The University of Reading has been named Sustainable University of the Year 2025 in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025.
Reading has moved up to joint 24 in the UK overall in the table, a leap of 10 places since the 2024 ranking, and into the top 25.
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 said Reading had “made an impressive headway towards its ambition of being one of the greenest universities in the world”.
Reading, which is already top of the People & Planet League Table of UK universities and won the Times Higher Education’s award for Environmental Leadership, was highlighted for reducing its carbon emissions by more than 60 per cent since 2009 and cutting waste by 35 per cent.
The Guide highlights Reading’s status as one of the world’s leading universities for the study of climate change – as indicated by the award of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2021.
Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: “We are proud to be a multi-award-winning community playing a sector-leading role in addressing climate change and environmental sustainability through our world-leading research, teaching and campus operations.
“It is excellent to be recognised as Sustainable University of the Year, which reflects the incredible hard work of our students, colleagues and partners who together have a shared commitment to securing a better global future.
“This is wonderful news to receive as we start a new academic year, and I look forward to our community continuing their efforts to make a real difference in the years ahead.”
Helen Davies, editor of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide, said: “The best universities — whether they were founded in the 15th century or 2005 — are local and global powerhouses of intellectual thought and creativity, from the arts to science, that can power economic regeneration and lead the way to a better life.
“This year we have tweaked our methodology to keep up with contemporary concerns around climate change and careers and have added in a sustainability metric, teaming up with People & Planet, and boosted the weighting of graduate prospects.
“The higher education sector is facing unprecedented challenges from debates on free speech to financial stability, but it is important to remember the force for good that going to university can be.”
Reading is also the fourth-highest ranked university in the South East, behind only the universities of Oxford, Southampton and Surrey.
View the full results of the UK University Rankings 2025.