Sustainability Action Plan | School of Chemistry

We are working with the Department of Social Responsibility and Sustainability (SRS) to take practical action to embed social and environmental sustainability across our day-to-day activities.

School Sustainability Action Plan

Through the use of the Sustainability Framework we are delivering our school's Sustainability Action Plan to embed sustainability across our work and areas of influence within six key areas:

Leadership and governance
Operations
Student curriculum and experience
Student and staff engagement
Research and partnerships
Community engagement

The action plan is overseen and monitored by the School's Senior Leadership Team. Some examples of actions already completed from the plan are outlined below.

Updated Staff Inductions	All new staff in the School are required to complete sustainability training as part of their induction.
Improved Sharing of Sustainability Information	Updates made to the internal staff hub and external website to allow easier sharing of information around sustainability initiatives and improvements that individuals can make in their day-to-day activities
Embedding Sustainability in our Governance	We're adding text regarding responsibilities around sustainability to the terms of reference for our core committees to ensure it is at the heart of our decision-making wherever possible
Ensuring Sustainability is part of our Approach to Teaching	We are working to improve our experiments to reduce waste, increase our students' exposure to sustainable practices and real-world applications of green chemistry

Sustainable Lab Award

In February 2025 the School passed its audit to renew our Silver level Sustainable Lab Award. This award ensures that we are working to align with the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, to continue to undertake cutting edge research but in a way that protects and promotes our environment.

To achieve the award renewal, we had to meet a range of criteria across eight subsections: Fume cupboards and biosafety cabinets; Cold storage; Chemicals and gases; Scientific equipment; Water; Heating, ventilation and air conditioning; Lighting; Knowledge sharing and training. Each criteria aligns with at least one of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals

You can read more about our renewal here

As part of the process we also gathered a range of ideas from colleagues across the School which we will endeavour to take forward to continue to develop our sustainable approach, looking ahead to achieving a Gold level award in the future.

This article was published on 2025-06-10