MINSK, 25 March (BelTA) – The International Sakharov Environmental Institute of Belarusian State University is the only Belarusian institution that has made it into the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking. It placed 796th out of 912 educational institutions from 84 countries, BelTA learned from BSU's press service.
The ranking is annually updated by the international ranking agency GreenMetric from Indonesia to assess universities' contribution to the development of green infrastructure. It analyzes six criteria: environment and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, transport, water, education, and research. It takes into account energy-saving, sustainable use of water resources, waste storage and recycling, green spaces management, availability of transport, the number of published research papers about environmental issues and the number of academic subjects related to sustainable development.
The ranking was topped by Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). The University of Oxford (the UK) placed second and the University of Nottingham (the UK) rounded out the top three. The ranking featured 51 Russian universities, with the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (42nd), Siberian Federal University (122nd), and Perm National Research Polytechnic University (153rd) showing the best results.
Educational institutions featured in the ranking get the opportunity to exchange experience in implementation of sustainable development programs and take part in scientific events organized by GreenMetric.
The international ranking agency GreenMetric was established in 2010 by Universitas Indonesia with the aim to attract attention of the academia to environmental problems. The ranking focuses on the sustainability of the environment that includes economic (sustainable consumption), social (social engagement), and ecological (reduction of carbon footprint) elements.
The number of participating universities and countries grows every year. For example, in 2017, the ranking featured 619 universities from 76 countries. In 2020, there were 912 universities from 84 countries.
