No university can deliver the Sustainable Development Goals alone. SDG 17 recognises that progress depends on collaboration across countries, sectors and communities, bringing together knowledge, finance, technology, institutions and people around shared challenges.
At ARU, partnership is central to how we create impact and we are deeply committed to a collaborative partnership spirit in everything we do.
We work with universities, governments, local authorities, businesses, charities, public services and communities in the UK and internationally, connecting research and education with the organisations and people capable of turning knowledge into action.
This commitment is reflected in our new Transforming Lives strategy, which places sustainable growth, collaboration with partners and alignment with international sustainability goals at the heart of the University's future direction.
Bringing sectors together to shape sustainable futures
We provide spaces where government, business, civil society, communities and academia can work together on sustainable development. In June 2025, our Delivering a Regional Sustainability Vision conference brought together public and private sector organisations, community and voluntary organisations, academics and members of the public to consider how regional growth can be reconciled with sustainability. Discussions focused on participation and civic engagement, green skills and the future of work, and sustainable infrastructure, with contributors including Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Together Culture Cambridge, Cambridge Ahead and business representatives. By convening different sectors around shared regional challenges, ARU helps turn sustainability from an institutional ambition into a wider civic conversation.
Leading international collaboration through SHARED GREEN DEAL
ARU leads one of its largest international collaborations on sustainability through SHARED GREEN DEAL, a five-year, €5 million European initiative involving 22 organisations including universities, research institutes, network organisations and businesses and direct engagement with local communities. The programme uses 24 social experiments to investigate how European Green Deal objectives can be implemented at local and regional level, covering areas including clean energy, circular economy, renovation, sustainable mobility, sustainable food and biodiversity. In doing so, the programme compares experiences across different European settings and promotes knowledge sharing and best practice through workshops, webinars and discussions.
Working with NGOs and communities through volunteering
Students at ARU have several routes to apply their skills through volunteering and community engagement. They can undertake social-impact work through Students at the Heart of Knowledge Exchange (SHoKE), connect with voluntary organisations through ARU's volunteering provision, work on real cases through our Law Clinics, or take part in international volunteering opportunities.
ARU's long-standing International Community Experience programme has enabled students, staff and alumni to work alongside local community leaders on grassroots development projects in countries including Croatia, Botswana and Ukraine, while the Sustainable Sainji initiative explicitly connects volunteering with sustainable development and matches volunteers' disciplinary knowledge with community priorities.
Measuring and reporting our progress
Transparency is central to ARU's approach to sustainable development. Since 2019, we have tracked our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and published institution-wide SDG reports covering our research, education and operations. Alongside this, ARU publicly reports performance against the indicators and targets in its Sustainability Policy, allowing progress, and areas requiring further action, to be scrutinised.
Current reporting covers carbon and energy, water, travel, waste and recycling, food, procurement, biodiversity, buildings and climate resilience. For example, in 2024/25, ARU reported a 12% reduction in direct Scope 1 carbon emissions against its 2019 baseline, maintained zero market-based Scope 2 electricity emissions, achieved an 11% improvement in building energy efficiency, sent 0% of waste to landfill, and used 25% less water per staff and student FTE than the 2023/24 higher-education top-quartile benchmark. ARU also transparently identifies areas where performance is off track, including Scope 3 emissions and recycling.
This commitment to accountability is reinforced by external frameworks. ARU's environmental management arrangements include ISO 14001, whose performance-evaluation requirements include monitoring and measuring environmental performance, evaluating compliance, internal auditing and management review. ARU's own public performance framework includes a specific indicator monitoring ISO 14001 non-compliances relating to legal obligations and accidental releases, demonstrating how environmental compliance is incorporated into its reporting.
In July 2026, ARU also became a signatory to the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, committing us to implement its priority areas and take action to reduce and ultimately eliminate the environmental impacts and emissions associated with research and innovation. The Concordat provides an additional framework around environmental leadership, sustainable research infrastructure, responsible procurement, circular-economy decision-making and greater use of reusable products.
Making sustainability relevant to every student
Our ambition is that sustainability should not be restricted to students studying environmental subjects. We are committed to ensuring that sustainability forms part of all our courses, supported by an established Education for Sustainability programme that provides staff with disciplinary resources, workshops and training. ARU's award-winning Ruskin Modules provide another institution-wide route into the SDGs. They form part of most undergraduate degrees and are explicitly framed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, enabling students from different disciplines to work together on challenges including sustainability, natural resources, health, social inclusion and technological change. The Ruskin Modules won the Green Gown Award for Next Generation Learning and Skills in 2023.
Using students to assess how well sustainability is embedded
We're also developing student-led approaches to assessing sustainability learning. Through the Green Heron audit, students examine where sustainability is integrated into their modules and identify opportunities for improvement. By 2025, the initiative had already contributed to curriculum changes across four courses, including Medicine, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Green Gown Awards in the Student Engagement category.
The methodology is adapted from the internationally recognised Planetary Health Report Card. Students assess curriculum content and develop resources for teaching staff, meaning they are not simply recipients of sustainability education but active participants in improving it.
Offering dedicated sustainability education
Alongside curriculum-wide sustainability education, ARU provides dedicated programmes for students who want to specialise in sustainability. Our MSc Sustainability, co-designed with the Eden Project, combines academic study with experiential learning and professional practice. Students learn from academics within ARU's Global Sustainability Institute and engage with sustainability leaders from industry, civil society, government and the third sector. The programme includes residential learning at the Eden Project and a professional placement, with its skills development aligned with UNESCO Sustainability Competencies.
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’.