Welcome

Welcome to our Annual Sustainability Report 2021-2022. This is the new digital public report about the performance and impact of our sustainability programme at the University of Gloucestershire.

The report communicates the positive sustainability impact we have through learning, research and collaboration, and our ongoing work to reduce the negative environmental impacts of running our University.

This report begins a new reporting phase as we start delivery on our third cross-cutting Sustainability Strategy for the period 2022-2027.

Sustainability is one of four overall Ambitions of our University Strategic Plan 2022-2027 and has been a core Value of the University since 2010.

Our report is compiled with input from senior managers, academic teams, students and partners, and the images you see here are our actual activities and the people who led them. Its content reflects the concerns and interests of our key stakeholder groups, which include our executive, students, academic and professional staff, local communities, regional and international partners, and University Council as our governing body.

An overview summary of the headline data and performance highlights from this report is available:

ASR 2021-2022 Summary

Highlight achievements

90/100 score Leading the Way status in new SOS-UK carbon targets ranking

Release of our third cross-cutting Sustainability Strategy 2022-2027

Highly Commended in 2 UK Green Gown awards for reporting and business learning partnerships

First University to feature on UN SDG Learn sustainability courses learning platform

Accreditation award of Fairtrade University status through the Fairtrade Foundation

Immersive training event with Cheltenham Education Partnership schools

The University is a designated Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in sustainability education, acknowledged by the United Nations University. As RCE Severn part of our programme supports public engagement and learning partnerships in sustainability for mutual benefit.

Governance of sustainability

This report enables public scrutiny of our performance and is part of our externally audited Environmental Management System (EMS) accredited to ISO 14001:2015. This ensures we meet quality standards, maintain compliance obligations and monitor continual improvement.

The report contains our top risks and priority challenges, linked to our EMS performance improvement targets and the main material impacts arising from our operations. It also spotlights the critical material impact of integrating sustainability into student development and academic activities, bringing positive benefits and capacity building to wider industries and professions.

Our governance system includes internal oversight, through an annual programme review process that also feeds into annual planning and priority setting across wider university teams. The report is reviewed and approved by University Executive and University Council prior to its release.

The objectives of our strategy and EMS are aligned into one governance approach that includes:

Annual internal and external audit cycles linked to ISO 14001 accreditation

Adherence to the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) protocols

Internal monitoring via University operating plan and Sustainability business plan

Local risk registers and tracking of objectives delivered by specific university departments

Sustainability Performance Review annually, chaired by our sustainability executive lead

Annual meeting with the University Council to review performance and plans

Our people

Total Students:
6,838 FTE

Total Staff:
938 FTE

Sustainability
team roles:

Student team
members:

Our footprint

Gross Internal Area (GIA): 88,932 m2

Site Locations: 4 in Cheltenham; 1 in Gloucester

Reporting on the UN Global Goals

This report meets our annual reporting commitments on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an institutional signatory to the tertiary sector SDG Accord.

Throughout this annual report, we record how the actions and results shown in this report contribute to the delivery of the UN SDGs. The actions on this page contribute to the specific goals marked below. For more information click here.