Maximising our handprint,
minimising our footprint

Sustainable Imperial Strategy 2026-2031

A foreword from our President

“Together, we can achieve great things, from the many small actions that add up to big transformations, to the breakthrough innovations that drive step change.”

Imperial is proud to be home to world-leading researchers and teachers on sustainability, and to a community of staff and students who care deeply about creating a better future. We have more authors contributing to the latest International Panel for Climate Change report than any other organisation in the world and we celebrate a wide range of academic research, learning and projects on environmental issues.

We have committed in our Science for Humanity strategy to set a global benchmark for university sustainability, across our campuses and our academic mission. And we have outlined that Sustainable Imperial will be established as a university-wide strategic theme. It will deliver evidence- based solutions, embrace new technologies, challenge conventional thinking and open new debate in our efforts to solve this growing global crisis. That is why we were one of the first universities to sign up to the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, in recognition of our ongoing commitment to being a leader in sustainability.

This sustainability strategy, Imperial’s second, sets out how we will take forward the Sustainable Imperial programme over the next five years.

We are determined to minimise our environmental footprint, striving for net-zero carbon campuses by 2040 for our direct carbon emissions, minimising our indirect carbon emissions, and embedding good practice on sustainability across the organisation.

We are just as determined to maximise our positive handprint, as an organisation that develops, teaches and helps to implement the solutions that can enable humanity to transition towards a more sustainable future which allows both people and the planet to thrive. There are many different ways we do this across our community, from the new School of Convergence Science further growing our interdisciplinary collaborations, to the many excellent and innovative initiatives being developed by colleagues across all of Imperial.

This strategy invites all our colleagues, students, visitors, collaborators, suppliers and wider community to come on that journey with us, with each of us playing our part in sustainability both professionally and personally. Together, we can achieve great things, from the many small actions that add up to big transformations, to the breakthrough innovations that drive step change. Let’s look back in 2031 and be rightly proud of the progress we have made at Imperial, and in the wider world, towards net zero and beyond.

Professor Hugh Brady

President, Imperial College London

Executive summary

Read below for the summary of our Sustainable Imperial Strategy 2026-2031, or visit the Sustainable Imperial webpages to read the full strategy.

Sustainable Imperial: a strategic initiative

Imperial’s institutional Science for Humanity strategy sets out: “Sustainable Imperial underpins our commitment to play a leading role in the global fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. We will set a global benchmark for university sustainability, nurturing graduates who understand and advocate for climate science, supporting our researchers to investigate and respond to planetary challenges and leading by example in our activities and on our campuses.”

Our vision: a global leader in university sustainability

Our vision is to become a beacon of sustainability and to achieve our target of having net-zero campuses in our direct (scope 1 and 2) carbon emissions by 2040 and take practical steps to minimise our indirect (scope 3) emissions. Our approach? Forward-looking, evidence-based and practical solutions to reach ambitious yet realistic goals.

Our staff, students, visitors, partners and neighbours will experience visible sustainable practice across our education, our research and our campuses, which equips and inspires them to take that into the wider world.

We will minimise our environmental footprint as far as possible and maximise our positive handprint on the wider world through our academic mission and our partnerships.

Minimising our environmental footprint: leading by example on our campuses

As an energy-intensive STEMB university with world-class research and teaching on sustainability, we must do better, and we are determined to lead by example in our activities and on our campuses. We will draw on both our academic expertise and our operational skills to make meaningful progress on this over the next five years.

We will strive for net-zero carbon campuses by 2040 for our direct (scope 1 and 2) carbon emissions, the emissions over which we have most control.

We will continue at pace with our campus energy efficiency and decarbonisation plan.

This will be supported by substantial investment and an ambitious delivery programme, as part of our wider integrated transformation plan for our campuses.

We will reduce energy demand by optimising our Building Management Systems and installing more efficient LED lights and air handling equipment.

We will install more heat pumps to replace gas-fuelled heating, install more solar panels, explore Purchase Power Agreements for sourcing cleaner electricity, and design sustainability and efficient use of space into our maintenance, refurbishment and new building programmes.

Over this strategy period we will also work hard to minimise our biggest indirect (scope 3) carbon emissions, encouraging our staff, students and suppliers to own their share of responsibility alongside us.

We will shift our purchasing further towards more sustainable suppliers and products – including a 20% sustainability weighting in all major contracts, training purchasers across Imperial to embed sustainable purchasing practices, and engaging with our major suppliers to come on the sustainability journey with us.

Recognising the challenge of accurate reporting, we will work with suppliers and help lead the higher education sector to improve data and reporting practices.

Our sustainable business travel policy is already reducing our carbon footprint, as colleagues adopt more climate-conscious travel practices.

We will introduce better tools to book and monitor travel, ask frequent travellers to ‘skip a trip’ to reduce travel volume, and encourage lower-carbon travel modes for those who travel.

Given that our diverse and growing global student cohort has long journeys to campus, we will work with the student community and Imperial College Union to better understand travel habits, consider the appropriate sharing of responsibility, support more sustainable adjustments, where possible, and co-develop a sensible approach to inform and influence student travel habits.

While it is possible to get direct campus carbon emissions to zero using existing technologies, tackling indirect emissions is more complex. As a global university with a large travel, computing and purchasing footprint, Imperial expects to have significant residual carbon emissions despite our best efforts to be as sustainable as possible.

Mindful that the carbon markets are still maturing, over the next five years we are going to explore – with the Imperial community – what is an appropriate approach to residual emissions for the university, and pilot carbon removal and carbon pricing projects to learn from approaches.

Beyond carbon, we will adopt visible good practice and make significant progress on our wider sustainability programme, including reducing our overall waste per capita, delivering our new sustainable food and drink policy, supporting active travel and further campus greening, and engaging our staff and students on solutions.

Minimising our footprint – case studies

Delivering low-carbon infrastructure

The design for the new Academic Building on our White City Campus was nominated for an industry award for the work done by the Imperial and Careys teams to reduce embodied carbon.

It will be part of the pilot group for the UK Green Building Council’s new net-zero standard for construction, a national framework for verifying net-zero performance in the built environment.

We have introduced seaweed-based packaging from Notpla as part of our drive to bring sustainability into all our Taste catering operations. The company was founded by Earthshot Prize-winning Imperial alumni.

Notpla has since grown into a global leader in sustainable materials, creating packaging that is home-compostable, plastic-free and made from renewable seaweed extracts.

Our redevelopment of Beit Quad, opened in June 2025, included:

35m2 of hard surface replaced with soft landscaping
over 60m2 planted with trees, shrubs, perennials and pollinator-friendly plants
six new tree species (including native varieties)
increase from six to 33 species of herbaceous, perennial and shrub plants
four species of low-growing, dense hedging year-round flower

Our National Heart and Lung Institute is transforming laboratory research through the LEAF sustainability framework.

By cutting energy use, reducing plastic waste and embedding collaborative, low‑carbon practices, NHLI labs have achieved Gold and Bronze awards—demonstrating how world‑leading science can also lead on environmental responsibility.

Maximising our positive handprint through our academic mission and partnerships

We recognise that the best way to strive for net zero and a more sustainable future, not just for Imperial but for humanity, is to maximise our contribution to the global transition through translating and scaling-up our excellent research, innovation, teaching, policy influence and partnerships on sustainability. This approach seeks to address some of the hardest unsolved global challenges, engage for change, and grow the skills to tackle them. Although it is hard to quantify, we aim for this positive contribution to vastly exceed our residual emissions.

We will support sustainability through our research and partnerships, including driving positive change through responsible investment; collaborating on specific projects; and providing global sustainability skills and leadership through our education and the influence that our well-informed and capable graduates have on society.

We will encourage a culture for staff and students to act sustainably in their everyday decisions across our campuses. Our faculties and departments, with the support of the Sustainability Hub, will develop and deliver their own sustainability action plans to embed stronger local sustainability practices.

We will pilot our new Imperial Sustainability Sandbox – a whole-campus sustainability initiative, which brings together collaborations between academic staff, students and professional services teams to support stronger operational sustainability practices by drawing on our community’s skills, knowledge and talents. These practices will feed into our research and education programmes on sustainability by drawing on our campus operations. The sandbox will serve as a convening point to explore potential built environment projects, delivered across our research and enterprise teams and initiatives to research, study, improve, test and visibly demonstrate sustainable practices on Imperial campuses.

Nurturing graduates on sustainability

The Imperial Class of 2030 programme will equip all our graduates with the climate and environmental science literacy, skills and confidence to advocate, influence and lead in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation.

We will endeavour to embed climate and sustainability education into our formal teaching through the curriculum, whilst scaling up online training opportunities and offering lifelong learning on sustainability to those already in the workforce.

Additionally, we will develop a pipeline of project opportunities for students to develop deeper insight and cultivate understanding of real-world situations, as well as interlinking with extracurricular opportunities driven by the student community.

Increasing our positive impact through research and innovation

Sustainability research and innovation is already an area of significant strength across Imperial, as evidenced by the numerous large-scale projects carried out by departments in all our faculties, ranging from sustainable food to direct air carbon capture, and high-profile prizes (such as Notpla, Earthshot Prize winner 2022).

The School of Convergence Science Mission on Sustainability will add a layer of ambition to Imperial’s impact by developing large, ambitious, convergence science research programmes together with departments, partners and external stakeholders.

With the objective to have significant impact on the world’s most pressing environmental challenges for its missions, the School of Convergence Science will work extensively on the relevant translation and innovation dimensions necessary to effect change.

Beyond Imperial: partnerships for sustainability

Imperial’s mission is ‘to be useful’, which is why we are growing our collaborations with a wide range of partners on sustainability.

Imperial’s policy engagement programme will use the latest evidence from our world-leading academics to inform the policy conversations that really matter.

Our investments and research partnerships in energy are guided by the Imperial Zero Index: we will only work on programmes related to a sustainable energy transition and we will only work with companies who demonstrate a credible commitment to that transition.

We are also collaborating with the higher education sector and our neighbours to develop and implement good sustainability practices.

Maximising our handprint – case studies

Awareness into action with Green Impact initiatives

The Research Office Green Impact team delivered a range of initiatives to encourage colleagues to adopt sustainable practices at work and at home. Activities included a launch week featuring gardening and litter- picking events, the introduction of food and book swaps and soft plastics recycling boxes with informative signage, and organising art-based sustainability competitions open to staff and their family and friends.

Students engaging in the Undaunted climate pitch

We were named the Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of 2025 for our work on scaling innovation from West London to the world at the Times Higher Education Awards. Through initiatives and facilities such as Imperial Enterprise Lab, Advanced Hackspace, Imperial Incubator and the climate innovation centre, Undaunted, this ecosystem supports science-based entrepreneurs with taking their ideas and turning them into startups, scaleups and – ultimately – global businesses.

Our student ambassadors supported the delivery of a successful Happy Hallow-green campaign. The ambassadors engaged over 300 students and staff at pop-up events with activities to promote sustainable Halloween and tips and challenges to raise awareness about Imperial’s reuse schemes. The ambassadors also created video content for social media, gaining over 3,000 views, and extending the campaign’s reach and impact.

With researchers from the Faculty of Engineering and the Business School involved, the EPICS Global Centre tackles the most difficult barriers that power system operators must overcome in order to safely run fully decarbonised grids. The research teams connect with grid operators on six continents to understand their challenges and develop solutions that will have immediate application in the real world. Imperial is leading the UK’s involvement in the centre, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).