9 things you can do to be more sustainable at Imperial

1. Use your voice

Become a sustainability champion and lead the adoption of good practice in your team or department.

Did you know each Faculty has a sustainability committee? Engage with it - or join - to help scale up action across the university. 

If you're a student, check out the Imperial College Union's sustainability-related societies.

2. Be more energy efficient

Small changes to individual behaviour and how we run our buildings makes a difference and helps us use less energy. Did you know that 15% of our carbon footprint is from burning gas for heat and power and 5% is from electricity we buy from the grid?

Turn it off: lights, computers, and other appliances when you don’t need them. Unplug devices when not in use. 

Reduce and replace it: Share equipment (printers, freezers, etc.) so we don’t have more than we need; apply for our sustainable lab kit fund to replace energy-inefficient kit; maintain equipment so it runs efficiently (e.g., defrost freezers regularly).

3. Choose climate-conscious travel

Cutting back on flying can make a significant impact on your carbon footprint. 

Consider what is essential travel and decide if a virtual approach and/or reduced number of trips and travellers is possible. 

The emission impact of low-carbon alternatives such as rail can be over ten times lower than flying. For trips in the same country or continent, take the train or explore options using an electric car. If you need to fly, fly economy over business class for a smaller footprint.

Read our Sustainable Travel Policy.

4. Eating a more plant-based diet

Eating a more plant-based, seasonal and local diet is one of the biggest ways to reduce your personal environmental impact on the planet. The environmental footprint of food extends beyond carbon – with impacts on water, land use and biodiversity. 

Try eating fewer or smaller portions of meat, particularly beef and lamb, which has the largest environmental impact, and reduce having dairy products or switching them for non-dairy alternatives. Did you know non-diary milks are free of charge across all our campus outlets? 

Seasonal food reduces emissions from transportation, preservation and prolonged refrigeration. Try our increasing plant-based, seasonal catering options on campus.

Find out how a high-fibre, plant-based diet is better for your health.

5. Buying more sustainably

Did you know that procurement accounts for 37% of Imperial's total carbon footprint? Everything we use as consumers has an environmental footprint. Be mindful of your consumption: buy less, buy better. 

Shop around for quality items that last a long time. Check the energy/water consumption of large purchases such as equipment, as part of your evaluation in the procurement process. 

Avoid single-use items, share more rather than procure new, reuse and try not to buy more than you need.

Learn more about our sustainable procurement work.

6. Minimising waste

Repair and reuse wherever possible and retain commonly used equipment for incoming groups. 

Have something spare? Offer it to your department, faculty or other universities. Look to sell it via the UniGreenScheme (a free asset resale service for universities) or use our WARP-IT scheme to give items a second life by finding owners for items instead of disposing them. 

Sort your waste into the right categories so it can be recycled properly. If you do not have appropriate bins, reach out to the Soft Services team. 
 
Give unwanted items a new life by donating them to charity, avoid wasting food and if you're based in a lab, recycle pipette tip boxes and check take back schemes for polystyrene boxes.

7. Embed sustainability in your work and study

Read the Sustainable Development Goals and think about how they apply to your research, education, and how you could practically implement them. 

Consider your discipline and how it interacts with environmental issues. Think about the environmental impact of your work to find opportunities to change practice, increase awareness and reduce impact where possible.

Seek opportunities to engage in this space. For students, engage in Imperial's climate and sustainability courses and look out for Careers opportunities. For staff, look at the Transition to Zero Pollution initiative, our all staff climate literacy training course, and use the Research Culture Toolkit when writing research grant proposals.

8. Take part in our sustainability initiatives

Green Impact for Office spaces and LEAF/My Green Lab for Laboratories offers a large range of actions that can be taken by your teams to make your spaces more sustainable. 

Through energy saving interventions, minimizing waste or engaging the community, there are actions for every team to take resulting in Bronze, Silver or Gold rewards!

Living in our Halls of Residence? Take part in our Sustainable Halls campaign ran by SOS-UK.

9. Share your experiences

Sustainability and climate change can feel like overwhelming topics at times. Talking with your peers about positive climate action can help make it easier. Knowing other people care about the environment can help find community, mutual support and inspiration.

As you make positive changes to reduce your environmental impact, share what you learn to inspire and encourage others to join you.

Get inspiration or insights from others: check out Imperial Library's sustainability reading list or try the "Outrage and Optimism" podcast.