Green Impact
Recognising and awarding sustainability of staff at work, whatever the setting.
What's Green Impact?
Green Impact is a sustainability accreditation programme for staff and students that rewards green behaviours within colleges and departments. It is run by SOS-UK (a sustainability charity).
Related links
This year Green Impact has involved
1556 actions completed
and 12 unique projects completed as part of the programme
15,458 sheets of paper saved by Green Impact Teams
289 actions directly linking to the UN SDGs
30 teams submitting
reaching 2,833 members of staff and students
37 awards to present
77 students trained as Auditors/Project Assistants
widening their university experience
How does it work?
The program operates through an interactive online workbook, providing staff and students with a framework to complete actions and implement positive changes. It is customised to different divisions such as labs, colleges, or offices giving the teams flexibility to choose and complete specific actions to earn accreditation. If you're a staff member or postgraduate you can take part by joining your departmental team. If you're a student, you can volunteer to be an auditor.
Join the 2024/25 programme launch webinar on 23 September, 11am to 12pm to find out how to take part this year. The recording and slide deck will also be available afterwards.
If you're a staff member or postgraduate
- Register by completing your details on the right-hand side of this web page. Registration will open on 23 September 2024.
- Verify your account to access the toolkit
- Create or join a team. Check to see if your team is already there, otherwise the first person to register from each team will need to create it
- You will then have access to the NEW toolkit and begin working towards your Green Impact award
- The user guide will help you use the new system and get the most out of Green Impact
You will then have until 25 April 2025 to complete as many actions as you can, and submit your toolkit for your Green Impact award.
If you're an undergraduate student
You'll can gain valuable work experience with York Award and IEMA accredited training (which can help improve employability) by volunteering as a Green Impact Auditor.
- Register to become a Green Impact Project Assistant (GIPA) or audit a team's work after their workbook submission in April.
- Email greenimpact@york.ac.uk to find out about more.
The awards
Awards are presented in June, accompanied by a celebratory lunch where, hopefully, your team will achieve one of the award categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
There are also special awards for efforts above and beyond the workbook. You can also choose to do a project based award, which focuses on one action and its spread through the University and the community.
Getting started
Choose the list for you work type (office, labs, college, etc) and complete actions worth 125 points to get a Bronze award or 175 points to get a Silver award. Tackle 225 points worth of actions and you can win Gold, or 300 points for the ultimate - a Platinum award. Your team has until early April to complete the actions and you can request a student Green Impact Project Assistant to help you achieve them.
Sustainable at work and home
It doesn't matter if some of your team are working remotely as we have a range of new and fun actions, which can also save you money at home.
Bespoke projects
Instead of completing the workbook a team can choose to undertake their own sustainability project, which depending on its scope and reach could win either Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Examples of projects that have been completed in 2024:
- Department of Computer Science: Biodiverse Space for All
- Department of Computer Science: Energy & Utilities Data Presentation Project
- GCCE Sustainability Team: Green Labs Solutions Symposium
- GCCE Sustainability Team: The Green Chemistry Podcast
- Green OPPAtunities: Sustainability Action Days
- CHE: Investigating options for environmental offsetting
- International Pathway College: Sustainable Herb Farming in Eco Pods at Campus East
- Institute for Safe Autonomy: Offsetting the biodiversity loss of the new ISA Solar Farm
- Natural Sciences Society: Belongings swap
- Norwegian Study Centre: Visual Narratives in English for Eco-Activism
- Norwegian Study Centre: Linguistic Landscaping for Sustainability
Teams and awards
Use the dropdowns below to find a list of teams that won Green Impacts awards.
| Team name | Award level |
|---|---|
| Biology M2 Lab | Platinum |
| Biology Teaching Lab Technicians | Platinum |
| Department of Computer Science | Platinum |
| Eco Owls | Platinum |
| Environment & Geography Labs | Platinum |
| GCCE Sustainability Team | Platinum |
| Green Careers | Platinum |
| Green Goodricke | Platinum |
| Green OPPAtunities | Platinum |
| Green Vanbrugh | Platinum |
| Halifax College | Platinum |
| Institute for Safe Autonomy | Platinum |
| International Pathway College | Platinum |
| Lichman Lab (CNAP) | Platinum |
| The Norwegian Study Centre | Platinum |
| GCCE Sustainability Team (project x2) | Platinum |
| Green OPPAtunities | Platinum |
| International Pathway College | Platinum |
| The Norwegian Study Centre (project x2) | Platinum |
| Anne Lister College | Gold |
| Biology Infrastructure Team | Gold |
| Faculty Support Office | Gold |
| Wentworth College | Gold |
| Department of Computer Science (Project x2) | Gold |
| Geography and Environment Students Managing Sustainability (project) | Gold |
| Institute for Safe Autonomy (project) | Gold |
| DoHS Green Impact | Silver |
| Centre for Health Economics (project) | Silver |
| Natural Sciences Green Team (project) | Silver |
| DTEF Providence House | Bronze |
| Green Constantine | Bronze |
| James College Going Green | Bronze |
| The Stables Green Impact Team | Bronze |
| YCL Catering & Hospitality | Bronze |
| Legally Green | Participation award |
| York Plasma Institute | Participation award |
| Team name | Award level |
|---|---|
| Department of Health Sciences | Bronze |
| The Green Stables at Home | Bronze |
| Halifax College | Silver |
| Centre for Health Economics | Silver |
| Natural Sciences Green Team | Silver |
| Department of Computer Science | Gold |
| EOD Eco Owls | Gold |
| Norwegian Study Centre | Gold |
| Green Vanbrugh | Gold |
| Biology Teaching Lab Technicians | Platinum |
| Department of Environment and Geography | Platinum |
| Green Careers | Platinum |
| Green Chemistry (x2) | Platinum |
| Green Goodricke | Platinum |
| Green OPPAtunities (Toolkit) | Platinum |
| Imaging & Cytometry Lab, Bioscience Facility | Platinum |
| Institute for Safe Autonomy | Platinum |
| International Pathway College | Platinum |
| M2 lab | Platinum |
| WACL Waste Warriors | Platinum |
| Department of Biology - UniGreen Team | Platinum |
| Turning Pages | Platinum |
| Green Chemistry | Platinum |
| Green OPPAtunities (Project) | Platinum |
| Team name | Award level |
|---|---|
| Department of Archaeology | Platinum |
| Biology DMT Hub | Platinum |
| BTL Technicians | Labs Platinum |
| Communications | Bronze |
| Constantine College | Colleges Silver |
| Department of Environment and Geography | Labs Gold |
| Green Careers | Platinum |
| Green Chemistry | Labs Platinum |
| Green Goodricke | Colleges Bronze |
| Green OPPAtunities | Platinum |
| Halifax College | Colleges Gold |
| Department of Health Sciences | Bronze Project |
| Imaging and Cytometry Lab, Bioscience Facility | Labs Gold |
| Institute for Safe Autonomy | Silver |
| International Pathway College | Platinum |
| L1 | Labs Bronze |
| Langwith College | Colleges Bronze |
| M2 Lab | Labs Platinum |
| Natural Sciences Green Team | Gold |
| Natural Sciences Green Team | Silver Project |
| The Green Stables at Home | Bronze |
| WACL Waste Warriors | Labs Silver |
| WACL Waste Warriors | Gold |
| Wentworth Graduate College | Colleges Bronze |
| Team name | Award level |
|---|---|
| BTL Technicians | Gold Lab |
| Biology DMT Hub Team |
Platinum |
| Biology Environmental Performance Group | Gold Project |
| Biology H&Q Block Labs | Gold / Gold L |
| Computer Science | Platinum |
| Constantine College | Bronze/Silver Project |
| DFST (Dalham) | Bronze |
| Department of Environment and Geography | Gold Lab/Gold Project |
| Genever Lab | Labs Platinum |
| Green Careers | Platinum |
| Green Chemistry | Platinum/Labs Platinum |
| Green OPPAtunities | Gold |
| Imaging & Cytometry Lab, Bioscience Facility | WT Bronze Lab |
| International Pathway College | Platinum |
| L1 | Bronze Lab |
| Langwith College | Bronze/Silver Project |
| Lichman Group (CNAP) | Silver Lab |
| Marketing and Communications | Platinum |
| McQueen-Mason Lab | Lab Platinum |
| Natural Sciences Green Team | Gold |
| The Green Stables at Home | Gold |
| YCL Catering and hospitality | Platinum |
| York Plasma Institute | Silver |
| York Science Park | Gold |
| UYSEG Green Team | Silver |
| Team name | Award level |
|---|---|
| Biology DMT Hub Team | Gold |
| Biology H&Q Block Labs |
Labs - Gold |
| Biology Project | Gold Project |
| BTL Technicians | Labs - Gold |
| Computer Science Green Impact team / #00FF00 | Gold |
| Constantine College | TBC |
| Denby Lab (CNAP) | Gold Project |
| Department of Education | Bronze |
| Environment Building | Most Improved Team Labs - Silver Gold Project |
| Green Careers | Gold |
| Green Chemistry | Labs - Gold |
| Green OPPAtunities | Silver |
| Information Services - Library and Archives | Silver |
| Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre | Bronze |
| International Pathway College | Silver |
| L1 | Labs - Bronze |
| Langwith College | Colleges - Bronze |
| Lichman Group (CNAP) | Labs - Bronze |
| Marketing and Communications | Gold |
| McQueen-Mason Lab (CNAP) | Labs - Gold |
| Natural Sciences Green Team | Silver Student Award |
| Providence Planet Pioneers! | Bronze |
| Sociology | Gold |
| The Stables | Silver |
| UYSEG Green Team | Silver |
| YCL Catering and Hospitality | Catering - Gold |
| York Plasma Institute | Bronze |
| York Science Park | Silver |
| Team | Award level |
|---|---|
| Alcuin EnvironmentAL | Colleges Bronze |
| Bancroft Lab (CNAP) | Labs Gold |
| Biology DMT Hub | Silver |
| BTL Technicians | Labs Gold |
| Centre for Immunology and Infection | Labs Silver |
| Chemistry Teaching Labs | Labs Gold |
| Chemistry.At.York | Working Towards Excellence |
| Computer Science Green Impact Team | Gold |
| Constantine College | Gold Colleges Bronze |
| Denby Lab (CNAP) | Labs Gold |
| Genever Lab | Labs Gold |
| GI Health Sciences | Working Towards Excellence |
| Green Careers | Gold |
| Green Chemistry |
Gold |
| Green OPPAtunities | Bronze |
| Information Services | Bronze |
| International Pathway College | Gold |
| Langwith College | Colleges Bronze |
| McQueen-Mason Lab (CNAP) | Labs Bronze |
| Providence Planet Pioneers! | Bronze |
| REcyclers | Bronze |
| Sociology | Silver |
| tHink gReen | Gold |
| UYSEG Green Team | Silver |
| WACL Waste Warriors | Gold |
| Wentworth Graduate College | Bronze |
| YCL Catering and Hospitality | Catering Gold |
| York Science Park | Bronze |