Celebration of Sustainability

This annual event awards and highlights achievements and projects across the year that bring about positive environmental impact

Green Impact teams, you've done an incredible job!
Andrea Ploeg, Student Project Assistant

Our 2022 event was held in-person at Shaw Library, Old Building on Monday 30th May with approximately 60 attendees.

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Our Celebration of Sustainability returns to being held in-person for the first time in two years.

 Green Impact Results

  • PlatinumLSE Library, LSE Careers, Estates Division, Fourth Floor Restaurant (OLD)
  • Gold: Passfield Halls of Residence, The Marshall Institute, Human Resources, High Holborn Halls of Residence, Carr Saunders Halls of Residence, Bankside Halls of Residence, Finance Division, Department of Government, Department of Methodology
  • Silver: Rosebery Halls of Residence, Butlers Wharf Halls of Residence, LSE Events
  • Bronze: Department of Geography and Environment

Green Impact Sustainability Heroes:

  • Dafina Rama, LSE Library
  • Dene Donkin, Estates Division
  • Karen Agate, Catering
  • Vjosana Kurti, Bankside Halls of Residence
  • Social Policy Green Team Student Reps 

Sustainable Halls 2021/22 Winner: 

  • Butlers Wharf Halls of Residence

Sustainability Award Winners:

Education

Dr Ellis Saxey

“Dr Saxey, Senior Academic Developer at the Eden Centre has been awarded for their work in getting the ‘Education for Sustainability’ agenda off the ground at LSE. Thanks are also extended to Ellis’s colleagues at the Eden Centre who have all played a vital role in embedding sustainability in LSE’s teaching and learning experiences.”

 

Jillian Terry and Chris Blunt

“Jillian and Terry, both acting co-directors of LSE100, have put sustainability at the heart of the LSE100 program, ensuring that every undergraduate at LSE engages with it in their first year at LSE.

Not only is sustainability embedded in the curriculum, they have made significant changes over the past few years to reduce the environmental impact of such a large course. They work in partnership with students across the School to advance the Sustainability Strategic Plan and are shining examples of how courses can become more sustainable.”

 

Research: 

Seneshaw Tamru

“Seneshaw has contributed to a sustainable LSE by embedding environmental sustainability in his research, which focused on the significant impact of climate information services on household welfare and agricultural productivity in Ethiopia. In addition, Seneshaw has provided leadership to the development of the IGC Sustainable Growth and Climate Change Strategy for Ethiopia.”

 

Giovanni Fabris

“Giovanni is an MSc Behavioural Science student who, as part of his research, encouraged the Student Union café to experiment with changing the default milk option from dairy to oat. Dairy has a significant environmental footprint, and Giovanni's experiment resulted in a 50% decrease in dairy milk choices.”


Engagement and Leadership: 

Lewis Humphreys and Kathryn Goodfellow

“Lewis and Kathryn launched the new LSE Careers ‘Careers in Sustainability’ programme, to support students interested in exploring a career in sustainability. They organised a comprehensive programme of online panels, seminars and networking opportunities. And looking ahead, they have plans to ramp up the programme with new engaging resources.”

 

Terri Arnold

“Terri introduced the idea of embedding sustainability within her team and has been described as a ‘Sustainability Champion’ by colleagues. She regularly updates the division on the progress, looks out for new ideas they can implement to work in a more sustainable way and works hard on sharing what her team are doing with internal and external stakeholders.”

 

Investment: 

Jorge Stevensen 

“Jorge Stevenson, Mathematics, Statistics and Business Undergrad and co-president of Sustainable Futures Society, for engaging students in the review of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) policy.”

 

Mike Ferguson and Jenny Febry

“Jenny and Mike worked with colleagues to develop LSE’s Sustainable Finance Framework, a Green and Social Bond instrument to raise private finance to fund sustainability projects. The project attracted extensive interest and has helped further promote the sustainability credentials and commitment of the school, and which will support investment in environmental and social projects at LSE in years to come.”

 

Collaboration:

Jorge Stevensen and Alice Rigo-Saitta

“This is awarded this year to two students, both co-presidents of the Sustainable Futures Society.

Both these individuals have made an enormous impact this year with increasing collaboration between both students and staff around the sustainability agenda.”

 

Our School: 

Rosa Gil

“Rosa is a champion for sustainability in halls, driving concrete positive action on many fronts as part of the residence’s sustainability action plan. Recent examples include piloting collections of items for reuse at Christmas in Rosebery Hall, supporting the British Heart Foundation.”

Annette Haas

“She works hard to keep the whole division sustainably minded and had an instrumental role to play in the recent office re-location, ensuring as much of the move as possible involved re-purposing and donating materials no longer required so that waste was kept to a minimum.”

 

Pictures from our 2022 event:

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Alice and Jorge from the Sustainable Futures Society give an update on their activities.

 

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We were pleased to see a good turnout for the event.

 

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Zoe from SOS-UK shares information on our Green Impact programme and Sustainable Halls Campaign. 

 

2020/21

  • Friday 28 May
  • 60+ attendees
  • Our second digital celebration

Sustainability Award Winners

Education: Pik Liew (staff), Ilia Ioannidi (student)

Research: Amanda Burgess (staff), Alice Rigo Saitta & Farzeen Shaffik (students)

Engagement and Leadership: Karen Agate-Hilton, Lisa Kosky (staff), Arthur Krön & Ilia Ioannidi (students)

Investment: Jenny Febry (staff), Ellie Cottrell (student)

Collaboration: Erica Pani (staff), Dimitra Stratopoulou, Oliver Kumar (students)

Our School: Dene Donkin (staff), Kitty Rae Thompson (student)

Green Impact: Bethan Wilson, Julia Karolkiewicz, Keri Rowsell, Stefani Tasheva

Green Impact Results

Platinum: Centre Building Catering Team, Estates, LSE100, LSE Careers, Marshall Institute, Student Marketing and Recruitment

Gold: High Holborn Hall, Northumberland House, Passfield Hall, Carr-Saunders, Management, Finance Division, Human Resources

Silver: Health Policy, Rosebery Hall

Bronze: Butler's Wharf Residence, Sociology, Media and Communications

 

 

2019/20

  • Tuesday 9 June
  • 85+ attendees
  • Our first digital Celebration of Sustainability

Special Green Impact Awards:

Student Award: Adrian Baeck, Department of Social Policy 

Best Project Award: LSE100

Highest Scoring Team Award: Human Resources Division 

 

Community Awards winners:

One to Watch: Harriet Freeman 

Community Contribution: Caroline Linney and the LSESU Food Cycle Committee 

School’s Environmental Hero: Dene Donkin

 

Green Impact Results: 

Leading the Way (Platinum): Health Policy Green Impact Team, Finance Division, LSE100, Estates 2020, Management, Social Policy, Student Marketing and Recruitment, LSE Careers, Library, Human Resources 

Key Stakeholder (Gold): Sociology, Government 

Committed Contributor (Silver): 4th Floor Restaurant, Carr-Saunders, School of Public Policy, Bankside Hall, High Holborn Hall 

Contributor (Bronze): LSE ARD, LSEGAO, Passifled Hall, LSE IDEAS, Northumberland House 

 

Reduce the Juice Results: 

Water-saving winners: Rosebery Hall 

Energy-saving winners: Butler’s Wharf 

2018/19

  • Thursday 30 May

Green Impact Results  

Read the Green Impact Project Booklet here to see what the 25 teams got up to this year and how they got their awards. 

Bronze: Bankside Hall, Communications Division, LSE Careers, Marshall Institute, Middle East Centre 

Silver: Butler's Wharf Hall, Roseberry Hall, Grosvenor House, High Holborn and Northumberland Hall, Estates Division, Secretary's Division, Graduate Admissions Office, Department of Geography and Environment, Department of Government, Department of Social Policy 

Gold: Carr Saunders Hall, Passfield Hall, Department of Management, LSE 100, Garrick, Student Marketing and Recruitment 

Platinum: HR, EDI and Finance Division 

Special Awards 

Environmental Hero: Arzucan Askin (Student Project Assistant) 

Best Newcomer: Department of Management 

Environmental Improvement: Garrick 

10 Year Commitment: Graduate Admissions Office and Finance Division 

2017/18

In 2017-18, Green Impact had 24 teams who delivered 23 amazing projects and 536 impactful actions. The year's projects included a sustainable LSE Treasure Hunt (Estates Division), raising awareness about menstrual cups and period poverty with a guest speaker (Butlers Wharf and Bankside Hall), and upcycling plastic bottles into plant pots and encouraging awareness of our carbon footprint (Library). 

The Halls of Residences programmes were a great success with Reduce the Juice saving enough energy to run a small car for over 37,000 miles and Student Switch Off saving enough energy to heat a home for over seven years! 

Green Impact Results  

Bronze: Academic Registrar's Division, 5th Floor 

Silver: 4th Floor Restaurant, Bankside Hall of Residence, Butler's Wharf Hall of Residence, Communications Division, Estates Division, Graduate Admissions Office, Grosvenor House Hall of Residence, High Holborn Hall of Residence, IMT, LSE Cities, Northumberland House Hall of Residence, Passfield Hall of Residence, Department of Philosophy, Secretary's Division, Department of Social Policy, Student Marketing and Recruitment 

Gold: Finance Division, Carr Saunders Hall of Residence, Department of Geography and Environment, Department of Management, Rosebery Hall of Residence 

Platinum: LSE Library, LSE100 

Special Awards 

Enviromental Hero Award: Jessica Templeton, LSE100 Director 

Innovation for Engagement: Department of Geography and Environment 

Environmental Improvement: Rosebery Hall 

Best Newcomer: Department of Philosophy 

  

Student Switch off Winners 

  • Carr Saunders Hall of Residence 

Reduce the Juice Winners 

  • Energy sprint - Passfield Hall 

  • Waste sprint - Butler's Wharf Hall 

  • Water sprint - Rosebery Hall 

2016/17

Green Impact Results 

Working Towards Bronze: Health and Social Care

Bronze: Department of Accounting, LSE Advancement, LSE Communications Division, LSE 100, LSE Cities, Department of Methodology, Philosophy, Department of Statistics

Silver: Bankside, Butler's Wharf, Carr-Saunders, Directorate, Department of Economics, Graduate Admissions Office, Geography, Grosvenor House, High Holborn Hall, Department of Mathematics, Northumberland House, Passfield Hall, Residential Services, Rosebery Hall, Student Marketing and Recruitment

Gold: Department of Social Policy, Cafe 54, Estates Division, Finance Division, Garrick, IMT, Library

Platinum: Department of Management

Special Awards

Environmental Hero Award: Karen Agate-Hilton

Most Improved Halls: Butler's Wharf

Most Improved Division: Library

 

Student Switch off Winners

  • Passfield Hall

Reduce the Juice Winners

  • Rosebery Hall

2015/16

Green Impact Results 

Working Towards Bronze: Human Resources, LSE Health and Social Care 

Bronze: Student Recruitment, Graduate Admissions, Law, Library, Butler's Wharf 

Silver: International Development, Accounting

Gold: Finance Divison, Rosebery Hall, IMT, Bankside Hall, Bean Counter, Passfield, Grosevenor, Economics, Estates, Department of Management, LSE Cities, Northumberland House, 4th Floor Café, Carr-Saunders 

Platinum: LSE Advancement, High Holborn Hall

 

Student Switch off Winners

  • Carr Saunders Hall

2014/15

Green Impact Results 

Working Towards Bronze: Social Psychology, LSE Philosophy, Middle East Centre, Hellenic Society, Accommodation Office, Human Righhts, Summer School, PCPD

Bronze: Directorate, Butlers, Grosvenor House, Institute for Public Affairs, High Holborn, Statistics Department, LSE Graduate Admission Office, Post Room, Library, Bean Counter LIF, International Growth Centre, Accounting, ARD, Ecogender

Silver: Peacock Theatre, Economics, International Development (plus the Staff Engagement Award), Bankside House, Social Policy

Gold: Government, Residential Services, IMT, Estates Division, Finance Division, Carr-Saunders

Gold Projects: 

  • Grantham Research Institute - Initiating a tomato growing competition
  • LSE Health and Social Care - Setting up a Bike User Group
  • Language Centre - Creating a sustainable move guide
  • Passfield - A 'season' of Green Events for students
  • Mathematics Department - Sustainability in the curriculum project

Platinum: Department of Management Innovation, Rosebery Hall, LSE Northumberland House - and Student Engagement award

Continued Excellence: LSE Advancement

 

Student Switch off Winners

  • Northumberland House

2013/14

Green Impact Results 

Bronze: Economics Department, International Deparment, Student Services Centre, Statistics Department, Statistics Department, Student Recruitment, Widening Participation & Undergraduate Admissions, Philosophy Department, Delmonte, Butlers Wharf, LSE ARD

Silver: Bankside House, Library, LSE Health and Social Care, Methodology Department, High Holborn, Media and Communications, Financial Markets Group, Passfield Halls (Best Student Engagement), Gender Department

Gold: Government, Department of Management, ERD Tower 3, Finance Division, Estates Division, Residential Services (Best Staff Engagement), LSEGAO, Information Management Technology, Carr-Saunders, LSE Northumberland House

Excellence: LSE Advancement, Mathematics Department, Rosebery Hall

Environmental Hero Award: Andra Fry from the Library, Dan Reeves from Estates Division

Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability: Justine Rose from LSE Advancement

Student Switch off Winners

  • Together, LSE residents have reduced carbon emissions by 10.8% - an energy reduction equivalent to 5,351,719 cups of tea!
  • Over 600 students across LSE halls of residence have been switching off.
  • For the third year running Carr Saunders Hall won the Switch Off Competition.

2012/13

  • Friday 10 May
  • Over 70 people attended 

Green Impact Results  

Working Towards Bronze: Cafe 54 - Catering, Grosvenor House, Philosophy,  International Development

Bronze: LSE Graduate Admissions, Statistics Department, Law Department, Department of Media and Communications, Gender Institute, ARD V600, Financial Markets Group, Research Division, LSE Enterprise, Student Recruitment, Widening Particpation and Undergraduate Admissions, Butler's Wharf

Bronze Plus Awards: Methodology, Bankside House, High Holborn

Silver Awards: Finance Division, Accounting, LSE Health and Social Care, Department of Social Policy, LSE Northumberland House, LSE Cities, Carr Saunders, Planning and Corporate Policy Division

Silver Plus Awards: Passfield Hall, ERD Tower 3, Government Department, Department of Management, Information Management Technology

Gold Awards: Roseberry Hall, Residential Services, LSESU

Gold Excellence: LSE Estates Division, LSE Catering, Office of Development and Alumni Relations, Department of Mathematics

Platinum: The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment 

Office Depot Innovation Award

Winner: Office of Development and Alumni Relations for their Feel Good Week. The week was set up to encourage staff to think of healthy alternatives to drinks, snacks and food, and to inspire them to look after their overall physical and mental wellbeing.

 Best Energy Saving Idea Award

Winner: The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment for their monitor switch off competition. 

Environmental Hero Award

Winner: Dr. Kira Matus for her work leading the Government Department Green Impact team, introducing sustainability into her undergraduate courses, and for focusing her research on sustainability issues.

Recycling League

In this year's recycling challenge, three departments won Fairtrade hampers for scoring 100% perfectly sorted waste. Congratulations to: Statistics Department, Department of Mathematics and the Gender Institute. 

Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability:

David Scott for heading up the school's leading Green Impact team in an academic department (Maths), for securing funding from the Sustainable Projecs Fund to introduce sustainability projects into the maths curriculum, and for his personal fundraising efforts for Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. 

Margaux Wehr is a first year undergraduate who successfully lead the LSE Cities Green Impact team to achieve a Silver Award. She is also part of the Passfield Hall Sustainability team  who won funding from the Sustainable Projects Fund to enhance their garden, and has come forward with ideas for water saving on campus.

Robin Ray is a MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation student and this year's president of the Sustainble Futures Society. She led the society to achieve a record number of applications, has been and exemplary Green Imapct Project Assistant for the LSE Estates team, and been a committed volunteer at various events and for various sustainability projects.

Student Switch off Winners

  • Together, LSE residents have reduced their energy use by 6% and saved over 78 tonnes of carbon.

  • The winning hall in 2012-13 is Sidney Webb House

2011/12

  • Tuesday 26 June

  • Over 70 people attended

Green Impact Results 

Working Towards Bronze: Financial Markets Group, LSE Enterprise, Methodology, ARD - Student Recruitment and Undergraduate Admissions, Department of Economics, LSESU (Catering workbook)

Bronze: Department of Accounting, ARD (V600), DoM Innovation, LSE Cities, External Relations, Tower 3, LSE Health and Social Care, Graduate Admissions, Student Services Centre, Social Policy, Department of Statistics, Directorate, High Holborn, Grosvenor House, Ecogender 

Silver: Design Unit, Finance Division, Government Department, Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Green Team Postroom, IT Services, LSE Careers, LSE Bankside, Northumberland House, Passfield Hall, Carr Saunders, Carr Saunders (Catering workbook) 

Gold: ODAR, Residential Services, Rosebery Hall, Mathematics, 4th Floor Restaurant and Café (Catering workbook), LSESU

Platinum: LSE Estates Division

Office Depot Innovation Award

Highly Commended: ODAR for their extensive programme of events around National Vegetarian Week 

Highly Commended: Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment for their proposals to develop a formal and embedded carbon offsetting strategy.

Winner: LSESU for their combined projects on re-use sales, and the food co-op.

 Best Energy Saving Idea Award

Winner: Paul Franklin and the Estates Maintenance Team for the decommissioning of a set of heaters, providing measurable and financial carbon savings.

Environmental Hero Award

Highly Commended: Paul Franklin for his work on water-efficient toilets and taps, lifecycle of plant and other equipment, LED roll out to improve lighting efficiency, research to locally source supplies, and establishing a BMS user group. 

Highly Commended: Sam Charman for his project to reduce cardboard box consumption and developing electronic marketing to save paper.

Winner: Sophie Offord for taking a lead in Green Impact over the last two years, for her role in recruiting students from across the department, for helping to get the Grantham Institute to aim for Gold in 2013 and to develop a carbon offsetting strategy, and for her role in creating a comedy recycling viral.  

Student Switch off Winners

  • Together, LSE residents have reduced carbon emissions by 93 tonnes which is equivalent to making 5,420,031 cups of tea!

  • Over 600 students across LSE halls of residence have been switching off. 

  • For the second year running Carr Saunders Hall won the Switch Off Competition.

Sustainable Projects Fund

The first project funded by the Sustainable Projects Fund came to fruition in May 2012 with the opening of the Green Roof atop the Plaza Café. Students Olivier Scialom, Stanslav Bic and Sidharth Gopalan submitted the idea to the fund and implemented the new green roof with the support of Phil Newsham from Estates.

The 2011/12 fund was awarded to the ImpACT Award and Awareness Project submitted by Margaret-Ann Splawn, Isabella Neuweg, Judith Peterka and Andrew Sudmant.

2010/11

  • Thursday 24 March

  • Over 70 people in attendence

Green Impact Results 

Working Towards Bronze: Graduate Admissions, Northumberland House, Department of International Development, Passfield Halls 

Bronze: Postroom, PCPD – Queens House, Butlers Wharf, Grantham Institute, Department of Government, Department of Geography and Environment, Bankside House, Gender Institute, Summer School, Grosvenor House

Silver: Department of Economics, Department of Mathematics, Language Centre, Design Unit, Carr Saunders, Student Union, Library, Roseberry Hall, Finance Division, Careers Service, IT Services

Gold: Catering Services, New Court (top scoring team), Human Resources, Office of Development and Alumni Relations

Office Depot Innovation Award: Department of Government

Best Energy Saving Idea Award: Office of Development and Alumni Relations 

Environmental Hero Award: Sue Kirkbride, Department of Economics  

Student Switch off Winners

  • Carr Saunders saved the most energy per resident and cut their electricity usage by 17%.

  • Over this academic year energy usage in halls reduced by 6.5% compared to the average of the last few years and collectively reduced carbon emissions by 83 tonnes.

  • There are over 450 Eco-Power Rangers in halls of residence who have been switching off lights and appliances when not in use, putting lids on pans when cooking and not overfilling their kettles.