Sustainability Committee
Queen Mary University of London has made a public commitment to incorporate sustainability principles and practices throughout its core activities of teaching, research and operational activities, working to support the government’s aim of achieving net zero by 2050. The university has established the Queen Mary Sustainability Committee to provide leadership, coordination and guidance in the development and management of the university’s sustainability risks, responsibilities, opportunities and Sustainability Action Plan to deliver continual performance improvement across all areas of Queen Mary.
Purpose
The Sustainability Committee will:
- Agree on appropriate actions and commitments to be taken to SET in relation to delivery of the Sustainability Action Plan and its three pillars: education, research and operations; this includes reporting on Queen Mary’s sustainability performance and its compliance with external commitments and obligations.
- Ensure there are nominated governance bodies and workstream leads associated with each pillar of the Sustainability Action Plan, that these bodies are considering sustainability as a standing item at least once a year and reporting back to the committee on progress against the Sustainability Action Plan.
- Review and approve all key policies, plans, objectives and performance targets relating to the Sustainability Action Plan including, but not limited to, the Environmental Sustainability Policy and Carbon Management Plan, on an annual basis, publishing updated documents as required.
- Oversee the activities of, and to receive progress reports from, Queen Mary’s sustainability pillar workstream leads (see reporting structure).
- Ensure the positive impact of Queen Mary’s activity is measured against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), with this information communicated publicly on the Queen Mary website and through reports, where appropriate.
- Provide oversight to the coordination of Queen Mary responses to reputation surveys including QS Sustainability Rankings, THE Impact Rankings, People and Planet.
Reporting Structure
The Sustainability Committee will report, via the Chair, to SET.
The workstream lead for each pillar of the Sustainability Action Plan will meet quarterly with the other workstream leads and a new coordinating, engagement role to consider sustainability. They will be responsible for ensuring relevant boards and subgroups within their pillar are considering sustainability on a rolling basis. Each work stream lead will report to the Sustainability Committee on an annual basis, delivering a report.
Membership
The Sustainability Committee will have senior representation, aligning with each of the Queen Mary sustainability strategic pillars as follows:
The Vice-Principal Policy & Strategic Partnerships will act as Chair.
- Policy and Strategy – VP Policy and Strategic Partnerships
- Operations – Chief Operations Officer
- Research and Innovation – Deputy Vice-Principal Research
- Education – Vice-Principal Education
- Secretariat – Executive Officer Policy and Strategy and Sustainability Strategic Engagement Lead
Meeting Schedule
The Sustainability Committee will meet quarterly, for 2 hours and more frequently where necessary. Dates for the full year’s meetings will be agreed by members in August, ready for the new academic year. Where possible, meetings will alternate between the main QM campuses.
Papers from previous meeting are available below:
Please address any queries related to the work of the Sustainability Committee to sustainability@qmul.ac.uk