One of our ambitions as a Students' Union is to lead the way in sustainable practices and to ultimately become the most sustainable students’ union in the UK. We plan to do this through embedding principles of sustainability into all aspects of our activities and services, minimising our impact on the environment, and working with you, our students, to educate and empower all of us in the ways we can help minimise our impact on the planet.

Our sustainability work has been recognised as 'Excellent'
Green Impact Students' Unions (GISU) is a flagship sustainability support package and awards programme for students' unions, run by the environmental charity SOS-UK.
It’s designed to help unions run effective projects and campaigns, using our power as the student movement to create lasting change.
For 2024 we've been awarded the Excellent Standard award, the highest level possible, for the second year in a row, which reflects our progress on the Sustainability Strategy launched in 2022.

Students' Union UCL has a really comprehensive sustainability plan and a wide breadth of sustainability work [...] It's great to see how well their existing work already aligns with Green Impact and how they're able to achieve such a wide range of sustainability outcomes
GISU
Leadership and strategy
- We have elected representatives responsible for sustainability: Sustainability Officer. Some of the work they are responsible includes launching a Sustainable Futures Training Course.
- We have also developed a dedicated strategy, including action plan for all departments.
- We are one of the founding members of the Sustainable SU's Charter.
- In our Commercial Operations (Union cafés, bars, shops and gym) we prioritise working with sustainable suppliers and making choices that minimise our environmental impact as much as possible. You can read more about our sustainable practices and partners here.

Partnership and Policy
- We have many sustainability-related student-led groups and projects including our Sustainability Leadership Programme.
- Our dedicated sustainability hub is available online for all students and staff to find out ways to get involved.

Campaigning and Influencing
- As part of our Climate Leaders campaign, in partnership with Sustainable UCL we host an annual Sustainability Leadership Conference for students including the opportunity to receive dedicated training and join our Sustainability Leadership Programme.
- For the last two years our Students' Union president has attended the COP summit to represent and elevate the voices of students during this climate crisis. You can see their COP28 and COP29 summaries here.
- In our commercial outlets we continue to champion reusables with our Ditch the Disposable. whereby we charge 50p for any single-use cup.

Outreach and Collaboration
- Through our e-recycling partnership with Genuine Solutions, electronics such as old phones, laptops and cables can be recycled on campus.
- We have partnerships with community organisations for sustainability-themed volunteering opportunities for students and masters’ dissertations.

Our commercial department takes their responsibilities to put planet before profit seriously which is why they led the way in ensuring that Students' Union UCL became one of the founding members of the Sustainable SU's Charter. This coalition of students' unions from across the UK are dedicated about not only implementing sustainable practices in our own commercial operations, through championing low carbon nature-friendly operations, but in also inspiring and showing others how these practices can be successfully be implemented in our outlets and supply chains.
Other initiatives in our spaces include:
- We offer oat milk as default in all our cafes and are committed to fairtrade.
- We've partnered with Klimato to ensure all hot food items on our menus are carbon labelled to help inform customers about the impact of their meal.
- As much as possible, we work with suppliers such as Stanley/Stella and NativeSpirit on the products in The Hanger. We also offer a premium hoodie line which has six sustainability credentials.
- As part of our Ditch the Disposable campaign, reusable cups are available to purchase in all our cafés, and if you are eating or drinking in we have crockery and metal utensils to minimise waste.


Sustainability spotlight: meet some of our suppliers and partners
We prioritise working with suppliers who share our sustainability goals, especially companies which are carbon neutral or carbon negative. Every month we shine a spotlight on one of these partners or suppliers stocked on our shelves to help raise awareness of the amazing work they do.



