Keele University has been named as a finalist in four prestigious Green Gown Award categories which celebrate sustainability in higher education, including Sustainability Institution of the Year.

The nominations recognise Keele’s commitment to embed sustainability across campus, including in its research, education, operations and community engagement.

The University has been nominated for awards in the following categories:

Sustainability Institution of the Year category: Creating change through collaboration between staff, students, businesses and the community.

Benefitting Society: Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND) and the Keele Research and Innovation Support Programme (KRISP) - Supporting Staffordshire businesses for sustainability.

Research with Impact: HyDeploy - A research and innovation partnership for decarbonising the nation’s gas network, that has transformed Keele campus into a unique ‘living laboratory’, to drive the clean energy transition required to achieve the UK’s ambitious climate change commitments.

Sustainability Champion - Staff category: Dr Katherine Haxton, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, is a sustainability champion at Keele and has created two modules that highlight real-world challenges that must be tackled by chemists to create a more sustainable society.

The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony to take place in Spring 2021. In 2019, Keele was one of the first UK universities to declare a ‘climate emergency’ and announced an ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2030. Keele has also reduced its carbon emissions by 39% exceeding its 2020 target. Keele has also launched its new Institute for Sustainable Futures to drive research into issues such as climate change, food security and clean energy on a local, national and global scale.

Professor Mark Ormerod, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost and the Institutional Lead for Sustainability, said: “I'm delighted that Keele has been shortlisted for the Sustainability Institution of the Year award, as well as three other awards, highlighting our sector-leading approach and commitment to sustainability, and our sustainability activities across all aspects of our campus and community, as well as our research, education, and external engagement and partnership activity.”

Professor Zoe Robinson, Director of Education for Sustainability, said: “It is great to see Keele's sustainability activities recognised by being shortlisted across a wide range of activities while also highlighting the excellent leadership from individual staff such as Katherine. Being shortlisted as Sustainability Institution of the Year highlights the strength of our whole institution approach and our commitment to 'embed sustainability in everything we do', from the campus estate and operations, our research and education, and business and community engagement."