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Photo: UHI Moray
Regenerative sustainability: Seeking to minimise negative environmental impacts while actively restoring natural, biophysical systems, to ensure a net positive environmental and social impact.
Akrit Ghimire, VP Community at Edinburgh University Students’ Association introduces the University’s new strategy to go beyond net zero and its commitment to “Regenerative Sustainability”.
A regenerative approach is critical to the University of Edinburgh delivering its world-leading research, learning and teaching.
The University Executive and University Court have made a bold and public commitment to a regenerative approach to sustainability, ensuring these values are embedded in our culture and actions. Regenerative initiatives will, in future, be visible across campus and their positive impacts will be clearly signposted and understood and welcomed not just by staff and students, but the wider community too
The purpose of the strategy is to go above and beyond. For example, rather than just siloing ourselves and making sure we have no carbon impact, we are working to take in more than we emit so that we help regenerate the world.
Our vision for the future is that that the University will have embedded a regenerative ethos across its staff and student lifecycles and experience. There will be an understanding that regeneration is part of everyone’s role and decisions made will be aligned to regenerative sustainability.
Regenerative sustainability will be mainstreamed across the student experience so that University of Edinburgh graduates will have the knowledge and skills to thrive in a sustainable future.
This is an ambitious strategy, and we are excited and committed.
Our goals are that:
- By 2030, the majority of staff and students of our community will be aware of our regenerative sustainability goals, with many inspired to lead or be involved in realising the University’s vision.
- By 2030, regenerative sustainability will be embedded through the staff and student experience and be visible in our behaviours.
- By 2030, the majority of staff and students will feel well informed and confident when making sustainability related decisions.
Strategies provide the direction, but it is the staff and students that make the University what it is. A dedicated focus to shifting the culture of the University is what will make our new net zero strategy the most effective and lead to the greatest positive change for the University and the global community.
Akrit Ghimire, ESA VP Community,
5 June 2026
The University of Edinburgh’s net zero strategy Regenerative Sustainability: Our Pathway Beyond Net Zero is available on the University of Edinburgh website.
