Green Impact

Here at your Guild, we measure ourselves in terms of our environmental impact, and call it our 'Green Impact'. Green Impact is a programme run by NUS (National Union of Students), and allows us to benchmark ourselves across other unions and continually develop our understanding of environmental issues and how we can affect change.

To find out how we’ve addressed these environmental issues, please read on.

What We’ve Done

In the past the Guild has made many significant changes in order to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable, including:

Installing solar panels on Tennis Courts accommodation.
Increased energy efficiency in the Guild through loft insulation and sealing off external windows.
Monitoring our electrical consumption – we have saved 5% each year since 2013.
Reducing plastic use in all of our venues.
Reducing our energy consumption by 18.9% within the last year by updating our lighting systems, powering our PCs down at the end of the day and supporting students and staff with free LED light bulbs and smart plugs!
A motion has been passed to boycott fossil fuel recruiters – why not read Redbrick’s article all about it.
Each year we also host Go Green Week, which aims to raise awareness of all things sustainability and host events to promote cleaner and greener lifestyles.

And much more!

Our current Green Impact ranking is Excellent, but we’ll continue to make progress each year to maintain our accreditation and ensure we’re doing all we can to work towards a greener, more sustainable future.

Resources

Download our useful resources below:

Ethical, Environmental and Procurement Policy

Guild’s Energy Consumption and Recommended Actions

Smart Action Plan 2022-23

SustainabilityAt Your Guild

Sustainability
Survey Results

Students Organising for Sustainability Survey Graphic

Survey Results

Download Results

This year we were very pleased to have seen our highest response rate when sharing the Students Organising for Sustainability Survey. This was a fantastic opportunity to work closely with the NUS and provided some key insights.

We’ll be using these findings, paired with the primary research we’ve conducted within the Guild to shape our ongoing approaches to sustainability.

Get Involved

There are lots of ways that we can work together to build a more sustainable, environmentally friendly future. Explore the below options to find out more.

Start a Campaign

Campaigning is a fantastic way to raise awareness of issues and create change. The Guild has a strong history of environmental campaigning and we’d love you to get involved in keeping the movement going.

See our current campaigns or find out how to start your own environmental campaign.

Join a Group

The Guild has a number of student groups which focus on the environment and issues relating to sustainability. Explore each group and find out how to get involved:

Donate Unwanted Items

Junkbusters

Junkbusters is a joint project between your Guild and the University. Every year, we hit the streets of Selly to collect your unwanted items and donate these to the British Heart Foundation; making a massive difference to people’s lives.

Junkbusters operates in May and June, where we’ll organise collections in various parts of the local area.

Learn all about Junkbusters and be sure to email the Community Wardens if you’d like to volunteer.

Community Pantry

We appreciate that everyone may be feeling the pinch with the current cost of living crisis, so we’ve set up the Community Pantry to support those in crisis by providing a free one-off food parcel to those who need to access this service.

We rely on voluntary contributions to fund the Community Pantry. If you would like to donate food you can do so using the wire baskets located around campus.