Sustainability Rankings 2026

The HERA Sustainability Rankings are global in scope, covering institutions from all regions-developed and developing alike. The methodology recognizes regional disparities in resources and infrastructure but maintains a uniform evaluation framework. Institutions are compared not only within global tables but also across regional and thematic clusters (e.g., “Net-Zero Pioneers,” “Inclusive Campuses,” “Sustainable Innovators”).

This dual-level reporting ensures that institutions are acknowledged both for their absolute performance and their relative contextual leadership. For example, a mid-sized African university that innovates in water conservation may be recognized alongside a large European university leading in carbon neutrality. Thus, the rankings go beyond symbolism to emphasize substance and accountability. Here's the top 25 Worldwide Sustainability Educators.

World Rank	The University	Country
1	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
2	University of Toronto	Canada
3	Western Sydney University	Australia
4	University College London	United Kingdom
5	The University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
6	Nottingham Trent University	United Kingdom
7	Griffith University	Australia
8	UNSW Sydney	Australia
9	Queen’s University	Canada
10	Arizona State University (Tempe)	USA
11	University of Alberta	Canada
12	McGill University	Canada
13	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
14	Aalborg University	Denmark
15	Universitas Airlangga	Indonesia
16	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
17	University of California, Berkeley	USA
18	The University of Melbourne	Australia
19	Stanford University	USA
20	Pusan National University	South Korea
21	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
22	McMaster University	Canada
23	The University of Sydney	Australia
24	Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia
25	University of Victoria	Canada

The top 500 features, ranging from rank 26 to 500, led by New York University (NYU) and Pennsylvania State University. The list is heavily dominated by the United States (78 entries) and the United Kingdom (54 entries), which together comprise over a quarter of the recognized universities. Other significant contributors include Australia, Canada, and Germany, highlighting a strong presence from Western academic hubs. Notably, the list also shows growing representation from Asia, with the Republic of Korea, Japan, and India collectively contributing over 40 institutions.

World Rank	The University	Country
26	New York University (NYU)	USA
27	Pennsylvania State University	USA
28	University of Bristol	United Kingdom
29	University of Helsinki	Finland
30	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
31	KU Leuven	Belgium
32	Durham University	United Kingdom
33	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
34	Western University - Engineering	Canada
35	The University of Auckland	New Zealand
36	University of Pennsylvania	USA
37	Uppsala University	Sweden
38	Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin	Ireland
39	University of Reading	United Kingdom
40	The University of Sheffield	United Kingdom
41	Ghent University	Belgium
42	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
43	Seoul National University	Republic of Korea
44	University of York	United Kingdom
45	Michigan State University	USA
46	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom
47	Johns Hopkins University	USA
48	Boston University	USA
49	Monash University	Australia
50	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom
51	Universität Hamburg	Germany
52	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	USA
53	Université Paris-Saclay	France
54	The University of Tokyo	Japan
55	University College Dublin	Ireland
56	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
57	University of Gothenburg	Sweden
58	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden
59	The University of Queensland	Australia
60	University of Minnesota (System)	USA
61	University of Southampton	United Kingdom
62	Université de Montréal	Canada
63	University of Bath	United Kingdom
64	University of Aberdeen	United Kingdom
65	University of Cape Town	South Africa
66	Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn	Germany
67	Queen's University at Kingston	Canada
68	Sorbonne University	France
69	Aalto University	Finland
70	University of East Anglia (UEA)	United Kingdom
71	Loughborough University	United Kingdom
72	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom
73	Chalmers University of Technology	Sweden
74	Newcastle University	United Kingdom
75	National University of Singapore (NUS)	Singapore
76	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
77	University of Technology Sydney	Australia
78	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
79	University of Alberta	Canada
80	University of Waterloo	Canada
81	Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)	Belgium
82	Griffith University	Australia
83	University of Zurich	Switzerland
84	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	USA
85	University of Southern California	USA
86	University of Basel	Switzerland
87	University of Colorado Boulder	USA
88	Lancaster University	United Kingdom
89	Cardiff University	United Kingdom
90	University of Strathclyde	United Kingdom
91	The University of Warwick	United Kingdom
92	University of Sussex	United Kingdom
93	University of Massachusetts Amherst	USA
94	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Spain
95	Queen's University Belfast	United Kingdom
96	Adelaide University	Australia
97	University of Cologne	Germany
98	Universidade de São Paulo	Brazil
99	McMaster University	Canada
100	Korea University	Republic of Korea
101	University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha	New Zealand
102	Yonsei University	Republic of Korea
103	Washington University in St. Louis	USA
104	RMIT University	Australia
105	Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia)	Australia
106	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore)	Singapore
107	Purdue University	USA
108	EPFL – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland
109	University of Connecticut	USA
110	North Carolina State University	USA
111	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany
112	The University of Western Australia	Australia
113	Dalhousie University	Canada
114	Institut Polytechnique de Paris	France
115	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom
116	University of Southern Denmark (SDU)	Denmark
117	University of Otago	New Zealand
118	Arizona State University	USA
119	Deakin University	Australia
120	Dublin City University	Ireland
121	University of Ottawa	Canada
122	University of Surrey	United Kingdom
123	Kyoto University	Japan
124	Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg	Germany
125	University of Waikato	New Zealand
126	Queensland University of Technology (QUT)	Australia
127	Queen Mary University of London	United Kingdom
128	Stony Brook University, State University of New York	USA
129	Tufts University	USA
130	Simon Fraser University	Canada
131	Technical University of Munich	Germany
132	Università di Padova	Italy
133	Tohoku University	Japan
134	Technische Universität Dresden	Germany
135	York University	Canada
136	University of Leicester	United Kingdom
137	University of Calgary	Canada
138	The University of Newcastle, Australia (UON)	Australia
139	Massey University	New Zealand
140	Politecnico di Milano	Italy
141	RWTH Aachen University	Germany
142	The University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong SAR, China
143	Radboud University	Netherlands
144	Swansea University	United Kingdom
145	Universitat de Barcelona	Spain
146	University of Wollongong	Australia
147	Fudan University	China (Mainland)
148	Universidade Nova de Lisboa	Portugal
149	University of Tasmania	Australia
150	National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)	Taiwan
151	University of Florida	USA
152	University of Twente	Netherlands
153	Brunel University of London	United Kingdom
154	Universität Heidelberg	Germany
155	University of Antwerp	Belgium
156	Université PSL	France
157	Aalborg University	Denmark
158	Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna	Italy
159	Université Laval	Canada
160	University of Porto	Portugal
161	University of Dundee	United Kingdom
162	Linköping University	Sweden
163	Heriot-Watt University	United Kingdom
164	Maastricht University	Netherlands
165	Rice University	USA
166	University of Lisbon	Portugal
167	University College Cork	Ireland
168	Hanyang University	Republic of Korea
169	University of Guelph	Canada
170	Chulalongkorn University	Thailand
171	Northumbria University at Newcastle	United Kingdom
172	The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)	Hong Kong SAR, China
173	University of Stirling	United Kingdom
174	Universiti Malaya (UM)	Malaysia
175	University of Saskatchewan	Canada
176	University of Illinois Chicago (UIC)	USA
177	University at Buffalo SUNY	USA
178	KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany
179	Dartmouth College	USA
180	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Israel
181	Western Sydney University	Australia
182	University of Milan	Italy
183	Norwegian University of Science And Technology	Norway
184	University of Witwatersrand	South Africa
185	American University of Beirut (AUB)	Lebanon
186	Royal Holloway, University of London	United Kingdom
187	University of Galway	Ireland
188	James Cook University	Australia
189	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	USA
190	Manchester Metropolitan University	United Kingdom
191	Universität Stuttgart	Germany
192	Bangor University	United Kingdom
193	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China (Mainland)
194	Concordia University	Canada
195	Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	Republic of Korea
196	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
197	University of Pittsburgh	USA
198	La Trobe University	Australia
199	Northeastern University	USA
200	Curtin University	Australia
201	King Abdulaziz University (KAU)	Saudi Arabia
202	Cranfield University	United Kingdom
203	University of Limerick	Ireland
204	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)	Spain
205	University of Victoria (UVic)	Canada
206	Victoria University of Wellington	New Zealand
207	University of California, Santa Cruz	USA
208	Tel Aviv University	Israel
209	Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg	Germany
210	The University of Osaka	Japan
211	Flinders University	Australia
212	Université de Liège	Belgium
213	Leibniz University Hannover	Germany
214	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD)	India
215	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)	Malaysia
216	Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp)	Brazil
217	Coventry University	United Kingdom
218	City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK)	Hong Kong SAR, China
219	National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU Taiwan)	Taiwan
220	University of Hull	United Kingdom
221	Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main	Germany
222	University of Münster	Germany
223	Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC)	Chile
224	Technical University of Darmstadt	Germany
225	Texas A&M University	USA
226	University of Pretoria	South Africa
227	Universität Innsbruck	Austria
228	University of Coimbra	Portugal
229	Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México  (UNAM)	Mexico
230	Complutense University of Madrid	Spain
231	University of Göttingen	Germany
232	Washington State University	USA
233	Waseda University	Japan
234	Universitat Politecnica de Valencia	Spain
235	Kyushu University	Japan
236	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong SAR, China
237	Hokkaido University	Japan
238	Nagoya University	Japan
239	Politecnico di Torino	Italy
240	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB)	India
241	UWE Bristol (University of the West of England)	United Kingdom
242	Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne	France
243	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP)	India
244	Bocconi University	Italy
245	Pusan National University	Republic of Korea
246	Università degli Studi di Pavia	Italy
247	University of Delhi	India
248	University of Notre Dame	USA
249	Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands
250	Keio University	Japan
251	University of Utah	USA
252	Kyung Hee University	Republic of Korea
253	Hiroshima University	Japan
254	University of Florence	Italy
255	University of Turin	Italy
256	Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)	Malaysia
257	Florida International University	USA
258	University of Manitoba	Canada
259	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	United Kingdom
260	Yale University	USA
261	University of Johannesburg	South Africa
262	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong SAR, China
263	Nottingham Trent University	United Kingdom
264	Charles University	Czechia
265	Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC)	Spain
266	Umea University	Sweden
267	SOAS University of London	United Kingdom
268	University of Eastern Finland	Finland
269	University of Turku	Finland
270	Universität Konstanz	Germany
271	University of Oulu	Finland
272	University of Granada	Spain
273	Masaryk University	Czechia
274	Universidad Autónoma de Madrid	Spain
275	Ulster University	United Kingdom
276	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	USA
277	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
278	Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)	Belgium
279	Jagiellonian University	Poland
280	Qatar University	Qatar
281	Louisiana State University	USA
282	Auckland University of Technology (AUT)	New Zealand
283	Ca' Foscari University of Venice	Italy
284	University of Bordeaux	France
285	Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil
286	Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M)	Spain
287	University of Tsukuba	Japan
288	University of Pisa	Italy
289	Temple University	USA
290	Aston University	United Kingdom
291	University of California, Davis	USA
292	Nanjing University	China (Mainland)
293	University of Minho	Portugal
294	University of Warsaw	Poland
295	University of Huddersfield	United Kingdom
296	Kobe University	Japan
297	Harvard University	USA
298	Duke University	USA
299	Technion - Israel Institute of Technology	Israel
300	Swinburne University of Technology	Australia
301	University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	USA
302	University of Jyväskylä	Finland
303	Tongji University	China (Mainland)
304	University of Rochester	USA
305	Columbia University	USA
306	University of Bradford	United Kingdom
307	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	USA
308	Xiamen University	China (Mainland)
309	Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT	Finland
310	Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM)	India
311	Chiang Mai University	Thailand
312	Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech)	Japan
313	Universität Potsdam	Germany
314	American University	USA
315	University of Trento	Italy
316	Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK)	India
317	Princeton University	USA
318	Cornell University	USA
319	Mahidol University	Thailand
320	University of Canberra	Australia
321	Universidad de Zaragoza	Spain
322	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	USA
323	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
324	United Arab Emirates University	United Arab Emirates
325	Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG)	Brazil
326	Babes-Bolyai University	Romania
327	Universidad de los Andes	Colombia
328	Ruhr-Universität Bochum	Germany
329	University of Bayreuth	Germany
330	University of Genoa	Italy
331	University of California, Riverside	USA
332	University of Debrecen	Hungary
333	Colorado State University	USA
334	Texas Tech University	USA
335	Vilnius University	Lithuania
336	Koç University	Türkiye
337	Lebanese American University	Lebanon
338	University of Chicago	USA
339	Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)	Malaysia
340	Tecnológico de Monterrey	Mexico
341	Case Western Reserve University	USA
342	University of Rome "Tor Vergata"	Italy
343	Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)	Canada
344	University of Miami	USA
345	National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU)	Taiwan
346	UCSI University	Malaysia
347	Middle East Technical University	Türkiye
348	University of Szeged	Hungary
349	Sunway University	Malaysia
350	Aarhus University	Denmark
351	National Tsing Hua University - NTHU	Taiwan
352	Chung-Ang University (CAU)	Republic of Korea
353	Northwestern University	USA
354	University of Washington	USA
355	Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH)	Republic of Korea
356	Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague	Czechia
357	Charles Darwin University	Australia
358	University of Fribourg	Switzerland
359	Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore	India
360	National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) Islamabad	Pakistan
361	Boğaziçi University	Türkiye
362	Manipal Academy of Higher Education	India
363	Universidad de Concepción	Chile
364	Brown University	USA
365	University of Aveiro	Portugal
366	Inha University	Republic of Korea
367	Kyungpook National University	Republic of Korea
368	Hong Kong Baptist University	Hong Kong SAR, China
369	University of California, San Diego (UCSD)	USA
370	Universidade de Vigo	Spain
371	Aberystwyth University	United Kingdom
372	University of Delaware	USA
373	Istanbul Technical University	Türkiye
374	Ewha Womans University	Republic of Korea
375	UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK	Poland
376	Sultan Qaboos University	Oman
377	King Saud University	Saudi Arabia
378	Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)	Argentina
379	University of Lausanne	Switzerland
380	Tulane University	USA
381	Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)	China (Mainland)
382	University of the Philippines	Philippines
383	Vietnam National University, Hanoi	Viet Nam
384	University of Wisconsin-Madison	USA
385	Eötvös Loránd University	Hungary
386	Université Côte d'Azur	France
387	University of Oslo	Norway
388	Universitat de Valencia	Spain
389	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	USA
390	University of Texas at Austin	USA
391	University of Tartu	Estonia
392	Khalifa University	United Arab Emirates
393	Universidad de Sevilla	Spain
394	Utrecht University	Netherlands
395	Universidad de Alcalá (Madrid)	Spain
396	University of Jordan	Jordan
397	Georgetown University	USA
398	Central Queensland University (CQUniversity Australia)	Australia
399	COMSATS University Islamabad	Pakistan
400	University of Siena	Italy
401	The American University in Cairo	Egypt
402	Cairo University	Egypt
403	Maynooth University	Ireland
404	University of Vienna	Austria
405	Universidade de Santiago de Compostela	Spain
406	The Ohio State University	USA
407	Beijing Institute of Technology	China (Mainland)
408	University of Salamanca	Spain
409	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia	Malaysia
410	Wuhan University	China (Mainland)
411	University of Maryland, College Park	USA
412	Wayne State University	USA
413	University of Lincoln	United Kingdom
414	Southern Cross University	Australia
415	Gadjah Mada University	Indonesia
416	Yildiz Technical University	Türkiye
417	University of South Carolina	USA
418	Aristotle University of Thessaloniki	Greece
419	Stockholm University	Sweden
420	Lehigh University	USA
421	University of Navarra	Spain
422	Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore	Italy
423	Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP)	Peru
424	Victoria University	Australia
425	City St George’s, University of London	United Kingdom
426	University of Groningen	Netherlands
427	Taylor's University	Malaysia
428	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
429	Lincoln University	New Zealand
430	Universitat Ramon Llull	Spain
431	University of Windsor	Canada
432	Carnegie Mellon University	USA
433	Palacký University Olomouc	Czechia
434	De Montfort University	United Kingdom
435	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark
436	National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)	Taiwan
437	University of Alicante	Spain
438	Thammasat University	Thailand
439	Peking University	China (Mainland)
440	Paris Lodron University of Salzburg	Austria
441	Universitas Indonesia	Indonesia
442	University of Virginia	USA
443	University of South Florida	USA
444	University of Regina	Canada
445	University of Rhode Island	USA
446	Chungnam National University	Republic of Korea
447	Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU)	Saudi Arabia
448	Jeonbuk National University	Republic of Korea
449	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	Greece
450	Universita' Politecnica delle Marche	Italy
451	Sabanci University	Türkiye
452	National Chung Hsing University	Taiwan
453	Charles Sturt University	Australia
454	Tsinghua University	China (Mainland)
455	National Technical University of Athens	Greece
456	University of St.Gallen	Switzerland
457	Harbin Institute of Technology	China (Mainland)
458	Universidad de Oviedo	Spain
459	Birkbeck, University of London	United Kingdom
460	Ritsumeikan University	Japan
461	National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech)	Taiwan
462	Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań	Poland
463	Freie Universitaet Berlin	Germany
464	The University of Arizona	USA
465	Ateneo de Manila University	Philippines
466	Indiana University Bloomington	USA
467	University of the Sunshine Coast	Australia
468	Universidade de Brasília	Brazil
469	Chonnam National University	Republic of Korea
470	Anna University	India
471	Wilfrid Laurier University	Canada
472	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands
473	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	USA
474	Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani	India
475	Kasetsart University	Thailand
476	Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina	Brazil
477	University of Haifa	Israel
478	University of New Brunswick	Canada
479	Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)	Spain
480	KFUPM	Saudi Arabia
481	Prince of Songkla University	Thailand
482	University of Southern Queensland	Australia
483	Khon Kaen University	Thailand
484	Banaras Hindu University	India
485	Sejong University	Republic of Korea
486	The University of Texas at Arlington	USA
487	Gdańsk University of Technology	Poland
488	Keele University	United Kingdom
489	Universidad de Chile	Chile
490	University of Bern	Switzerland
491	George Washington University	USA
492	Jadavpur University	India
493	Daffodil International University	Bangladesh
494	Northwestern Polytechnical University	China (Mainland)
495	King Faisal University	Saudi Arabia
496	Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB)	Indonesia
497	Duy Tan University	Viet Nam
498	University of Kwazulu-Natal	South Africa
499	Universidad Nacional de Colombia	Colombia
500	King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi	Thailand

The 501 to 1,000 rank segment, starting with the Netherlands’ Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Leiden University at the top. While the United States (52 entries) still leads, there is a notable surge in representation from India (30) and China (24), signaling a shift in global academic competitiveness. Other significant clusters include the Republic of Korea (24), the United Kingdom (21), and Taiwan (20), reflecting a diverse mix of established and emerging institutions. European presence remains solid with strong contributions from Germany, France, and Italy, alongside Türkiye's 16 entries.

The HERA Sustainability Rankings highlight several Indian universities making notable contributions to sustainable education and practices. Among them, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education stands out with a world rank of 362, reflecting its strong commitment to sustainability and innovation. Further down the list, the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education Hyderabad, holds the 705th position, showcasing its growing emphasis on eco-friendly initiatives and academic excellence. At rank 787, Dayananda Sagar University Bengaluru, demonstrates its dedication to integrating sustainability into its academic and campus culture, while GLA University Mathura, ranked 799, continues to advance its efforts in promoting sustainable development and responsible education. Ultimately, this ranking segment highlights a more balanced global distribution, with Asian universities increasingly gaining ground in the mid-tier rankings. Explore the 501 - 1000  Sustainability Rank-List.

The last bracket of ranking covers 700 institutions spanning from rank 1,001 to 1,700, beginning with Taiwan’s National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. China (Mainland) leads this segment with 113 entries, followed by the United States (89), signaling a significant shift in institutional volume within this tier. Notable representation also comes from France (30), Türkiye (29), and Pakistan (27), reflecting the growing competitiveness of emerging academic markets. Furthermore, the inclusion of multiple institutions from Kazakhstan and Bangladesh highlights a broadening of global higher education standards. Overall, the list illustrates a highly diverse landscape where Asian and Middle Eastern universities are rapidly expanding their international presence. Explore the 1001 - 1700  Sustainability Rank-List.

This ranking is not an endpoint but a beginning. Rankings are not the final goal; they are instruments that encourage institutions to strive, improve, and transform. The true success of the HERA Sustainability Rankings will not be in the tables published each year, but in the cultures of sustainability they inspire, the policies they shape, and the futures they secure.

As higher education stands at a crossroads, the HERA Sustainability Rankings extend an invitation: to lead with vision, act with responsibility, and measure success not by prestige alone, but by the legacy of a sustainable tomorrow.

We’d love to hear your thoughts - share your feedback, leave us a review, or even contribute by adding your college to our rankings list. Write to us at editor@hera-global.org