Environmental Sustainability

The staff and students of the School of Geography and Sustainable Development (SGSD) are (as you might expect!) conscious of reducing the environmental and societal impacts, and increasing the sustainability of, their activities related to their teaching, learning, and research. This page shares information on various initiatives underway in the School and across the University, related to the sustainability of our practices.

Video transcript

We have decided that it's time for the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews to create an Environmental Sustainability policy.

Our mission is to improve the sustainability practices within the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

Our goals are to work towards making our school net zero by 2035. Something we all need to do to help mitigate the climate crisis.

To work towards more sustainable practices across the school, beyond reducing carbon emissions, like guiding behavior change in how we work and how we use resources.

To develop shared goals and specific targets with the whole school community based on the principles of climate justice and inclusivity and to monitor progress towards
achieving them.

We think the most important themes for us to consider initially are:

Travel and transport.

Which conferences do we really need to attend?

Can we adjust field work plans to reduce carbon emissions?

Are there lift sharing options to help get people to and from work and study?

Energy use within the school.

Can we reduce the energy we use for heating our building?

Are there ways we can share space to reduce energy consumption?

Resource use.

Do we need to purchase as much or could we share more?

Are we recycling all that we could recycle?

As the only school was sustainable in it's name, we're considering how we apply this research in sustainability, in teaching, in practice, and what more research needs to be done.

So we're getting stuck into these issues first.

We're eager to involve everyone, all academic staff, and admin and estate
staff, and all students both, undergraduates and postgraduates, in the development of the policy.

So we are regularly updating the school community on our progress and creating opportunities to discuss our proposals.

We're the first school within the University to develop their own policy, so it's a bit of an experiment and we're learning a lot but we hope we can share what we've learned and support and inspire other schools to create their own environmental
sustainability policies.

if you'd like to know more about what we're doing and keep up to date with our progress, keep an eye on our website so head to the School of Geography and
Sustainable Development and click on the Environmental Sustainability tab.

SGSD aims to practice what it preaches: to develop sustainable practices within the School and amongst its community of students and staff. Along with other schools across the University, we are working to develop more responsible practices, aligning with and going beyond the the wider sustainability goals of the University. Undergraduates, postgraduates, administrative staff and academic staff - the breadth of our community - are collaborating to explore what a more sustainable school could look like, and taking actions to realise it.

Mission

Our mission is to enhance the sustainability of practices and impacts within the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

Goals

To work towards making the School of Geography and Sustainable Development net-zero by 2035, as a response to the climate crisis and in line with the University net-zero goal
To work holistically towards more sustainable practices within the School, developing strategies and guidance as a community that encourage individual and collective behavioural change built on the principles of climate justice and inclusivity
To develop shared goals and monitor and evaluate progress against agreed targets
To share learnings and provide leadership on the development of environmental sustainability policies with other Schools across the University

We are exploring SGSD-based policies and guidance around the following key themes:

Resource use including procurement, recycling and travel
Working practices including use of space and laboratory activities
Community engagement within the School, across the University, within the Higher Education sector and in partnership with local community groups
Support of practices associated with research and teaching and learning

Our School Events page provides further information on future and past sustainability-related events.

In 2020, an Environmental Sustainability Policy Working Group formed in SGSD, to explore, with the wider School community, what an environmental sustainability policy could look like. As the University has developed their own policy, and our School established two official 'sustainability'-facing roles within the School (the Director of Sustainability and Sustainability Officer) this group has disbanded, though members of the Working Group are still actively engaged in various initiatives, some of which are explained below.

We continue to work with the School community and Management Group to devise, and revise, policies that are inclusive, collaborative and will lead to meaningful improvements in the sustainability of the School. We will publish updates on the evolving policies and associated practices here.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email the Sustainability leads (gsdsustainable@st-andrews.ac.uk).
The Student Environmental Team (SET) is a student-led working group with a mission to action sustainable and environmentally-conscious practices within the School of Geography and Sustainable Development. Supported by the Sustainability Officer, they work across a multitude of issues, such as recycling practices, early-years education, and travel, to fulfil their commitment to a more sustainable future. In doing so, SET also aspire to enhance the legacy of the School, encouraging students to integrate the issues raised by their degrees in their everyday lives and empower them to enact change.

If you are a student and interested in getting involved in SET, Lydia would love to hear from you (gsdsustainable@st-andrews.ac.uk).
The School of Geography and Sustainable Development’s use of electricity, heat, gas and water are being monitored on an hourly to yearly basis by the University's Estates team. This gives us the potential to observe change in demand over time, set targets for reducing the use of these resources and for monitoring progress towards those targets. As solar panels are rolled out across many of the University's buildings, coupled with improvements in insulation, we hope to see reductions in the use of gas over time. Posters in every room remind the occupants to do what they can to influence energy use, e.g., switch off radiators and lights at the end of the day and turn off any unnecessary electrical appliances.
SGSD offers a variety of degree options in Sustainable Development:
- Undergraduate BSc. or MA
- Postgraduate taught (MSc) in Global Sustainable Development
- Postgraduate research (PhD, MPhil, MSc (Res) and MSt (Res))
In addition to these courses, there is an opportunity for Geography students to complete a Joint Honours Degree with Sustainable Development, and for students to engage in the University’s new Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs). Please see the subsequent concertinas for more information on the VIPs coordinated by lecturers in SGSD. We also offer an online postgraduate course (MSc., PG Diploma, or PG Certificate) in Data Literacy for Justice, which explores many sustainability themes.

A variety of lecturers, with a wide range of expertise, teach across the courses within each degree, drawing on their ongoing research within the key areas of importance in sustainability science and practice.

To learn more about how the fundamental theme of environmental sustainability maps through the curricula of the School of Geography and Sustainable Development, or about the modules within the degree courses that have been awarded a Golden Dandelion, explore the University’s Sustainability in the Curriculum pages.
Many of our school community spend many of their hours in our laboratories, measuring carbon concentrations in sea-floor sediment samples, preparing slides for fossil pollen analysis, and much more. These activities can be resource-intensive, generating carbon emissions and waste. Therefore, we have been exploring ways of reducing the carbon pollution associated with our laboratories and making our processes more energy and resource efficient.

Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated Field and Lab Advisory Group (FLAG), in March of 2026 we were awarded Bronze LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) status. This award represents national recognition of the exemplary actions we are taking to improve the sustainability of our laboratory practices.

Various of our postgraduate research students are also measuring the carbon emissions associated with their PhD research, using the WillCO2st methodology developed by William Smith in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience. You can read more about the project, and consider having a go yourself!
SGSD currently coordinates one Vertically Integrated Project (VIP): Looking after Eden.

‘Looking After Eden’
Module Coordinator: Dr Antje Brown

This vertically integrated project brings together researchers and students from various disciplines who share an interest in the Eden Estuary. The Eden Estuary is right on our doorstep; it is a local nature reserve with SSSI, SAC, SPA and Ramsar status and we benefit from this nature reserve in many ways, including recreational and educational. Like many other nature reserves, the Eden Estuary and its inhabitants are exposed to a number of immediate and local as well as global and accumulative pressures caused by us humans. It is therefore essential to research these pressures on the Estuary, disseminate findings and lessons from our observations and develop solutions that will not only benefit the Estuary itself but can also be employed in other parts of the world. Staff involved in this project not only share a research interest in the Estuary, they have experience in innovative teaching & research methods and are interested in engaging VIP students (and the local community) in this collaborative project.

The project is guided by the following investigative steps: (1) Establish what we know about the Eden Estuary, (2) assess how can we support the Eden Estuary, (3) and evaluate our findings, share those with others, and look ahead.
- Our key objectives are:
  Give VIP students an inter-disciplinary and engaging learning experience that accompanies them across several semesters and gives them a sense of progression and impact;
- Contribute to conversations and collaborations on sustainability in and around the Eden Estuary;
- Consider the Eden Estuary as a delta in miniature that offers us an insight into ecological and human patterns past, present, and future, that can be observed elsewhere and at larger scales;
- And finally, the VIP is intended to integrate and complement ongoing research and teaching across the university and beyond. Evidence generated by this VIP will benefit other research projects such as the Citizen Fins project. By participating in this VIP, students will have the opportunity to learn about a wide range of research methods and technologies and will be able to convey their findings in various formats such as policy-mapping, decision-trees, and citizen science research.
‘Sustainability’ is a central theme of much of the research undertaken within the School. It ranges from how to sustainably manage life in the home, to life in the oceans, ways of improving the sustainability of the golfing sector through transdisciplinary engagement, and all sorts in between. More information on the research underway within SGSD can be found on the School's research page.

Effective research into sustainability is necessary. SGSD is well placed to lead and engage in projects exploring what ‘sustainable’ looks like in practice. We are always looking for people to collaborate with, so if you have an idea for a joint project, please email the School’s Director of Research (gsddor@st-andrews.ac.uk).
We recognise that decolonisation and decarbonisation in education and practice can only be achieved when combined. In research and the curriculum of SGSD, we are exploring their meaning and connection.

We are exploring what ‘decarbonising’ the curriculum means and how we might achieve it in practice within SGSD. Fossil carbon is currently an inevitable part of our daily lives, including our education systems. But in what ways exactly? How can we reduce the ways we continue to support the exploitation of fossil fuels and the capitalist system which thrives on this unsustainable industry? The University and College Union (UCU) are asking these questions also, and have some useful resources on the topic in the Decarbonise and Decolonise 2030 campaign.

We have an active Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee in the School, who consider the sustainability of our practices in relation to the health and wellbeing of our community. They have also run workshops on anti-racism in Higher Education, and in 2023, created the 'living' practice Guide to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Safety.
Travel is a tricky one! There are so many reasons why travelling places is beneficial for our teaching and research. But apart from peddle-powered travel (and some of us do commute by bike or foot), we know that visiting other places and people entails carbon emissions and other impacts. As a School, we are trying to consider more carefully which trips are necessary, desired, or now unacceptable for each of us and our community.

We have surveyed the SGSD community to understand more about if, how, and why travel habits are changing, in comparison to before the COVID-19 pandemic, and to investigate what support the School, and the University, need to provide to help reduce carbon emissions from work-related travel. Results suggest that the additional cost and time required to take lower-carbon travel approaches (e.g., trains) is currently prohibitive for many people.

Travel is one key area of behaviour change that none of us can ignore, and one that presents a large and interesting challenge for Geographers!
Inspired by a student in 2021, the St Andrews Forest initiative has since grown legs/trunks! Its overarching goal is to create, restore and enhance ecosystems within Fife, across Scotland, and the World, with the goal of offsetting the University's unavoidable carbon emissions, notably international student travel, over time. The initiative is contributing to the University working towards its goal of sequestering as large a volume of greenhouse gases as it emits (i.e., to become 'net zero') by 2035.

One significant part of the initiative is a 100-year partnership that the University of St Andrews and Corrour have established, to advance landscape-scale ecological restoration through cutting-edge research, teaching, and policy impact over coming decades.

If you would like to keep up to date with the St Andrews Forest initiative, you can sign up to the newsletter.
The St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities (StACCS) is a cross-School initiative that aims to generate new understandings of sustainability through collaborative and transdisciplinary research, focusing on perspectives from the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The Centre originated from, and is run by, members of SGSD. If you would like to know more about the Centre, enquire about opportunities to collaborate, or sign up for the newsletter, please email staccs@st-andrews.ac.uk.
In order to reduce the carbon emissions associated with our food consumption within the School, we have adopted a vegetarian and vegan catering policy for in-School events. We appreciate that there are numerous factors to consider when deciding what a sustainable diet entails, in a particular place at a particular point in time, so we see this decision to be pragmatic. We will review this School policy as new information on the environmental and social impact of different menus becomes available.

To support individual decision-making on what a more environmentally sustainable diet might look like for you, we created this poster (PDF). Through answering a series of questions, you can 'test' the sustainability of your food consumption choices (according to a series of the more tangible metrics that we identified). Please send any thoughts or feedback to Lydia (lesc1@st-andrews.ac.uk). (The poster was produced by Edward Pomeroy, a Geography undergraduate student, in August of 2022, with funding gratefully received from the St Andrews Research Internship Scheme.)
Corrour Partnership - a living laboratory for interdisciplinary research and sustainability - The St Andrews Forest
Recycling Recap: Let's Get It Right! - Sustainability Blog
Research Toolkit - Scotland Beyond Net Zero
St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities
University of St Andrews Sustainability
University of St Andrews Transition group’s webpage
Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs) available at the University of St Andrews
University Lift Share scheme

Environmental Sustainability

Mission

Goals

Environmental sustainability policy

Student Environment Team

School’s energy use dashboard

Teaching sustainability within SGSD

Laboratory work within SGSD

Vertically Integrated Projects

Researching sustainability within SGSD

Decarbonisation and decolonisation

Travel

St Andrews Forest initiative

St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities

Food

Links to initiatives and resources within and outwith the University