In the past decade Rankings and Leagues have become a big issue for Universities and are increasingly used by students to help with their college choice. Over the summer, both the Princeton Review in the US and the Guardian in the UK have issued League Tables ranking colleges using Sustainability Criteria. The Princeton Review noted that for 69% of students a college's commitment to the environment would impact their decision to choose that University. So with the CAO college choice process coming to a head next week, it seems like a good time to ask “Which is the Greenest Irish College?”
The People and Planet League Table uses a range of criteria against which colleges are rated – Environmental staffing, Transport, Energy, Carbon Emissions, Sustainable Food and Fairtrade.
Several Irish colleges are making progress in those areas:
NUI Galway has appointed a full-time Environmental Officer to work on sustainability;
DIT has been recognised by the Dublin Cycling Campaign for their support for sustainable transport;
Several Dublin colleges have reduced their carbon emissions and energy use via the E3 consortium;
The wind turbine in Dundalk IT has become a powerful symbol for that college’s commitment;
UL is promoting sustainable food via its Farmer’s Market;
and NUI Maynooth was the first college to become a Fairtrade University.
However in other areas - Ethical Investment; Carbon Management; Ethical Procurement – examples of good practice in Ireland are harder to find.
At the moment, the information isn’t available to develop a Green League in Ireland, but one very positive development has been the extension of An Taisce’s highly successful Green Flag programme to college campuses. The programme recognises long term commitment to continuous improvement in environmental management and enhancement. So take a bow, UCC, GMIT and Colaiste Dhulaigh for their great work in being awarded Green Flags – for the moment we’ll put you on top of the Irish Green League Table!
