Carbon neutral universities: It’s a race to zero!

Zero emissions will attract research dollars, faculty and students to the world’s top universities

Here’s a quick look at what the top global universities are pursuing as their carbon neutral goals. It’s a race to zero!

The top universities for climate action 2019: top 100

Climate Action Rank 2019	University	Country/region
1	University of British Columbia	Canada
2	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States
3	University at Buffalo	United States
4	Laval University	Canada
5	University of Waterloo	Canada
6	Kyoto University	Japan
7	Newcastle University	United Kingdom
8	University of Southampton	United Kingdom
9	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden
10	Trinity College Dublin	Republic of Ireland
11	University of Helsinki	Finland
12	University of Strathclyde	United Kingdom
13	King’s College London	United Kingdom
14	York University	Canada
15	Hong Kong Baptist University	Hong Kong
16	Aix-Marseille University	France
17	Macquarie University	Australia
18	University of Tasmania	Australia
19	University of Queensland	Australia
20	The University of Tokyo	Japan
21	University of Calgary	Canada
22	National Taiwan University	Taiwan
23	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	United States
24	Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University	Russian Federation
=25	Bournemouth University	United Kingdom
=25	University of Florence	Italy
27	Aalto University	Finland
28	Dublin City University	Republic of Ireland
29	National Central University	Taiwan
30	University of Gothenburg	Sweden
31	University of L’Aquila	Italy
32	Abdullah Gül University	Turkey
33	University of Costa Rica	Costa Rica
34	École Polytechnique	France
=35	Tokyo University of Science	Japan
=35	University of Worcester	United Kingdom
37	Kazan Federal University	Russian Federation
38	Technical University of Loja	Ecuador
39	St Petersburg Electrotechnical University (LETI)	Russian Federation
40	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
41	Autonomous University of Hidalgo State (UAEH)	Mexico
=42	Arizona State University	United States
=42	Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral	Ecuador
=44	American University	United States
=44	Monash University	Australia
46	National Chung Hsing University	Taiwan
47	Altai State University	Russian Federation
=48	Aalborg University	Denmark
=48	Technical University of Madrid	Spain
50	Oregon State University	United States
51	McGill University	Canada
52	Utsunomiya University	Japan
53	New York University	United States
54	University of Vigo	Spain
55	Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia
56	University of Dundee	United Kingdom
=57	University of A Coruña	Spain
=57	National Autonomous University of Mexico	Mexico
59	University of Leicester	United Kingdom
60	Emory University	United States
61	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
62	Ton Duc Thang University	Viet Nam
63	University of Valladolid	Spain
=64	University of Bergen	Norway
=64	Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS)	Czech Republic
66	University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore	Pakistan
67	Sabancı University	Turkey
68	Alzahra University	Iran
69	City, University of London	United Kingdom
70	University of Malaya	Malaysia
71	University of Valparaíso	Chile
72	Alexandria University	Egypt
=73	Chiba University	Japan
=73	Mie University	Japan
75	Polytechnic University of Valencia	Spain
76	Monterrey Institute of Technology	Mexico
76	Tokyo City University	Japan
=77	University of Agriculture, Faisalabad	Pakistan
=77	University of La Serena	Chile
79	Hokkaido University	Japan
80	Bogor Agricultural University	Indonesia
81	James Cook University	Australia
82	Federal University of Ceará (UFC)	Brazil
83	TOBB University of Economics and Technology	Turkey
=84	University of Brescia	Italy
=84	Universitat de Girona	Spain
86	Metropolitan Autonomous University	Mexico
87	Brunel University London	United Kingdom
=88	Clark University	United States
=88	King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang	Thailand
=88	Yamaguchi University	Japan
91	Colorado State University	United States
92	University of Malakand	Pakistan
=93	Nagaoka University of Technology	Japan
=93	Stony Brook University	United States
=95	George Washington University	United States
=95	Keele University	United Kingdom
97	University of Latvia	Latvia
98	University College Cork	Republic of Ireland
99	National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)	Taiwan
=100	Kyung Hee University	South Korea
=100	University of the North, Colombia	Colombia

Here’s a quick look at what the top global universities are pursuing as their carbon neutral goals. It’s a race to zero!

UC Berkeley – 2025

Laval University – 2015 reached carbon neutral

Leeds University – 2030

Victoria University of Wellington NZ – 2030

American University (Washington DC) – 2018

University of Bristol – 2013

All UK Universities – Not determined to 2050

University of Toronto – 37% (low carbon) reduction by 2030

Ontario Universities – “we will get there whenever”

University of London – 2036

LaTrobe University – 2029

University of Edinburgh – 2040

University of Maryland – 2050

Princeton University – 2046

University of Waterloo – 2050

University of Calgary – 2050

University of Cambridge – 2050

Newcastle University – 2040

Colgate University – 2019

UMass Dartmouth – 2030 or 2050

University of California – 2025

Columbia University – 2018

Brown University – 2040

Queens University – 2040

World rankings – UBC on top (by 2050)

The top universities for climate action 2019: top 100