If, like us, you care about the environment and our future, there are loads of opportunities to make a difference.

Read about how you can be more environmentally friendly once you become a part of the CCCU community.

Join our Student Green Office

We've got a great Student Green Office, run by four paid SGO Project Officers, who work part-time with the Academy for Sustainable Futures alongside their studies to actively promote inclusive and green living at university. Meet the new team and see what they have in store for this academic year

Look out for events, workshops, and pop-ups hosted on campus (one of our favourites has to be the Fairtrade chocolate tastings!), and get tips on how to learn new skills, access free training and help us build a more sustainable future for everyone.

Get connected with:

And read the blog to find out about everything we've been getting up to. 

Learn sustainability skills and get carbon literate 

We were one of the first universities to sign the United Nations' Sustainability Development Goals Accord, which sets out targets to end poverty, protect the planet, and achieve prosperity for all by 2030. We've pledged to deliver these goals through our teaching, which means you'll get to actively engage with this and see how our goals relate to your course.

Free Carbon Literacy Training is available to all students. Raise your awareness of the impact of everyday activities on our environment, learn how to reduce your carbon footprint, and discover why it’s imperative that we take action now.

Cook and eat sustainably

Once you start uni, you’ll find your weekly schedule will start looking busy. When balancing classes and work with hobbies and spending time with your friends and family, you’ll need to ensure you plan time to eat well too.

Save money and look after your wellbeing by cooking with friends and family. Meal prepping is a great way to ensure you have a balanced diet for the week ahead. At our Canterbury Campus, staff and student volunteers operate a weekly veg box scheme, so you can get fresh, organic, seasonal vegetables at an affordable price delivered direct to campus from a local farm. 

When you do need to grab food on the go, we have lots of outlets across campus that sell healthy, veggie/vegan and Fairtrade options including vegan sausage rolls.

In celebration of the monastic heritage of our World Heritage Site campus, we also grow heritage hops and brew a craft green hop ale at our Canterbury Campus. Each year’s harvest is hand-picked by staff and student volunteers, re-named and re-branded by CCCU students, blessed by one of our resident chaplains and is launched at the annual Canterbury Food and Drink Festival in September.

 

Wilder Campus

We grow more than just hops in our sustainability spaces at CCCU. You can:

  • Drop in to our regular Potter and Prune afternoons in the Johnson Wellbeing Garden at Canterbury to learn gardening skills that support wildlife and biodiversity.
  • Adopt a mini-allotment to grow your own fruit, veg, and herbs on campus.
  • Learn how to compost, pick apples, pears, and cobuts in our heritage orchard.
  • Escape from the bustle of campus life to chill out with nature in any of our Wilder Campus gardens.
  • Get involved with one of our student's own initiative: The Greenhouse Project

Make your commute green

Using public transport is a great way to reduce emissions and could save you money. Make the most of student discounts available to you - look to buy a student railcard or take advantage of the Stagecoach bus discounts for students, which could cut your travel costs in Kent. 

Student sustainability champion

MA Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Graduate Anastasia Sofia Semaan was highly commended at the prestigious Green Gown Awards, in the Student Sustainability Champion category.

There are so many opportunities to get involved in at CCCU. Where will sustainability take you?

International awards

We've maintained Platinum certification for our Environmental Management System since we were first awarded it in 2013, and have won national and international awards for sustainability, including an International Green Gown Award in 2018. 

In 2023, we were officially ranked a 'Gold Tier' university in the Uswitch Green Universities Report.