With the eyes of the world on the Copenhagen Summit and green issues dominating the news, RiverOnline has compared the environmental policies of Kingston University and the Copenhagen University.

In 2008 Copenhagen University published its first set of ‘green’ accounts which audited the environmental impact of each aspect of the university.

The results of this led to a ‘Green Campus Action Plan’ for the university - including commitments to reduce the university’s CO2 emissions from energy consumption by 2013 to that of 20 per cent below that of 2006 and making 75 per cent of all purchases with sustainability in mind by the same year.

Copenhagen also hosted a meeting of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) which agreed six key messages to send to world leaders on climate change. Top of the list was - ‘Inaction is inexcusable.’

The Scandinavian university also encourages its students to be conscious of their impact on the environment. Earlier this year the university’s heating bill was cut by 10 per cent in just three weeks by running an energy efficiency campaign.

Former Copenhagen University student Jonatan Buus said: “All students at Copenhagen try to be good to the environment. The university is right to push us to behave like this.”

By comparison Kingston University has managed to cut its CO2 emissions by 2 per cent this year. If similar cuts were made each year until 2013 emissions would be cut by 10 per cent, half of Copenhagen’s target.

In the last few years Kingston has set up a sustainability hub with the aim “to increase the environmental awareness of staff and students and promote the University's contribution towards sustainable development.”

This year Kingston became the first academic institution to achieve phase 3 of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment’s (IEMA) Acorn scheme.

The Acorn scheme is an internationally recognised accreditation that recognises commitment to environmental improvement.

This semester has also seen recycling bins emerge across the university as part of the Carbon Management Plan which aims to see recycling increase to 60 per cent by 2010.

A recent survey for RiverOnline found that the majority of students were in favour of this idea.

However, Kingston has a long way to go before it matches Copenhagen. Government Display Energy Certificates rate building energy efficiency from A to G (A being the best). The John Galsworthy building received an F rating while the Penrhyn Road Main Building was rated D.

One student told RiverOnline: “Yesterday I was in the gym; the radiator was on full blast and the windows wide open.”

For more information on Kingston and Copenhagen’s (in English) environmental policies follow the links.