The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a shared global framework for creating a fairer, healthier and more sustainable future.
Adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, the 17 Goals bring together environmental, social and economic priorities, from tackling poverty and inequality to improving health and education, protecting nature and responding to climate change.
At ARU, these ambitions closely align with our mission to transform lives through innovative, inclusive and entrepreneurial education and research.
Since 2019, we have tracked and demonstrated our contribution to the SDGs, recognising that universities have a distinctive role to play in generating knowledge, educating future generations, convening different sectors and working with communities to turn ideas into action. Sustainability is embedded across our teaching, research and University operations, including a commitment to incorporate sustainability across our courses.
This commitment is strengthened in ARU's new ten-year strategy, Transforming Lives. One of its five strategic goals is Growth and Sustainability, through which ARU commits to putting sustainability at the heart of education, research and operations, aligning our work with international sustainability goals and championing climate, environmental and social sustainability.
The strategy also commits us to creating resilient and sustainable places, making smart and sustainable investments, adopting emerging technologies responsibly and building a culture that empowers our University community to help shape an inclusive and sustainable future.
Other elements of the strategy reinforce this ambition: Discovery with Purpose commits ARU to collaborative, solution-focused research and innovation that drives social and economic progress, while Thriving Places puts inclusive, sustainable growth at the heart of our partnerships across the East of England and beyond.
We are also looking critically at how research and innovation are undertaken.
In July 2026, ARU became a signatory to the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, committing to reduce the environmental impacts and emissions associated with research and move towards more sustainable practices. Its priorities include responsible procurement, more sustainable research infrastructure, circular-economy approaches, greater use of reusable products and credible institutional leadership on environmental sustainability.
Our approach to sustainability has received external recognition across education, research and University operations.
In 2023, ARU's innovative Ruskin Modules won the Green Gown Award for Next Generation Learning and Skills, recognising their interdisciplinary approach to tackling real-world challenges linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In the same awards, the Global Sustainability Institute's Energy SHINES project was Highly Commended for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in Sustainability.
The Ruskin Modules went on to receive international recognition in October 2024, when they were Highly Commended in the Next Generation Learning and Skills category at the International Green Gown Awards. By this point, more than 11,000 ARU students had engaged with the initiative.
Our operational sustainability has also been independently recognised. In August 2024, our catering service achieved Food for Life Served Here Bronze certification from the Soil Association, recognising healthy and sustainable food provision.
In April 2024, Professor Saul Humphrey, Professor of Sustainable Construction Management, received the Sustainability Award at the Chartered Institute of Building Awards, recognising his contribution to sustainable construction and to educating the next generation of construction professionals.
These achievements build on a longer history of sustainability leadership. ARU achieved NUS Responsible Futures accreditation in 2017 for embedding sustainability across the institution and became one of the first UK universities to achieve ISO 14001 environmental management certification in 2009. In 2014 we became one of the first universities to embed sustainability in our academic regulations, making Education for Sustainability obligatory across courses.
These pages bring together examples of how ARU staff, students and partners are contributing to each of the 17 SDGs.
They span research and innovation, learning and teaching, our campuses and operations, and partnerships, outreach and impact. Together, they demonstrate the breadth of ARU's contribution, from international research collaborations and community partnerships to innovative education and action to reduce the environmental footprint of our own institution.
Our ambition for the next decade is to build on this work: connecting knowledge with action, strengthening partnerships and ensuring that sustainability is increasingly embedded in what we teach, what we research, how we operate and the contribution we make to the places and communities we serve.
Last updated: October 2026
To request additions, corrections or changes to the information in these pages, please contact: Dr Zareen Bharucha: [email protected]. Please use the subject line ‘ARU SDG’.