Sustainability resources

Links and resources for staff.

Students walking through the woods on campus

Sustainability is at the heart of Lancaster University. We want to enable people to ask questions, share their stories, request resources, and support making more sustainable choices at work. Sharing your sustainability stories across the University with other staff members can also help inspire others. If you have organised an event, included sustainability in your teaching, embedded environmental issues into a policy, raised money for charity or anything else to do with sustainability, let us share your story — email sustainability@lancaster.ac.uk.

Three students walking on campus

Our strategy

Lancaster University is a leader in sustainability, taking bold and urgent action to tackle the climate and ecological crisis and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2035. The University has a clear vision and plan to embed sustainability in everything it does, from teaching and research to campus operations and partnerships. 

The University is also committed to supporting the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and creating a positive impact for people and the planet.

We recognise that traditional Facilities-led approaches to sustainability management are no longer appropriate. Like most organisations, we now understand that 80% of our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions arise because of the individual decisions we make at work, from how we choose to travel, to how we spend our money. 

As a team, we are moving away from the traditional approach of focusing on high visibility but low carbon impact (for example, waste management) and instead prioritising areas with lower visibility but much higher carbon impacts.

Meet the team

If you would like to find out more about Sustainability at the University, you can send us an email or explore the team profiles below and contact an individual directly. We aim to answer all internal emails within three working days, and all external emails within five working days.

  • Dr Georgiana Allison - Head of Sustainability

    Focus: - Scope 3 - Curriculum - Governance

  • Jon Mills - Carbon, Environment and Sustainability Manager

    Focus: - Carbon data - Policy development - Engagement

  • Darren Wilkinson - Sustainability Coordinator

    Focus: - EMS improvements - Sustainability operations - Engagement

  • Natalie Bauer - Sustainability Marketing & Communications Officer

    Focus: - Sustainability webpages - Sustainability communications - Engagement

Ways you can help

Sustainability in labs

Developed by Sustainable UCL, the LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) framework describes sustainability criteria against which individual labs can be audited, with the aim of achieving Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation. By taking part in the programme, laboratories will help reduce their carbon emissions, and save plastics, water, energy and other resources while creating an environment that supports research quality.

There is currently a small enthusiastic team of Technical staff leading on LEAF within the FST but the initiative is open to all Faculties. Labs are audited internally, by a team of volunteers from within the University. If you want to get involved please contact Annabel Rice who is leading the project from the Lancaster Environment Centre.

Students in a lab

Business travel

The new travel decision tree and travel guidance aims to support sustainable travel choices, specifically for academics and staff travelling on business on behalf of the University.

Following feedback, we have created a Train Travel Guide that shows the suggested train routes to some of our most frequently travelled destinations in Europe. Please email the Sustainability team for access to this.

Person waiting for a train
People at an open day event

Sustainable events

The new sustainable events guidance aims to support making your event more sustainable, from decoration to venue choices and food options.

Additionally, the Lancaster Conferences and Events+ team have been awarded Greengage ECOsmart Platinum accreditation for their sustainable initiatives and practices and you can work with them to organise your next campus event.

Find out about sustainability

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we are asked

Questions about how to get involved or help

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Questions about statistics or data

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Other questions

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Examples of best practice

We’re not working in isolation, there are lots of fantastic and engaged colleagues across the university working on sustainability within their areas. Here are just some examples: