Top universities for climate action 2023

By seeta.bhardwa@…, 1 June, 2023

Warnings from environmentalists about the dangers of climate change have become louder and louder over the past few years. If we don’t drastically cut carbon emissions, there could be serious repercussions for the planet.

Many universities are providing great examples of how to combat climate change through pledging to hit zero carbon emissions, refitting buildings to be more energy-efficient and arming students with the knowledge and skills to make individual changes.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) look to tackle some of today’s biggest global issues, and one of them, SDG 13, covers climate action.

As part of the 2023 Impact Rankings, Times Higher Education has produced a ranking focusing on how universities are contributing to climate action. Some of the measures taken into account for the ranking are low-carbon energy use, a commitment to carbon-neutrality and working with local or national governments to address climate change. You can read more about the methodology here.

Top five universities for climate action

1. University of Tasmania

The University of Tasmania scored highly in a range of metrics for the climate action ranking, including for the number of climate action papers published, low carbon energy tracking, the number of local education programmes about climate and its commitment to carbon neutrality. 

The university’s Climate Futures Research Group works with industry and government agencies around Australia to create projections on the impact of climate change on a range of sectors including wine production and ski resorts. 

2. UNSW Sydney

UNSW Sydney is the second university from Australia to feature in the top five for SDG 13. 

The university has made a range of commitments to tackle climate change, including 30 per cent less emissions by 2025, 50 per cent less emissions by 2030 and to be net zero by 2050. 

The Climate Change Network is a network of staff and students who hold regular events and activities to combat climate change within the university and the local community. 

3. University of Victoria

The University of Victoria has a strategic framework in place outlining the measures it will take to tackle climate change by 2023. 

One of the measures laid out in the framework is to ensure that students are engaged with the principles of sustainability and have the opportunity to develop their knowledge of sustainable practices. 

The university has also consulted staff, students and the local community on a climate and sustainability action plan that outlines measurable outcomes for the university’s commitment to sustainability. 


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4. University of British Columbia

Since 2010, the University of British Columbia has had a climate action plan in place called Climate Action 2020. Some of the measures laid out in the plan include aims to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, to use the university as a lab to develop climate change solutions and to take full account for the costs of its decisions on sustainability.

The university also organises UBC Reads Sustainability, a forum where students across disciplines can discuss issues on sustainability. The forum is part book club, part lecture series. 

UBC has a website dedicated to sustainability, where students can find out more about what the university is doing to be more sustainable, upcoming events, tips on how to be more environmentally-friendly and student groups on climate action. 

5. Simon Fraser University

Rounding off the top five is Simon Fraser University, also in Canada. 

The university offers more than 230 sustainability courses, and its environmental science programme has been running for more than 25 years. 

In 2019 the university opened its School of Sustainable Energy Engineering. 


The top universities for climate action 2023: top 100

Climate Action Rank 2023 University country
1 University of Tasmania Australia
2 UNSW Sydney Australia
3 University of Victoria Canada
4 University of British Columbia Canada
5 Simon Fraser University Canada
6 Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
7 Western Sydney University Australia
8 University of Exeter United Kingdom
9 Université Laval Canada
10 University of Reading United Kingdom
11 Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom
12 University of Newcastle Australia
13 Macquarie University Australia
14 University of Sheffield United Kingdom
15 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
16 Aalborg University Denmark
17 RMIT University Australia
18 University of East Anglia United Kingdom
19 Australian National University Australia
20 Polytechnic University of Valencia Spain
21 Bournemouth University United Kingdom
=22 University of Auckland New Zealand
=22 University of Eastern Finland Finland
24 Free University of Berlin Germany
25 Newcastle University United Kingdom
=26 Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT Finland
=26 University of Technology Sydney Australia
28 University of the Sunshine Coast Australia
29 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden
30 University of Aberdeen United Kingdom
31 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
32 IMT Atlantique France
33 Chiang Mai University Thailand
34 University of Otago New Zealand
35 Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
36 Maastricht University Netherlands
37 University of Coimbra Portugal
38 Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Spain
39 University of Montreal Canada
40 Northumbria University United Kingdom
=41 Lancaster University United Kingdom
=41 University of Wollongong Australia
43 Rovira i Virgili University Spain
44 Tohoku University Japan
=45 University of Essex United Kingdom
=45 University of St Andrews United Kingdom
47 Monash University Australia
=48 Dalhousie University Canada
=48 University of Hull United Kingdom
50 University College Cork Ireland
51 University of Valladolid Spain
52 University of Sussex United Kingdom
53 University of Glasgow United Kingdom
54 University of Jyväskylä Finland
=55 University of Bologna Italy
=55 École des Mines de Saint-Étienne France
=57 University at Buffalo United States
=57 Swansea University United Kingdom
=57 University of the West of England United Kingdom
60 Cardiff University United Kingdom
61 University of Plymouth United Kingdom
62 Kyushu University Japan
63 Nottingham Trent University United Kingdom
64 Technical University of Madrid Spain
65 University of Freiburg Germany
66 National Pingtung University of Science and Technology Taiwan
67 University of Liverpool United Kingdom
=68 Chiba University of Commerce Japan
=68 New York University United States
=70 KTH Royal Institute of Technology Sweden
=70 Victoria University Australia
72 Florida International University United States
=73 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
=73 Waseda University Japan
75 University of Barcelona Spain
=76 Afe Babalola University Nigeria
=76 Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands
=76 The University of Western Australia Australia
79 Trinity College Dublin Ireland
=80 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University United States
=80 Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
82 Charles Sturt University Australia
83 University of L’Aquila Italy
84 Ritsumeikan University Japan
=85 Concordia University Canada
=85 University of Dundee United Kingdom
87 Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium
88 University of Murcia Spain
=89 Brunel University London United Kingdom
=89 Pontifical Javeriana University Colombia
=89 Universiti Sains Malaysia Malaysia
=89 York University Canada
93 University of Florence Italy
94 University of Jaén Spain
95 EAFIT University Colombia
96 Technological University Dublin Ireland
97 Lincoln University New Zealand
98 National Chung Hsing University Taiwan
99 National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Taiwan
100 Erciyes University Turkey

View the full ranking for climate action here

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Explore the top 100 universities for climate action, based on data collected as part of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings

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