HUDDERSFIELD University is won its green credentials.

The university was today named in a survey as Britain’s most environmentally improved university.

Huddersfield jumped an outstanding 63 places to secure eighth position in the Green League published by the People and Planet campaign.

The university achieved 47 out of 60 – a first class result described by the league as a “solid environmental performance”.

Each of the 119 higher education institutes studied were scored in nine categories including recycling, water usage, carbon emissions and Fairtrade policy.

Other Yorkshire universities have also done well. Leeds Metropolitan University (joint eighth with Huddersfield), Leeds University (14th) and Sheffield Hallam University (23rd) scored well.

Bottom of the table was London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with seven out of 60.

Huddersfield’s mediocre performance last year inspired the university to pull up its environmental socks. Last year the university employed two staff with dedicated environmental roles.

Significant progress was made with reducing energy consumption and carbon emission through innovative schemes like using canal water to cool university buildings. And while the university recycled just 8% of its waste last year, it now recycles 40%.

Assistant estates director Jeff Cocker said: “We feel great about the result. We didn’t so well last year, so as a leader in town we wanted to do better. It really focused us.

“Our target for recycling was 25% but we managed 40% and that was a real key to our success.

“We’ve worked very hard to improve our local impact within the university.

“The result says two things: we have a caring attitude to the environment, and we have a good balanced approach to it because it costs to be environmentally conscious and we wouldn’t want it to affect our academic performance.”

David Norman, World Wildlife Fund director campaigns, said: “The dramatic improvements in the league after only one year should be celebrated. With many UK universities leading the research on the environmental threats facing our planet, it’s common sense that they also lead in environmental performance.

“These advances are a welcome response to the urgency of tackling the threats to people and nature.”