A carbon neutral initiative and a sustainable energy postgraduate program at UQ have both been shortlisted as finalists in the prestigious Green Gown Awards Australasia.
The awards recognise sustainability leadership in the tertiary education sector and cover a range of categories from student engagement to climate action and several topics in between.
UQ was recognised in the following two categories:
- Creating impact – for our work in building carbon accounting capabilities and achieving a carbon neutral certification for the UQ Art Museum 2022 Oceanic Thinking event
- Next generation learning and skills – for the innovative UQ Master of Sustainable Energy, which takes a multidisciplinary approach to educating leaders for a Net Zero transition.
About the UQ Art Museum carbon neutral certification
Art and accounting may seem unlikely bedfellows for creating sustainability impact, but UQ successfully brought the two together to achieve carbon neutral certification for its 2022 Oceanic Thinking event.
Running from February to June 2022 at UQ Art Museum, the exhibition presented new ways of understanding the ocean and our planet. Australian indigenous and other local works sat alongside pieces from Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Cape Town and beyond, providing rich international perspectives on humanity’s relationship with one of our most valuable resources.
The exhibition also provided UQ with a practical opportunity to increase its understanding and capability for carbon emissions accounting. We are now able to apply these invaluable learnings to other events or operations.
In December 2022, the initiative also won UQ a Gallery and Museum Achievement Award for sustainability in the Queensland art gallery and museum sector.
About the UQ Master of Sustainable Energy
The UQ Master of Sustainable Energy educates leaders for the transition to a net zero energy future.
It provides a multidisciplinary learning experience with a focus on industry engagement through teaching, an advisory board and a dedicated alumni network.
The program has experienced significant growth since its inception in 2017 and graduates have achieved strong employment outcomes in more than 30 countries worldwide.
It has been estimated that Australia requires an additional 700,000 people in the energy workforce to achieve net zero by 2050. UQ’s flexible program provides a model to help address this workforce bottleneck, allowing students to pivot their careers to focus on the future sustainability of energy generation and use.
About the Green Gown Awards
The Green Gown Awards Australasia are administered in our region by Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS), who are a founding partner of the International Green Gown Awards, which first began in the United Kingdom and now incorporate 25 countries on six continents.
UQ now joins other finalists throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region in completing a stage two submission for both of its entries and awaiting announcement of the winners on 2 November 2023.
View all finalists on the Green Gown Awards site.
