Green Gown Awards 2021: Sustainability Institution of the Year - UWE - Finalist

Sustainability Plan 2.1 - 4 years of comprehensive whole institution sustainability engagement

Sustainability Plan 2.1, UWE’s refreshed sustainability commitment, was launched in 2017 as the successor to the Green Gown Award Winning Sustainability Plan 2.0.  The Sustainability Plan 2.1 took its authority from UWE’s Strategy 2020 and set new and challenging targets for the University across 13 themes of sustainability engagement: Health and Wellbeing, Engagement, ESD, Energy and Carbon, Water, Smarter Travel, Biodiversity, Food, Adaptation, Green IT, Campus Development and Resource Management (Wastes, Emissions & Discharges). 

UWE has pushed itself to ‘do more, do better and do quicker’ just as the student foreword to the Sustainability Plan 2.1 challenged us to do. In 2020 at the end of the Strategy period we reported on our achievements, challenges and remaining actions and this submission summarises the outcomes achieved under Sustainability Plan 2.1 and briefly presents the next steps in UWE’s ongoing commitment to the sustainability agenda.

Top 3 learnings:

1. The importance of whole institution engagement especially working with students and the SU.
2. The importance of committing to challenging targets and celebrating successes.
3. Learning from failures as well as successes.