Staff and student sustainability information
What we mean by sustainability
Sustainability was defined by the United Nations in the 1980s as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. In other words, we should consider how we act and what resources we use to ensure that they can be replenished or replaced on an ongoing basis. At Birkbeck, we are considering our activities in all our operations to ensure that we minimise any negative impacts on the environment.
Why it is important at Birkbeck
With a population of over 9,000 students and colleagues spread across more than 10 central London buildings, we collectively have a significant impact on our surrounding environment through our day-to-day activities.
We all have a responsibility to play our part in developing a sustainable institution, whether it’s through our travel and commuting, the energy and water we use, how we dispose of waste, what we buy and how we buy it, and what we learn and teach.
What Birkbeck is already doing
Some of the actions Birkbeck has already taken include:
- Development of an Energy and Carbon Management Plan, setting out our pathway to meeting net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.
- Development of a Heat Decarbonisation Plan, setting out how we will decarbonise heating in all buildings across our estate.
- Replaced lighting in several locations with energy efficient LED, with further projects planned.
- Reducing our overall energy use by taking small actions such as ensuring lights and radiators are switched off when not in use.
- Joining LEAF Labs and Green Disc to reduce the environmental impacts of our labs
- Becoming a signatory to the Wellcome Concordat.
You can find out more from our sustainability web pages and annual report.
Sustainability in certain subjects/areas
Some areas, such as labs, will have their own sustainability inductions as there are topics specific to them that require more focus from all users. If you’re interested in finding out more about how sustainability relates to, or implementing sustainability actions in, your area of work or study, please ask your line manager or lab manager, or email the sustainability team.
For labs, you can also review our Green Labs page.
For staff: if you would like to include sustainablity information in any in-person inductions, please or email the sustainability team - we can provide a version of the information found here in PowerPoint format.
Birkbeck’s targets relating to sustainability
Birkbeck’s main target is to become a net zero institution throughout its own operations by 2050 at the latest, while working towards earlier net zero dates. We are also developing other targets to reduce our environmental impacts, looking at areas such as waste reduction, infrastructure, and business travel. These will be published on our website when agreed.
How students and staff can support sustainability at Birkbeck
1. Be energy-conscious
Small actions, such as switching off lights when leaving a room, or switching off computer monitors or other electronic and electrical equipment when not in use, can have a significant impact over time when many people are involved.
Over the winter, aim to dress for the weather. Wear a jumper instead of immediately tuning up the heating, and if the heating is on, turn it down instead of opening a window if a room is too hot.
2. Reduce, reuse, recycle
We should aim to follow the waste hierarchy, which focuses on reducing waste overall and creating less waste, while recycling more of the waste that we do produce.
A lot of Birkbeck’s general waste comes from food and drink purchases, so one way to reduce this waste is to bring a reuseable cup for tea and coffee, and a reuseable water bottle to use at our drinking fountains instead of buying cans or bottles. If you bring a reusable coffee cup, you’ll also get 10% off the cost of your drink.
If you’re eating in the restaurant, ask for a reusable plate instead of a takeaway container.
Make sure you are using the correct bin when disposing of waste. If recycling or food waste is contaminated, it cannot be recycled and will be incinerated instead. Read our guidance on using the correct bin.
3. Conscious consumption
What we buy day-to-day can have a significant impact on the environment. For example, buying 10kg of brand-new clothes would produce about 223kg of greenhouse gas emissions, while buying the same items second-hand would only produce about 1.5kg of emissions. This is the equivalent of driving an average-sized petrol-fuelled car about 855 miles for new clothing or 6 miles for second-hand clothing.
If you need new office equipment or furniture, ask around internally before buying anything. A colleague might have something they want to dispose of that’s still in working order. It may also be worth raising an ASK request to check with Estates and Facilities if they have recently removed anything that you could use.
Students in need of stationery can check the donations box in the library – this is kept at the front desk, near Malet Street reception.
If you are involved in any purchasing or procurement activities for Birkbeck, consider sustainability from the beginning of the process. Can you purchase items with better energy efficiency ratings? Can you buy locally instead of internationally? Can you seek suppliers that use less packaging, or have packaging take-back schemes?
4. Sustainable travel
Commuting and business travel make up a significant portion of our overall carbon footprint. We are currently working to improve our data in these areas.
As a central London university, very few of our staff or students drive to campus. For commuting, we do not expect to see significant changes in travel methods over time as most people already commute via public transport in central London. However, we encourage everyone to make use of active travel by walking or cycling if it is possible for them to do so. This would not only reduce our carbon footprint but it’s also a great health initiative. Hire bikes are parked outside Birkbeck Central and discounts may be available to students.
If cycling, please cycle safely – we recommend always wearing a helmet and a hi-vis vest or bright clothing, particularly in winter months, and using separate bike lanes wherever they are available.
For business travel, we are developing a new policy that will encourage those travelling in the UK and western Europe to use lower carbon forms of transport where possible. We are not aiming to limit travel and do not want to reduce opportunities for colleagues and students to participate in research and conferences, however we do want to encourage people to travel sensibly and reduce flights as far as possible, particularly domestic and short-haul flights.
While it might not be realistic to travel by train 100% of the time due to time and/or cost constraints, if possible in the UK or the closer parts of Europe this should always be considered as the first option.
If international meetings can be attended online, please consider this as a first-choice option instead of travelling long distances for a short period of meetings.
5. Food choices
Our Terrace 5 restaurant and the cafes in Malet Street and Birkbeck Central offer a range of different choices each day. Terrace 5 has a rotating menu of hot food options while the café serves different sandwiches and warm snacks. We aim for an inclusive menu, with different vegetarian, vegan, and free-from options each day.
From February 2026 onwards, we’ve started to include carbon ratings on all foods on our Terrace 5 menu. Each item will be rated A (low carbon) to E (high carbon) to help customers make informed choices about what they eat. Over time, we will aim to extend these ratings across menu items in the cafes as well. Find out more about these ratings and please get in touch if you have any questions.
To reduce impacts from food production, we encourage everyone to aim to eat locally, eat seasonally, and reduce meat consumption. While this may not be realistic for everyone 100% of the time, you could consider having one meat-free day per week or lowering your intake of red meat and dairy as these products tend to have high carbon footprints. For local and seasonal products, you could try visiting some of London’s farmers’ markets or check different websites for a guide of what’s in season in the UK throughout the year.
6. Environmental education
As well as offering several programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level that focus on Environment and Sustainability from different disciplinary persepctives, our Environmental Education team have recently launched an Environmental Studies minor pathway. This offers many undergraduate students the opportunity to incorporate environmental studies into their degree. Students should check with their programme to see if this option is available to them. The team has also been involved in several other environment-related educational projects. You can also find out more about our annual Climate Festival.
7. Environmental research
As well as the Birkbeck Centre for Environment and Sustainability, which launched in October 2023, Birkbeck offers an Environmental Student Research Project Support Fund. This is available to support master’s students on any programme who are exploring environmental issues as part of their dissertation or independent research project.
8. Get involved
There are several ways to get involved with sustainability and climate action at Birkbeck. Take a look at some of our key activities.
As well as these ideas, the SU has some information about volunteering opportunities.
If your course includes a work placement opportunity, you could speak to your course leader about options for green jobs in different sectors.
If you have any suggestions for activities, please get in touch.