The university was praised for having "one of the most comprehensive and ambitious environmental policies" ever seen by the People & Planet judges and for its work in raising awareness of sustainability issues among staff and students.

Kat Thorne, Head of Sustainability, said: "People are key to making change and raising awareness. Giving staff and students the skills and the knowledge to be more environmentally aware is an important part of what we do at Greenwich."

The university has 50 staff sustainability champions, representing all schools and offices, who worked tirelessly to make a difference in their department.

Greenwich has already achieved a 22 per cent reduction in carbon emissions since 2005. Its carbon management plan sets out how it will reduce carbon emission from energy use by 40 per cent over the next ten years (against 2009/10 baseline).

The university has committed to investing £6 million on carbon reduction projects by 2016 with a payback of seven years.

Other notable achievements that helped move Greenwich to first place include:

• achieving one of the most stringent environmental management system standards, ISO 14001, across the estate
• embedding sustainability into the curriculum
• electricity from renewable sources
• teaming up with Leafield Environmental to design a new recycling bin. The new bins are unique to the UK with a 70:30 split in favour of recycling
• a sustainable food policy that was highlighted as "an example for the sector."

http://peopleandplanet.org/