Brian Gormley

“Green Week has always been driven by passionate students working alongside committed staff to make the University a more sustainable place.”

I’ve been involved with Green Week for over 18 years, and it’s incredible to see the momentum it has built. This year alone there are over 30 events with hundreds of people taking part. My involvement has mainly been on the City Campus, but in recent years it’s been fantastic to see events thriving on our Tallaght and Blanchardstown campuses too.

Green Week has always been a student-led initiative, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with some exceptional student leaders who were determined to make the University a more sustainable place to study and work — Filipa Ferraz, Colin Broderick, Trevor Seery, Amber Thomas and Jennifer McAree, to name just a few.

Staff have always played a strong supporting role as well. The Chaplains were hugely involved in the early years, Ciaran Cuffe chaired the Green Campus Committee at one point, and academics like Catherine Gorman (Tourism), Rachel Freeman (Horticulture), Sarah Maher (Chemistry) and Dave O’Connor (Environmental Management & Planning) were always very supportive.

Today the partnership between staff and students is stronger than ever, and it’s genuinely heartening to see the passion our students bring to environmental issues.

“The Green Gown Awards recognise the incredible work of our staff and the creativity of our students.”

One of the most high-profile successes was TU Dublin being ranked 1st in Europe and 17th in the world for Sustainability Education in the AASHE-STARS rankings.

However, what has meant the most to me personally is the success of our students and staff in the Green Gown Awards, which are essentially the Oscars of sustainability in higher education across the UK and Ireland.

Over the last two years TU Dublin has won more awards than any other university — competing with institutions like Oxford and St Andrews that have much larger budgets. These awards recognise the dedication of our staff, the innovation of our academic programmes and the creativity of our students.

This year, one of our students, Charlie Beaudelot (Human Nutrition and Dietetics), was named Student Sustainability Champion of the Year for the UK and Ireland and will go forward to the global awards in April.

“Something as simple as how buildings are heated can have a huge impact on carbon emissions.”

One of the most impactful changes is on the Tallaght Campus, where most buildings are now heated using excess heat from a nearby Amazon Data Centre.

This has had a massive impact. It has already contributed over 18% towards our statutory target of a 51% emissions reduction by 2030, and it has saved more than 800 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

TU Dublin is now involved in three of the four national district heating projects, which creates huge opportunities for our students and staff to engage with cutting-edge energy infrastructure.

“Every graduate — regardless of discipline — needs to understand how sustainability connects to their field.”

is huge demand for graduates who understand sustainability challenges, and TU Dublin is well positioned to meet that demand.

When people think about careers in sustainability, they often focus on areas like renewable energy, sustainable transport, circular economy and environmental management — all areas where TU Dublin has strong expertise.

But sustainability goes far beyond those fields. Business graduates increasingly need to understand corporate sustainability reporting. Media graduates play a role in communication and behaviour change around sustainable technologies. And the social sciences are critical in shaping how we deliver a just transition.

That’s why it’s so important that sustainability is integrated across all disciplines. TU Dublin was the first Irish university to embed sustainability as a learning outcome across all programmes, and it is now one of our core Graduate Attributes.

“Procurement might sound boring, but it’s one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce emissions.”

One of the biggest opportunities lies in procurement. It might sound unglamorous, but it has enormous potential for impact.

Currently, 57% of TU Dublin’s climate emissions come from the products and services we purchase each year. By implementing Green Public Procurement, we could significantly reduce those emissions.

Beyond that, when an organisation the size of TU Dublin prioritises suppliers who reduce their impact on climate and biodiversity, it helps shift the entire market towards more sustainable practices.

Our procurement team is already making strong progress in this area.

“I’d love to see TU Dublin graduates recognised globally as leaders in sustainability.”

I’d like the headline to say that TU Dublin graduates are leaders in sustainability in Ireland and globally.

TU Dublin was the first Irish university to offer an MSc in Sustainable Development, and many of those graduates are already leaders in the field. With our continued focus on sustainability education, I believe we’ll see even more graduates shaping policy, industry and innovation in the years ahead.

“Real progress comes from system-level change — and that’s where our graduates can make the biggest impact.”

There is often too much focus on individual actions — recycling, reusable cups, shorter showers, switching off lights. These are all positive habits, but focusing only on personal responsibility can distract from the system-level changes that drive the biggest impact.

What we really need are people who can redesign systems — in business, infrastructure, policy and technology — to make sustainability the default.

That’s where our graduates can make the biggest difference.