University College Cork has become the first institution outside of North America to achieve a gold star rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

UCC now joins Princeton, Cornell and UC Berkeley in receiving the highest standard, Gold ‘Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System’ (STARS) for excellence in sustainability.

UCC’s position as a globally leading “green” university has once again been recognised with a top ten position in the UI Green Metric World University Ranking.  Achieving an impressively creditable 9th out of a total of 619 universities worldwide, UCC’s position in the UI Green Metric represents a global ranking of sustainability activities across operations, research, education and engagement.  The result reflects both the commitment and action in UCC to advance sustainability across the entire university. In addition, UCC was again the top ranked Irish university for the 7th year in a row, endorsing our reputation as Ireland’s “green” university.

On Friday 17th June, President Michael Murphy launched the 2016 UCC Sustainability Strategy.  UCC is regarded as Ireland’s ‘Green University’ and in combination with the University’s Strategic Plan 2013-2017 the implementation of this Sustainabilty Strategy will further enhance this reputation and performance.

UCC retains 2nd place in University of Indonesia Green Metric University Rankings 2015

UCC’s efforts in the area of sustainability have resulted in the Universitas Indonesia (UI) Greenmetric World University Ranking awarding a second in the world ranking for the second year in a row.

Each year, University College Cork (UCC), like all public bodies, is required to assess the energy performance of its buildings and publicly display the results through Display Energy Certificates (DEC).

We have recently completed the annual certification process and are delighted to share that we now have 2 A-rated buildings in operation. The Student Hub achieved an A3 rating, joining the School of Architecture as UCC’s second A3-rated building.

The UCC Student Pantry, led by UCC Green Campus and the Students’ Union in partnership with FoodCloud, redistributes surplus food like vegetables and pantry staples to students each week. The first pantry of AY 25/26 took place in the MakerSpace in the Student Hub on Monday, 20 October.

Climate Action Week at UCC, held from the 13th to the 16th of October, was a great success, bringing together students from all backgrounds to take meaningful action for the environment and reconnect with nature. The week served as a reminder that we are part of a larger ecosystem, deeply dependent on natural processes, and that collective action can make a real difference.

A heartfelt thank you from UCC Green Campus goes to all the societies, clubs, and An Taisce who collaborated to make the week such a success.