Manchester Met University have come top of the People and Planet Green League, ahead of every other UK University.

The 2021 league table – published in January, recognises our commitment to cutting carbon emissions, working towards a zero-carbon future, and putting sustainability at the heart of everything we do.

The People and Planet league table is the only independent league that assesses all UK Universities’ environmental and ethical performance. The top scoring area for us was policy and strategy, recognising our ambitious sustainability strategy but that’s just one area of focus across the University.

The league also looks at issues closer to delegates hearts (and stomachs!) such as sustainable, ethically sourced food, as well as workers’ rights and access to sustainable education programmes.

How we support this agenda: 

We’re extremely proud of this success, and strive to ensure we  play our part in this work. We also want to enable our clients to use these credentials to enhance their conferences and events.

Our entire team has been through carbon literacy training, at the end of which you make commitments both personally and professionally to push the sustainability agenda. We felt it was important to try and educate delegates when they’re here, giving them the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones and break down some of the barriers to becoming more sustainable, such as suggesting greener ways to travel and making their conference or event vegetarian (or even vegan!).

Our GROW range of conference lunches focuses on just that, and features locally sourced vegetarian options, nutritionally balanced to make sure delegates go into their afternoon sessions refreshed and full of energy. To find out more click here.

Sustainability goes further than just events though. We’re keen to ensure our conferences benefit the wider community of Manchester which is why we started a scheme to donate £1 from every day delegates fee to Real Change MCR, the alternative giving campaign for the city, which aims to end homelessness across Manchester. This has so far realised donations of over £10,000 in the last five years.

We care passionately about our place within Manchester. We want to ensure that our place is somewhere we will be able to run conferences and events for many years to come.