Skip to content Accessibility statement
Events
HomeAbout the UniversitySustainabilityEventsSustainability Week

Sustainability Week

Sustainability Week offers a range of events, talks, workshops, and activities to engage the University community in sustainability practices.

Taking place in March each year, Sustainability Week is a week in which staff, students, alumni and our local community can take part in sustainability-themed events, talks and workshops. It also provides an opportunity to engage the whole community with the University's ambitious goals outlined in our Sustainability Plan 2021-2030.

Sustainability Week takes place 2 - 6 March 2026. Take a look below at our full range of events and activities.

Contact us

Sustainability at York

“Sustainability is at the core of our University strategy, and is becoming ever more pressing. Our Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 is under way, so for Sustainability Week this year I encourage you to find out more about what we're doing, and to get involved with the research, educational and social events planned by our students and staff.” 

Charlie Jeffrey, Vice-Chancellor

Upcoming events

Get involved in Sustainability Week 2026 from 2 to 6 March by attending an event, talk, workshop or activity.

Event

Sustainable Art Exhibition

Monday 2 March 2026 9am

Come to the Piazza Building to view a student-led, sustainable art exhibition!

Event

Creative Clothes Mending workshop

Monday 2 March 2026 11am

Do you have an item of clothing that needs a bit of TLC? Come along to our workshop to learn how to give your clothing items a new lease of life!

Event

Campus Nature Walk

Monday 2 March 2026 12.30pm

Join Professor Robin Perutz for a unique exploration of the nature found on campus.

Event

En-ROADS climate workshop

Monday 2 March 2026 4pm

Join us to experience what it’s like to create your own climate future using grounded conversations; the resulting experience is hopeful, scientifically-grounded, action-oriented, and eye-opening.

Event

Heat Below, Light Above: Solar and Geothermal Explored

Tuesday 3 March 2026 11am

Join experts from the Institute for Safe Autonomy and Estates Department to discover more about renewable energy and how we are embracing it on campus.

Event

York Cares Campus Clean-Up

Tuesday 3 March 2026 11am

Join York Cares in celebrating spring with this feel good, campus clean-up event.

Event

En-ROADS climate workshop

Tuesday 3 March 2026 12pm

Join us to experience what it’s like to create your own climate future using grounded conversations; the resulting experience is hopeful, scientifically-grounded, action-oriented, and eye-opening.

Event

Eating with the Seasons Workshop

Tuesday 3 March 2026 12pm

Hosted by SeasonWell. Learn how you can eat with the seasons and make a windowsill planter to take home with you.

Event

Clothes Repair Shop

Tuesday 3 March 2026 12.30pm

Learn how to repair and re-style your clothes with us!

Event

Workshop: How do we fix our food system by 2050?

Tuesday 3 March 2026 2pm

Interested in exploring the environmental challenges of the current food system and what it could look like in 2050?Join this interactive workshop to explore what technologies are driving this transformation.

Event

Designing for Behaviour Change: Understanding People to Design Better Interventions

Tuesday 3 March 2026 3pm

This lecture focuses on how design can be leveraged as a potent tool for driving positive societal and environmental change.

Event

Online event: can data centres and the digital economy be sustainable?

Tuesday 3 March 2026 7pm

Join York for Life Sustainability Network for an online panel discussion focusing on digitalisation and decarbonisation.

Event

Bike Doctor drop-in session

Wednesday 4 March 2026 10am

Get your bike ready for spring with a free appointment with the Bike Doctor.

Event

Clothes Swap

Wednesday 4 March 2026 12.30pm

Come and swap your clothes, hosted by the Innovation Close Green Impact team.

Event

New Year, Same Planet Fair

Wednesday 4 March 2026 1pm

Join York Students’ Union in James Hall on Campus West for a sustainability-themed fair.

Event

Hedge fun: Plant a blackthorn thicket on Campus East

Wednesday 4 March 2026 1.30pm

Join the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity and our own Grounds staff to plant a blackthorn thicket on Campus East.

Event

Climate Fresk

Wednesday 4 March 2026 1.30pm

Take part in a 3-hour interactive workshop to understand the causes and consequences of climate change and how to take action.

Event

Plogging on Campus West

Thursday 5 March 2026 9am

Join us for a plogging session, a combination of litter picking and jogging!

Event

The Big Clothes Swap

Thursday 5 March 2026 12pm

Browse the Big Clothes Swap and find yourself something beautiful for your wardrobe!

Event

Environment and Geography Sustainability Fair

Thursday 5 March 2026 12pm

Come to the Environment Building for a sustainability fair, featuring hands-on sustainability activities and student society stalls.

Event

Days of Thunder: film screening and panel discussion

Thursday 5 March 2026 5pm

Come along to watch a screening of Días de abundancia/Days of Thunder, followed by a panel discussion.

Event

Sustainability Film screening: The Shark Whisperer

Thursday 5 March 2026 7.30pm

Join the James JCRC Environment reps for a film night in the lodge with free snacks, screening The Shark Whisperer.

Event

Carbon Literacy Training

Friday 6 March 2026 9am

Get carbon literate with our two half-day online training workshops.

Event

Make your own Climate Zine workshop

Friday 6 March 2026 12pm

Come along and make your own Climate Zine!

Event

Hull Road Community Challenge with York Cares

Friday 6 March 2026 1pm

Come and help with some park maintenance and gardening.

More events

Highlights from Sustainability Week 2025

25 free events
organised for staff, students, alumni and the public
Over 1,851 seagrass seed bombs
were created by participants, ready to be planted
2,179 webpage views
or click throughs to all sustainability web pages.
Two sustainability fairs
showcasing sustainable living, student groups making a difference, and local green heroes
284 bookable places
offered for 10 events, plus 15 events requiring no booking
5 UN SDGs targeted
to link directly with our Sustainability Plan

A look back at last year's success: SW25

Sustainability Week 2025 took place from 3-7 March. Over 25 free events were organised for staff, students and alumni, with some open to the public. Highlights included the second-ever Anne Lister Sustainability Fair, a multi-sensory nature walk, campus biodiversity tours, Bug Hotel building, a public lecture on "The Psychology of (not) Eating Meat", Fruit Tree planting on Campus East, and a Sewing Repair Workshop.

The week also offered a platform to engage the entire community in the University's ambitious sustainability goals, featuring a lunch time event on the Sustainability Plan and a drop-in session on our Energy Saving Campaign.

Our mission

Sustainability Week's mission is twofold:

  1. To encourage students, staff and alumni to take action and develop more sustainable behaviours in their studies, work and home life.
  2. To encourage participants to engage with the progress that the University is taking towards carbon neutrality and other elements through the Sustainability Plan.

How to get involved

Sustainability Week takes place in March each year. There are several ways that you can engage with Sustainability Week:

Attend an event

Engage by attending one or more of our events. Past activities have included a sustainability fair, a Green Lab Solutions symposium, nature journaling, campus nature walks, a wellbeing action day, lunch & learn sessions, online panel discussions, and Bike Doctor sessions. Our calendar of events will appear on this page from February each year.

Run your own event

Apply to run your own event during Sustainability Week. Your event can align with one of our UN SDGs (climate action, health and wellbeing, sustainable cities and communities, quality education, responsible consumption and production) but this isn’t a requirement. If you would like to run an event please complete this Google form.

Learn about sustainability

Take the opportunity to learn about University's progress against the goals outlined in our Sustainability Plan 2021-2030. You can do this by reading our sustainability web pages or attending talks about our Sustainability Plan during Sustainability Week.

Sustainability isn't just for one week!

Being more sustainable isn’t just for Sustainability Week. Read through our web pages to explore other actions that you can take towards living, working, and studying more sustainably.

Practical guidance

Get involved all year round

Other sustainability events

Events
Browse events
LinkedIn
Connect with us
Instagram
Follow us
Newsletter
Sign up

Contact us

Sustainability at York