The consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released this Tuesday the results of the second edition of the QS Sustainability ranking. Unicamp is in second place in the country, fifth in Latin America and 237th in the world. 1.403 institutions were analyzed, including 342 from the Americas and 34 from Brazil. The first position in the country is held by the University of São Paulo (USP) and, in the general ranking, by the University of Toronto (Canada). In the first edition of the ranking, held in 2022, Unicamp was also in second place among Brazilian institutions, fifth in Latin America and between position 151-160 in the world. In that edition, 700 universities were evaluated, approximately half of the institutions ranked in 2023.
The QS sustainability ranking evaluated three criteria: environmental impact (environmental sustainability; environmental research; and environmental education), social impact (knowledge exchange; health and well-being; employability and income; equality; and educational impact) and governance.
Unicamp's best performance was in the knowledge exchange criterion, which evaluates partnerships between developed and developing regions created to share knowledge and boost a university's positive impact on its local community and society in general. According to this criterion, Unicamp is 80th in the world ranking.
“Unicamp’s good classification in this second edition of the QS sustainability ranking, at a national, regional and global level, reflects the commitment of this management so that the University works in accordance with the UN [United Nations] 2030 Agenda in all of its fronts, ranging from institutional inclusion and permanence policies to projects such as the Sustainable Campus and ecological corridors, among other initiatives”, assesses the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles.
The rector highlights the University's participation in major projects and research centers associated with the themes of climate change, energy transition and sustainability, among them the São Paulo Center for Energy Transition Studies (CPTEn), the Center for Innovation in New Energies ( Cine), the Brazilian Agave Development program (Brave), AmazonFACE, the Center for Studies on Urbanization for Knowledge and Innovation (Ceuci) and the Genomics for Climate Change Research Center (GCCRC).
Furthermore, the rector draws attention to Unicamp's efforts to train professionals through programs linked to sustainability, such as doctoral programs in bioenergy and postgraduate studies in environment and society.
Unicamp's efforts in the area
Coordinator of Sustainable Campus, a project that aims to implement sustainable management within the scope of human, natural and economic resources, professor Luiz Carlos da Silva points out that for around two decades Unicamp has sought to align itself with environmental guidelines. Silva comments below on the various areas of activity of the University for this purpose.
Waste Management
“Unicamp already has 20 years of effort in the area of sustainability and environmental management. The pioneering area was waste management, with the implementation of a system that is a reference throughout the country in terms of hazardous, chemical, hospital and civil construction waste.” In this area, he says, there are also projects to use some types of waste to generate energy.
Energy
Another highlight, for Silva, is in the energy area, where initiatives related to energy efficiency and waste reduction have advanced in recent years. As examples of these projects, the professor cites Unicamp 100% Led, which aims to replace all campus lamps with LEDs, Sustentabilidade no Ar, aimed at modernizing the air conditioning system, and Mais Fotovoltaica, aimed at tripling generation capacity energy through sunlight.
“There are also efforts in the area of energy contracting. Today we contract the cheapest energy on the market and our next contract, from January 1st, is for incentivized energy, that is, 100% of the energy will come from renewable sources”, says the professor.
Student Exchange
In the area of mobility, he highlights, the electric bus was implemented. “The possibility of bringing other types of low-carbon emission vehicles, such as those powered by green hydrogen and biomethane, is also discussed,” he says.
Green areas
“On the topic of green area management, there are projects that aim to increase the University’s vegetation cover, including the ecological corridors project, which aims to impact not only our area of preservation and vegetation cover but also the protection of fauna”, says Silva .
O Ecological Corridors Project on the Unicamp Campus and Region, approved in 2022, aims to recover and connect fragments of native forest and protect springs within the Argentine Farm, an area of 1,4 million square meters acquired by Unicamp in 2014. The forecast is that, in five years, 217 thousand square meters of ecological corridors and 300 thousand square meters of planting areas, in addition to 92 meters of fauna crossings and 6.500 meters of corridor fencing. The connection between forest fragments will allow gene exchange of fauna and flora species, preventing their degeneration.
Water resources
Another advance highlighted by the Sustainable Campus coordinator occurred in the area of water resources management. “Over the last decade, we have managed to greatly reduce water consumption by implementing more efficient technologies in taps, combating leaks and improving our system in general. Today there is a GT [working group] discussing other possibilities, such as water reuse and rainwater collection.”
“The fact that we appear second in the ranking is something very deserved because Unicamp has been making this effort for many years, for two decades, and has managed to produce a great impact. Despite the challenges that lie ahead, this is a result that motivates everyone involved with this topic.”
