The UdG leads the state ranking of social and environmental commitment

GironaThe University of Girona (UdG) is the best state university in social and environmental commitment, according to the 2026 CYD Sustainable Universities ranking. The Girona institution thus moves from the second position it held in 2025 to head this classification for the first time, prepared by the Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo (CYD). The second position in the ranking is now held by the University of Vic, and the top 5 is completed by the University of La Rioja, in third place; the University of León, in fourth, and the Catholic University of Valencia, in fifth.

The classification analyzes 84 Spanish universities and integrates 16 indicators, 10 of which correspond to the social dimension and six to the environmental one. The ranking evaluates the actions of the centers in areas such as equality, the fight against discrimination, inclusion, health promotion, and environmental sustainability. In the social dimension, the indicators are related to aspects such as equity, diversity, inclusion, university well-being, and commitment to the community. Regarding the environmental sphere, issues such as energy efficiency, waste management, sustainable mobility, and innovation linked to sustainability are taken into account.

The first position of the UdG recognizes different policies and initiatives promoted by the university in these areas, such as the post-maternity teaching exemption regulation, the campaign to address sexist violence in the university environment, the specialization diploma in basic skills for socio-labor inclusion, the eco-solidarity garden, and healthy itineraries, among other initiatives.

The rector of the UdG, Josep Calbó, has celebrated the first place in the ranking and has insisted that for the Girona university "work on inclusion, equality, and sustainability are priorities". "These are areas that speak to us, in short, about the well-being of people, a priority issue at the UdG", he added.

To prepare the ranking, the Fundación CYD has used information from sustainability report guides, international references, and the strategic plans of the universities themselves. The data collected has gone through a verification and quality control process before calculating the indicators, which offers a quantitative comparative study on the degree of involvement of universities throughout the State in this area.

Pioneer in sustainability and volunteering

The UdG already became in 2000 one of the pioneer universities in the State in sustainability, as it approved the first environmentalization plan. But the fact is that two years earlier, in 1998, it had already created a carpooling exchange to share trips between students and university staff, an initiative that nowadays is already channeled through a mobile application. In parallel, in the 2010-2011 academic year, a volunteering program was launched that has made it one of the state's reference centers regarding the social commitment of its students. And the fact is that more than 15% of the students are volunteers.