Durham University – My Greenspace
In 2021, Durham University launched My Greenspace, to help promote their environmental policies, plans and procedures. It was important for them to embed sustainability at every level, so that they could climb university sustainability rankings, as this is something that is increasingly important to prospective students.
The Goal
Attract Talent
Durham University’s goal was to create a culture where all staff and students can play their part in the University becoming more sustainable. By educating their community around their Greenspace Movement, they would be better equipped to show the effectiveness of their sustainability plans, and thus climb the People & Planet University Sustainability Rankings.
The Solution
Durham University worked with Jump to develop My Greenspace, a programme that sought to increase climate literacy and awareness among staff and students. With this programme, they could create a sustainable community, capture feedback on their sustainability initiatives, and demonstrate increased engagement with climate change to their stakeholders.
The Travel Buddy functionality helps Durham University to reduce scope 3 emissions, as laid out in their Integrated Sustainable Travel Plan, but it also has financial and social benefits. By encouraging staff and students to travel with others, whether that is by car-sharing, catching public transport together, or cycling with others, Durham University can create a community around both health and sustainability.
The programme also encourages participation in events and activities, such as the Green Move Out campaign at end of academic year, the Switch Off campaign, and the Veganuary campaign. The latter also utilised Healthy Eats submissions from their My Greenspace platform, compiled into an e-Cookbook.
Durham University also uses My Greenspace to promote their annual Sustainability Varsity, a collegiate sustainability competition, where the winning college receives an upcycled trophy at the Greenspace Festival on campus. By gamifying sustainability, they continue to engage students and staff with their climate initiatives and improve their reputation as a sustainable university among prospective students.
Get in touch!
To find out how you can incentivise and engage your community in sustainability, book a call for a demo of our programmes today!