Homepage emissions: UK Learning Providers

Last updated: 09 June 2022

The internet consumes a lot of electricity. 416.2 TWh per year.
The Independent, January 2016

How are universities and colleges impacting the planet? You may not think of websites as sources of carbon emissions but they are. Data centres, transmission networks, and the devices we use to access them all use electricity which, in turn, produces carbon emissions. When your website has lots of visitors that can easily add up. We've used the Website Carbon Calculator (created by Wholegrain Digital) to assess UK learning provider homepages.

The results

The average emissions from a UK learning provider homepage are 3.10g (median of 1.82g) which is worse than an average website (1.76g). So, overall, UK learning providers are doing badly. The top and bottom 10 websites are given here with the full list below.

Top 10 lowest emissions

UK learning provider	CO2 / grams
Sheffield Hallam University	0.14
University of Wales Prifysgol Cymru	0.33
The University of Westminster	0.37
Birkbeck College	0.40
University of Surrey	0.41
University of Lancaster	0.44
University of Dundee	0.46
The University of Manchester	0.49
The University of Buckingham	0.50
Ravensbourne Limited	0.52

Top 10 highest emissions

UK learning provider	CO2 / grams
The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama	30.13
University of Winchester	21.73
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland	16.80
University of Durham	16.28
Royal Academy of Music	11.04
University of Sunderland	10.61
Royal College of Music	10.46
University of the West of Scotland	10.16
Leeds College of Music	10.14
University College London	9.35

Why should universities care?

Each visitor may only produce a few grams of CO2 emissions but when taken over time - and over the number of visitors - that can soon add up. For instance, if your page generates 1g of CO2 per visit and you get 10,000 visitors a month that works out at as much CO2 as boiling water for 5,700 cups of tea a year.

Aside from the environmental impact of large websites, there is also the impact on your visitors who are on limited data plans. A single visit to a 30MB homepage (12g of CO2) would use an entire day's worth of data for someone on a 1GB monthly plan.

How can a university do better?

Don't despair! The worst offenders usually have some very easy things they can do to dramatically reduce their CO2 emissions that most likely don't need the IT department to get involved. The first thing to do is check the file sizes of images you use on the front page. Often there will be a large header image, images in a carousel, or images associated with news items. These are most likely added through a content management system which doesn't optimise the image.

Check out our advice for local authorities, Wholegrain Digital's 17 ways you can make your website more efficient and our blog post from the #PlanetData2 event in 2020.

The full list

Here is the full list of universities with their CO2 emissions but you can also get this as a CSV file or TSV file. Note that university websites often change with new featured items and this can affect their CO2 emissions so this table is a snapshot.

Rank	UK learning provider	UKPRN	CO2 / grams	Last checked
1	The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama	10001653	30.13	2022-06-09
2	University of Winchester	10003614	21.73	2022-06-09
3	Royal Conservatoire of Scotland	10005561	16.80	2022-06-09
4	University of Durham	10007143	16.28	2022-06-09
5	Royal Academy of Music	10007835	11.04	2022-06-09
6	University of Sunderland	10007159	10.61	2022-06-09
7	Royal College of Music	10007778	10.46	2022-06-09
8	University of the West of Scotland	10007800	10.16	2022-06-09
9	Leeds College of Music	10034449	10.14	2022-06-09
10	University College London	10007784	9.35	2022-06-09
11	The City University	10001478	8.84	2022-06-09
12	The Arts University College at Bournemouth	10000385	8.63	2022-06-09
13	University of Nottingham	10007154	8.49	2022-06-09
14	Cranfield University	10007822	8.23	2022-06-09
15	The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts	10003945	8.22	2022-06-09
16	Writtle College	10007657	7.85	2022-06-09
17	University of Aberdeen	10007783	7.17	2022-06-09
18	London South Bank University	10004078	7.07	2022-06-09
19	University of Warwick	10007163	6.80	2022-06-09
20	University of Salford	10007156	6.73	2022-06-09
21	Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Limited	10007838	5.92	2022-06-09
22	University of East Anglia	10007789	5.67	2022-06-09
23	University Campus Suffolk Ltd	10014001	5.24	2022-06-09
24	London School of Economics & Political Science	10004063	4.87	2022-06-09
25	The University of Cumbria	10007842	4.69	2022-06-09
26	London Metropolitan University	10004048	4.66	2022-06-09
27	School of Oriental and African Studies	10007780	4.36	2022-06-09
28	Norwich University College of the Arts	10004775	4.35	2022-06-09
29	The University of Bolton	10006841	4.26	2022-06-09
30	University College Falmouth	10008640	4.17	2022-06-09
31	University of Bedfordshire	10007152	4.16	2022-06-09
32	The Royal Veterinary College	10007779	4.15	2022-06-09
33	Loughborough University	10004113	3.89	2022-06-09
33	Glasgow Caledonian University	10007762	3.89	2022-06-09
35	Glasgow School of Art	10002681	3.88	2022-06-09
36	University of Essex	10007791	3.83	2022-06-09
37	University of Greenwich	10007146	3.66	2022-06-09
37	Glyndwr University	10007833	3.66	2022-06-09
39	Middlesex University	10004351	3.61	2022-06-09
40	Leeds Trinity University College	10003863	3.53	2022-06-09
41	University for the Creative Arts	10006427	3.47	2022-06-09
42	University of Hull	10007149	3.37	2022-06-09
43	University of Bath (The)	10007850	3.30	2022-06-09
44	St Mary's University College, Twickenham	10007843	3.22	2022-06-09
45	Royal Holloway College and Bedford New College	10005553	3.12	2022-06-09
46	University of Gloucestershire	10007145	3.03	2022-06-09
47	University of Ulster	10007807	3.00	2022-06-09
48	Cardiff Metropolitan University	10007854	2.99	2022-06-09
49	University of the Arts, London	10007162	2.92	2022-06-09
49	University of Cambridge	10007788	2.92	2022-06-09
49	Leeds College of Art	10003854	2.92	2022-06-09
52	Rose Bruford College	10005523	2.85	2022-06-09
53	University of Southampton	10007158	2.84	2022-06-09
54	St George's Hospital Medical School	10007782	2.69	2022-06-09
54	Liverpool Hope University	10003956	2.69	2022-06-09
56	Bournemouth University	10000824	2.66	2022-06-09
57	Open University(The)	10007773	2.60	2022-06-09
57	Liverpool John Moores University	10003957	2.60	2022-06-09
59	Canterbury Christ Church University	10001143	2.57	2022-06-09
60	The University of Chichester	10007137	2.52	2022-06-09
61	University of Lincoln	10007151	2.50	2022-06-09
62	University of Exeter	10007792	2.47	2022-06-09
63	University of Plymouth	10007801	2.39	2022-06-09
63	University of Chester	10007848	2.39	2022-06-09
65	Anglia Ruskin University	10000291	2.28	2022-06-09
66	University of Edinburgh	10007790	2.27	2022-06-09
67	Nottingham Trent University	10004797	2.26	2022-06-09
68	Edge Hill University	10007823	2.22	2022-06-09
69	Courtauld Institute of Art	10007761	2.21	2022-06-09
70	Southampton Solent University	10006022	2.15	2022-06-09
71	Swansea University	10007855	2.08	2022-06-09
72	Brunel University	10000961	2.07	2022-06-09
73	Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London	10007775	2.05	2022-06-09
74	University of Reading	10007802	2.03	2022-06-09
75	St Mary's University College	10008026	2.01	2022-06-09
76	University of Kent	10007150	1.99	2022-06-09
77	Buckinghamshire New University	10000975	1.94	2022-06-09
78	Teesside University	10007161	1.91	2022-06-09
79	Roehampton University	10007776	1.90	2022-06-09
79	Northern School of Contemporary Dance	10008816	1.90	2022-06-09
81	University of Leicester	10007796	1.87	2022-06-09
82	University of Wales: Trinity Saint David	10007858	1.83	2022-06-09
83	Royal Agricultural College	10005545	1.82	2022-06-09
83	Edinburgh Napier University	10007772	1.82	2022-06-09
85	School of Pharmacy University of London(The)	10007781	1.80	2022-06-09
85	Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh	10005337	1.80	2022-06-09
87	University of Hertfordshire	10007147	1.76	2022-06-09
88	University of Newcastle Upon Tyne	10007799	1.75	2022-06-09
89	Kingston University	10003678	1.71	2022-06-09
90	Harper Adams University	10040812	1.70	2022-06-09
91	Oxford Brookes University	10004930	1.67	2022-06-09
92	University of Huddersfield	10007148	1.66	2022-06-09
92	University of Glamorgan / Prifysgol Morgannwg	10007793	1.66	2022-06-09
94	University of Derby	10007851	1.65	2022-06-09
95	The Queen's University of Belfast	10005343	1.64	2022-06-09
96	University of Abertay Dundee	10007849	1.60	2022-06-09
97	Royal Northern College of Music	10007837	1.57	2022-06-09
98	Goldsmiths' College	10002718	1.54	2022-06-09
99	University of Oxford	10007774	1.51	2022-06-09
99	Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Ltd	10008017	1.51	2022-06-09
101	Leeds Metropolitan University	10003861	1.50	2022-06-09
101	Institute of Education, University of London	10007766	1.50	2022-06-09
101	Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln	10007811	1.50	2022-06-09
104	Bangor University	10007857	1.45	2022-06-09
105	King's College London	10003645	1.42	2022-06-09
105	Aston University	10007759	1.42	2022-06-09
107	Coventry University	10001726	1.41	2022-06-09
108	The University of Northampton	10007138	1.37	2022-06-09
109	The Robert Gordon University	10005500	1.35	2022-06-09
109	Birmingham City University	10007140	1.35	2022-06-09
111	University of Strathclyde	10007805	1.32	2022-06-09
112	University of Northumbria at Newcastle	10001282	1.29	2022-06-09
112	University of Birmingham	10006840	1.29	2022-06-09
112	Newman University College	10007832	1.29	2022-06-09
115	University of East London	10007144	1.27	2022-06-09
115	Institute of Cancer Research: Royal Cancer Hospital (The)	10003324	1.27	2022-06-09
117	University of Glasgow	10007794	1.26	2022-06-09
117	The Manchester Metropolitan University	10004180	1.26	2022-06-09
119	University of York	10007167	1.25	2022-06-09
120	University of Keele	10007767	1.24	2022-06-09
121	University of Brighton	10000886	1.23	2022-06-09
122	University of Liverpool	10006842	1.18	2022-06-09
123	University of Bradford	10007785	1.16	2022-06-09
123	Heriot-Watt University	10007764	1.16	2022-06-09
125	Central School of Speech and Drama(The)	10007816	1.14	2022-06-09
126	The University of West London	10006566	1.12	2022-06-09
126	Staffordshire University	10006299	1.12	2022-06-09
128	University of the Highlands and Islands	10007114	1.11	2022-06-09
129	Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine	10003270	1.08	2022-06-09
130	University of Bristol	10007786	1.07	2022-06-09
131	Stranmillis University College	10008010	1.04	2022-06-09
131	Prifysgol Aberystwyth	10007856	1.04	2022-06-09
133	Royal College of Art(The)	10007777	1.02	2022-06-09
134	London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine	10007771	1.00	2022-06-09
135	Bath Spa University	10000571	0.98	2022-06-09
136	University of Sheffield	10007157	0.97	2022-06-09
137	York St John University	10007713	0.96	2022-06-09
138	University of Wolverhampton	10007166	0.89	2022-06-09
139	University of Central Lancashire	10007141	0.88	2022-06-09
140	University of Worcester	10007139	0.87	2022-06-09
141	Sruc	10005700	0.85	2022-06-09
142	University of St Andrews	10007803	0.81	2022-06-09
143	De Montfort University	10001883	0.78	2022-06-09
144	Guildhall School of Music and Drama	10007825	0.77	2022-06-09
145	University of Stirling	10007804	0.76	2022-06-09
146	Cardiff University	10007814	0.75	2022-06-09
147	Plymouth Marjon University	10037449	0.74	2022-06-09
148	University of Sussex	10007806	0.73	2022-06-09
149	University of Portsmouth	10007155	0.67	2022-06-09
150	University College Birmingham	10000712	0.65	2022-06-09
151	University of the West of England, Bristol	10007164	0.60	2022-06-09
151	University of London	10007797	0.60	2022-06-09
151	University of Leeds	10007795	0.60	2022-06-09
154	London Business School	10007769	0.55	2022-06-09
155	Ravensbourne Limited	10005389	0.52	2022-06-09
156	The University of Buckingham	10007787	0.50	2022-06-09
157	The University of Manchester	10007798	0.49	2022-06-09
158	University of Dundee	10007852	0.46	2022-06-09
159	University of Lancaster	10007768	0.44	2022-06-09
160	University of Surrey	10007160	0.41	2022-06-09
161	Birkbeck College	10007760	0.40	2022-06-09
162	The University of Westminster	10007165	0.37	2022-06-09
163	University of Wales Prifysgol Cymru	10008574	0.33	2022-06-09
164	Sheffield Hallam University	10005790	0.14	2022-06-09

Where the CO2 emissions are given as "?" no result could be found using the Website Carbon Calculator.