On Wednesday 27th of November, staff and students came together to celebrate sustainability achievements at the University of Salford Green Impact Awards!
About Green Impact
Green Impact is a sustainability engagement programme, run internationally by SOS-UK. It’s a simple, fun and flexible way for departments to improve their environmental performance and champion sustainability at the University whilst receiving recognition for their efforts and impact.
Why does it matter? Green Impact matters as it has potential to drive impactful change on campus and beyond. The Green Impact goals are to engage staff and students in practical actions to create a sustainable campus and community, support continual improvement in environmental performance through awareness and tangible changes, and it directly supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
How does it work? Staff form teams across the University and work through an online toolkit of sustainability related actions together, on themes such as Energy and Water, Waste and Recycling, Health and Wellbeing and Charity and Volunteering. Each action is allocated either 5, 10 or 15 points and the team decides which actions to complete; the total number of points a team achieves will determine whether they receive a ‘working towards Bronze’ status, or a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum Award. The toolkit is then submitted to SOS-UK and audited by trained student auditors.
This year we had 7 staff teams actively participate, led by 34 colleagues, collectively completing 406 sustainable actions. It’s estimated that 323 colleagues, students and visitors have been reached by the messages from Green Impact teams this year. The team’s toolkits were audited by 15 students who attended the IEMA-approved auditor training.
2024 Green Impact Award Winners
The Art Collection Team also received the Innovation for Engagement Award for their unique project that combined groundbreaking science, immersive art and community participation, capturing the imagination and demonstrating innovative ways to engage audiences and communicate about sustainability.
Stephen Ling was unanimously voted Sustainability Hero for his outstanding commitment to embedding sustainability in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Team, helping them progress from Working Towards Bronze straight to Platinum in just one year!
Congratulations to all the teams involved with Green Impact!
Visit the Green Impact Webpage to learn more about the programme and get involved. If you want to set up a Green Impact Team or would like more information please email the Sustainability Office at sustainability@salford.ac.uk