The 2016 international GreenMetric ranking edition indicates that the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) is positioned 127th out of a total of 516 universities in 75 countries. The UCLM stays in the 11th position among the 27 Spanish universities deliberately evaluated in terms of sustainability and the environment. In all the six evaluated dimensions, the UCLM continues to stand out especially in education and research related to sustainability and the environment.

The GreenMetric ranking, elaborated by the University of Indonesia, evaluates universities that voluntarily decide to go through a battery of sustainability indicators grouped into 6 dimensions: ‘Setting and Infrastructure’ (15% of the total score), ‘Energy and Climate Change'(21%),’Waste'(18%),’Water'(10%),’Transportation'(18%) and ‘Education and Research in sustainability and environment’. In the 7th edition of this ranking, corresponding to the year 2016, 3 new indicators have been added up to a total of 54, whereas the number of participating universities has increased by more than 25%, representing an amount of 516 from 75 different countries.

Despite the increasing participation of universities, UCLM’s position in this world ranking has improved from being 212 in 2014 to 174 in 2015 and, finally, 127 in 2016. In each of the six dimensions evaluated the UCLM is ranked in the top half of the ranking, being classified in the top third of the best universities for the fields of ‘Energy and Climate Change’ and ‘Water’, as well as among 10% of the best universities in ‘Education and Sustainability Research’. The good qualification obtained in this last dimension in the edition 2015 fostered the invitation to participate in the 2nd International Meeting of IU GreenMetric, held in Jakarta in April 2016, event in which the UCLM was represented by the delegate of the rector for sustainability, Federico Fernandez.

Concerning the Spanish universities, whose number has increased from 21 to 27 in this edition, UCLM maintains the eleventh position reached last year. The comparatively best-valued dimensions are those already indicated by the general ranking, to which the field of ‘Setting and Infrastructure’ has also been added, being positioned in the first third of Spanish universities.

The vice chancellor for Economy and Planning, Manuel Villasalero, and the delegate of the rector for sustainability have agreed that these results confirm “the solid position of the UCLM in the ranking and its good sustainability standards, which are based on a multicampus design with high environmental benefits, the important contribution of the International Campus of Excellence CYTEMA, composed of 16 centres and research institutes specialized in energy and environmental issues, and in the work carried out at university centres, departments and services that promote teaching and research activities, as well as good practices in sustainability”.