Sustainability isn't just about policies - it's about action. Green Impact is a national scheme that enables University institutions to reduce environmental impact through an action toolkit, rewarding progress over time from Bronze, Silver and Gold all the way to Platinum. Excellence projects can also be completed to focus actions on a single environmental issue or initiative
One example is Meet Cambridge, the University's event venue-finding service. Their Shaping Sustainable Events Excellence Project helped event organisers integrate sustainability through shared advice, resources, and examples of best practice. A conference of 124 event professionals across various organisations received training and discussion on sustainable events practices. From this, 68% of attendees felt more informed and nearly half committed to implementing sustainable practices at future events.
Meet Cambridge also launched their initiative, 'Meet Up and Make a Difference', which included a foodbank collection for Cambridge City Foodbank. Several clients expressed interest in adopting similar sustainable practices for future events, such as hosting a food donation drive or switching to vegetarian catering. A lasting legacy of this Excellence Project is the Meet Cambridge Sustainable Events Toolkit, designed to help reduce the environmental and social impact of event activities. By focusing on industry-specific instead of operational sustainability challenges, Meet Cambridge has been able to guide a wider network of event professionals on their sustainability journey, supported by the Green Impact Excellence Project framework.
The Department of Land Economy has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to sustainability, achieving three consecutive Green Impact Platinum Awards. However, after identifying low participation from academic and administrative staff, they launched an Excellence Project in 2023-24 to encourage greater engagement and reflect the values taught in the Land Economy (LE) curriculum.
Communication, interest and participation have been streamlined and boosted by initiatives such as combining regular Green Impact and Wellbeing emails into a weekly 'Wellbeing Wednesday' email newsletter, improving the common room environment, bike repair workshops and nature-related events. The courtyard garden, 'LE Grows' challenge and photography competitions also increased biodiversity action and enhanced staff wellbeing.
A Green Impact Inclusion Plan was also successfully implemented, bridging student information and new staff-focused activity. This led to the mentoring of the Department of Zoology to achieve a Gold Green Impact Award, strengthening a culture of sustainability across and between departments. These efforts from the Department of Land Economy demonstrate well how proactive, cross-community participation is key to embedding sustainability into everyday university life and turning good intentions into lasting change.