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UCC becomes first university in the world to secure five Green Flags
深夜亚洲福利久久 College Cork (UCC) has become the first higher education institute in the world to secure a fifth Green Flag, which was raised today on the university campus.
Universities across the world are assessed under eight criteria including environmental management and commitment to biodiversity, and a green flag is awarded when judges from An Taisce, on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education find that these standards have been met. In 2010 UCC pioneered a sector leading Green Campus programme which is student-led, research-informed and practice-focused with a strong commitment across the university.
The result has been transformative change in UCC operations including:
- reducing its consumption of disposable cups by over one million units, thanks to the impacts of our 2023 Plastic Free UCC campaign.
- reduced food waste in campus restaurants by 18%
- introduced a digital submissions and sustainable printing policy that has reduced printing numbers from over 19million pages per year in 2018 to under 5million pages last year.
- Achieve an overall reduction in waste tonnage of over 40%.
- reduced energy consumption by over 21% across our most intensive buildings.
Not only the first to reach the milestone of five flags, in 2010 UCC was the first campus in the world to be awarded a Green Flag from the Foundation for Environmental Education.
Speaking at the Flag Raising in the Quad today, UCC President Prof. John O鈥橦alloran said:
鈥淲e hope our actions help both inspire and support those seeking protect our environment. In the 14 years since our first Green Flag was raised, we have seen many more notable achievements and are proud to be recognised as a global leader in sustainability in higher education. In 2018, for example, UCC was the first 深夜亚洲福利久久 outside of North America to be awarded a Gold STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
鈥淲e are consistently ranked in the top ten 鈥済reen鈥� universities by the UI Green Metric ranking and in 2023 we were extremely honoured to be named the Global Sustainability Institution of the Year by the International Green Gown Awards,鈥� he said.
UCC鈥檚 Sustainability and Climate Action plan commits to the university being net zero carbon by 2040 and a zero-waste campus by 2030.
Prof O鈥橦alloran also paid tribute to the students who have led the charge on making UCC a world leader in sustainability.
鈥淭hose students had seen the transformative power of the Green Flag at primary and secondary level and knew that its collaborative and continual improvement approach would have a radical impact at the university. UCC鈥檚 Green Campus programme continues to be 鈥渟tudent-led, research-informed, and practice-focused鈥� and we are particularly proud of our student leaders here today, who continue to challenge us,鈥� he said.
Dr Maria Kirrane, Head of Sustainability and Climate Action at UCC added 鈥淭he programme has transformed UCC and placed sustainability at the core of everything that we do on campus. These impacts can only be achieved by working collaboratively, being open to experimentation, and continually challenging one another to do better鈥�.