UConn was recognized as the 10th most sustainable university in the world according to UI GreenMetric, an international system that reviews 1,477 global universities in 95 countries for sustainability performance. This is the fourth year in a row that UConn has made their top ten list.
GreenMetric focuses on the current conditions and policies each institution has in regard to sustainability with the goal of drawing global support and awareness for improving higher education’s efforts in clean energy, water conservation, waste recycling, green transportation, sustainability education and research and combating climate change. The ranking system was created by Universitas Indonesia in 2010.
The leaderboard primarily consisted of higher-education institutions in Western European countries. UConn was only bested by one other North American institution (University of California, Davis - 7th). Data for the assessment was collected by the UConn Office of Sustainability student intern team, with input from dozens of departments and offices.
Andy Zhang ‘26 (CAHNR and CLAS) was a key part of the intern team responsible for gathering the information needed for the assessment. "Collecting the data for UConn's GreenMetric ranking was an exciting and collaborative process. Working alongside departments like the Office of the Vice President and Research and Facilities Operations, we were able to highlight UConn's tangible progress in sustainability. This achievement is a testament to the collective dedication of our community toward building a more sustainable and innovative future."
“UConn’s recognition again as one of the Top 10 most sustainable schools globally is especially impressive given the growth in participation in the UI GreenMetric Survey over the years. This year an additional 400 schools participated, and UConn was able to maintain its rank. While the Office of Sustainability leads the reporting effort and provides a thrust for many experiential learning and educational engagement efforts, it takes collective leadership from many departments and individuals to drive our performance. We still have significant progress to make in several key areas, most notably toward decarbonization. This ranking should be viewed as a point of pride for students and employees, but more importantly a call to continued action. We still have a long way to go to be truly sustainable!” shares Patrick McKee, Interim Director of the Office of Sustainability.
Sustainability intern, Dylan Steer ‘25 (CLAS), also helped lead the GreenMetric data collection process. "It's been fantastic to see UConn recognized for the sustainability work happening on campus. Looking at where we are right now, I think we can see ourselves ranked even higher in years to come. In this year's rankings we matched or came very close to the nine universities ranked higher than us in every category except for Energy & Climate Change. If UConn were able to transition from our fossil fuel-emitting energy system that held us back in this year's rankings, I think it is likely that we would jump in our ranking and possibly even reclaim the top spot globally," shares Steer.
UConn’s Office of Sustainability is responsible for collecting and submitting sustainability performance data to various other ranking and accreditation organizations such as the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (AASHE STARS), Tree Campus USA, and Bee Campus USA,) as well as leading student engagement efforts throughout the year, like EcoMadness and Earth Day Spring Fling. Learn more about UConn’s hub for sustainability at the Office of Sustainability website.
