100 trees given away to mark launch of Trinity’s Sustainability Strategy

To mark the launch of Trinity’s Sustainability Strategy 2023-2030, 100 birch tree seedlings were given away on campus today.  

These seedlings grew on Trinity's lawns as an unexpected side-effect of the No Mow May initiative, which also led to a rare orchid blooming over the summer.  

The Trinity Sustainability Strategy sets out a roadmap to embed sustainability in everything Trinity does, and to do it in a healthy and equitable way.  It focuses on environmental sustainability, specifically climate change, biodiversity loss and human health.   

Key targets of the strategy include  

• * reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2040 across all categories of emissions.   

  * to be nature positive by 2030, by conserving, managing and restoring at least 30% of Trinity’s land area for nature.  

  * actions to support a culture shift in behaviours that promote and recognise the interrelatedness of planetary and human health such as improved access to plant-based diets and programmes that enable active lifestyles.  

  
  

Provost Dr Linda Doyle said:  

“I warmly welcome the launch of Trinity’s Sustainability Strategy, which builds on the many projects and activities already underway across College. This strategy challenges us to go even further in placing sustainability at the heart of our research, teaching and day-to-day operations. 

"I am impressed by its holistic approach encompassing people, planet and health, and also the priority it gives to reversing biodiversity loss by becoming Nature Positive. I want to thank Prof Jane Stout, our Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action [pictured above with groundsman Mark Loughran], and her team for the way in which they are constantly placing sustainability to the forefront of our minds.” 

The strategy maps on to an action plan that is organised in four areas:  education, research, operations and community.  By embedding these issues in the curriculum, Trinity can prepare future generations to act as agents of change for sustainable development, in both their professional and personal lives. 

The University can empower researchers to make discoveries that have positive consequences for policy and practice across disciplines and sectors. The strategy sets out to demonstrate leadership and innovation on our campus and in how Trinity operates. Trinity can co-create knowledge with communities across and beyond campus through partnership, collaboration and education for far-reaching, long-lasting change. 

Trinity is a hive of sustainable activities that are well underway, and this strategy builds upon that work.  We are a Smarter Travel Campus, a Higher Education Authority Healthy Campus, An Taisce Green campus and have several energy efficiency and retrofitting projects ongoing.  Most recently, the work on the Rubrics won the "Retrofit of a building" award at the Towards Net Zero Awards 2023 held in the RDS in November 2023.  

For more information on sustainability and updates to the plan, see the sustainability website.

Media Contact:

Katie Byrne | Public Affairs and Communications | katie.s.byrne@tcd.ie | +353 1 896 4168