are more expensive (click the links to see their guidance).
• Take up the more sustainable catering options which are already on offer, from food and drink to packaging. Read our Sustainable Food and Drink Policy.
• Buy less, buy sustainable, reuse and recycle more – find out more on our waste disposal pages.
• Play your part in reducing energy use and adopting sustainable laboratory practices. If you are running a Lab, join LEAF and let their user-friendly framework guide you on how to reduce your environmental impact.
• When you buy equipment, review energy labels and sustainability labeling and choose the more sustainable option. Ensure that 24/7 heating, cooling and ventilation is only requested where and when essential.
• Use Warp It - the Waste Action Reuse Portal a redistribution network for equipment
• Build more ambition on sustainability into your daily work - be a sustainability champion and local leader; offer your professional expertise to help others.
• Support and work around building retrofit when the time comes – we will need to retrofit our buildings over the coming years to reduce our carbon footprint and that will mean some colleagues moving into different accommodation to allow that to happen. This will allow us to have better insulation, and more efficient heating and ventilation systems, which should also make buildings more comfortable for users.

We've developed a handy guide for our staff and students on the 9 things you can do to be more sustainable at Imperial.